Making of: Samael in Romania

"Perhaps we'll do this again sometime in the future, with Lake Of Tears or other bands that I'm sure you're expecting to see for a long time already. See you at the next level!" - that's what we were writing in March, in the article covering the Lake Of Tears show. We kept our promise and here we are now, in December, at level 3 - Samael.

Photo by Iulius Costache, twilight13media partner

There are some bands we grew up with, bands that we particularly like, but for some reason or another we've never had the chance to see them live. So we thought we should bring them to Romania. This adventure started in March with Lake Of Tears, went on in September with Tiamat and reached at the highest peak with Samael on the 2nd December. As in Tiamat's case, this show was organized in collaboration with our friends and partners from One Event. Given the fact that one cannot be objective when reviewing its own produced show, we decided it's best to give you a glimpse of what Samael in Romania meant from behind the scenes, instead of the ordinary concert review.

As usual, the chaos started some months before the show, with contracts, riders, dozens of phone calls and e-mails, the now usual steeple chase through a thicket of bureaucracy and all the other elements that are the basis of putting together a show, things that don't matter too much in the eyes of those who come to see their favorite band playing live. All these problems were solved along the way and here we are on the 1st of December, one day before the show. The arriving of the Swiss in Romania was an adventure itself because, while we were making the final preparations before going to the airport to pick them up, we received one SMS from Xy: "You know, there is actually a problem. Our flights have been canceled so we took the flight to Paris and we're arriving at 19.15. Hans also had problems and will hopefully arrive at 24.20." And this considering they were supposed to land at 16.50 and 17.10 respectively. Better late than never, we said to ourselves (as probably did some people who came to the show and who have been waiting for 10 years to see the band live). So the inevitable actually happened and Samael finally arrived to Romania a few hours later. You should have seen the faces of some of the people who were on the airport at that moment. Vorph with his hair dyed blonde and dressed with some trousers that looked more like a skirt, and Stephane (the guitar technician) who's almost two meters tall and has the looks of a genuine Tartar. This is not at all the ordinary kind of traveler that we get to see in this country.

After we have taken them to the hotel and have finished with the check-in formalities, we had a very nice dinner together at a cozy restaurant. We talked about the differences in living standards in Romania vs Switzerland, about their next record, about labels and music. Vorph said he would very much like to hear the new Laibach album so the next day Andreas (of One Event) gave him a CD. Despite all rumors that the Samael members are very impenetrable and sociopath persons, we discovered some picturesque characters, very open minded and sociable, which once again proves that the difference between reality and the image a musician builds for himself is very big.

Back at the hotel, Xy had shown us a picture of the People's House in a Bucharest guide and had told us that he wanted to see it. They would have actually wanted to visit the town on Saturday, but the day's schedule was so tight that it didn't allow any kind of leisure before the show. So Oana had the idea to go and take a look at the People's House right after dinner, which we did. We took a tour around the building and stopped in Constitutiei Square to let the band take photos. Friday night ended with no further adventures, but not before having some more beers in Green Hours club.

During all this time, the stage was being put together at Agronomia Hall. The stage had a total surface of 54 sq. m and the mounting operation took 10 hours, from 6 in the afternoon on Friday until 4 o'clock on Saturday morning. For those who crave for technical details, here are some pieces of information: we used a DYNACORD WAVE 2 x 15,000 watts PA, with up to 120 db, a Midas Heritage 1000 mixing console. Samael's backline consisted of: guitars - 2 x Marshall (JCM800/ JCM2000 SUPERLEAD), 4 x Marshall cabinets 1960; bass - 1 x Ampeg SVT4 Pro / Ampeg 8x10 cabinet. Lights - 60 PAR Cans, 20 moving heads.

Saturday started with some interviews for various media and while Vorph and Xy were answering questions, at Agronomia Hall was a terrible hustle: the last retouches were being made to the stage, the lights and PA. The endless succession of wires, devices, instruments, spotlights, screens, people running from one place to another was something we had already got accustomed to from the previous concerts.

Photo by Costin Chioreanu

Before the last interview, Xy told us he received a SMS from the sound engineer. His flight with Alitalia had also been canceled and he had to take another one. So instead of 12.10 he was going to arrive at 17.10! We had already started to worry because that was going to change the soundcheck schedule radically and we had to open the gates at 18.00. But Xy was very relaxed... unlike us.

Samael got to the venue, arranged their stuff on stage and had a line check with the sound engineer from Sincron Music (the company providing the stage, lights and PA for the show). Like Xy said before, arranging the stage took more than the actual line check. They got off the stage at approximately 15.30, without making any soundcheck.

We let the audience into the venue once the Romanian bands had also done their soundcheck. Samael's sound engineer arrived soon afterwards, but it was too late for a soundcheck.

Photo by Iulius Costache, twilight13media partener

And the concert started. Dies Irae, followed by Avatar had the duty to warm up the atmosphere and to get the audience ready for the Samael show. If they succeeded to do so or not... that's  something we have to let you decide by yourselves.

Dies Irae

All photos by Iulius Costache, twilight13media partener

Avatar

All photos by Iulius Costache, twilight13media partener

Samael's turn came after the two previous performances ended. Remember! No soundcheck. The sound was adjusted during the first two songs.

Photo by Iulius Costache, twilight13media partener

We headbanged on Baphomet's Throne, we sang along with the rest of the audience on On Earth, we were captivated by Infra Galaxia and Nautilus & Zeppelin. Considering the audience's reactions, we were expecting Samael to get back on stage with a consistent encore, but we wouldn't have ever expected them (not even in our best dreams) to come and play 5 more songs, among which Black Trip. When they got off the stage the second time, they were very pleased, too. Congratulations were coming from all parts because we were so excited ourselves by what we had seen and heard just moments before. But about the audience's response and how the band perceived the show, we'll let you read in the short interview that Klawz and myself (Dragos) conducted with Vorph after the signing session.

All photos by Iulius Costache, twilight13media partener

Playlist Samael:
Jupiterian Vibe
Inch Allah
Reign of Light
The Cross
Telepath
Oriental Dawn
Baphomet's Throne
Rain
Nautilus & Zeppelin
On Earth
Moongate
Choosen Race
Infra Galaxia
The Ones Who Came Before

Encore:
Intro/Shining Kingdom
Black Trip
High Above
Year Zero
My Saviour

All photos by Iulius Costache, twilight13media partener

The signing session after the show was supposed to last for 15 minutes, but instead it lasted for more than 40. Xy, Mas, Makro and Vorph were taking pictures with everyone there, signing everything, talking to everybody. Vorph had been exiled somewhere between the barricade and one of the baskets for basketball (the venue is actually a sports hall). As much as we tried to get him out of there and take him to other people who were waiting to take autographs from him, we couldn't do it...

A crazy night such as this one couldn't have ended in a less crazy way. So after a late dinner that lasted until 4 in the morning and during which we learned that the vegetarians' god gets along very well with Bacchus, having absolutely no problems to cohabitate, we were not surprised at all by Xy's inquiry: where do we continue the party? The only option at that hour was the after party from H/H club, or better said what was still left of it. So we loaded the band back in the cars and headed to the location, where the Swiss' arrival caused much stupefaction. What happened from that moment on is not the subject to our story (try only to imagine what a party looks like when it's already morning and the quantity of drunk alcohol is way above the limits of common sense... you'll see that it's impossible to describe such a thing), but the party went on until 6 o'clock in the morning.

Samael couldn't have left Romania without a visit to the Village Museum, so those who were inside it at about 12 o'clock on Sunday could see a strange character running and hiding after trees, trying to portray Count Dracula, while another one was recording him on camera (we described here Makro and Mas). Later that day we left the band at the passport control in the airport, but not before reassuring each other that we'll see us again as soon as possible, maybe even next year for another show in Bucharest.

In the end we would like to thank everyone involved in this show, without whom we couldn't have made another special event out of this concert. As usual, a special thanks goes to Bidepa Security who has become our reliable partner in what concerns the maintaining of order and security at our events.