Waking up after some short hours was not much pleasant, but
we had to get used to getting up early almost each morning as big distances
were ahead of us. Berlin is not that far from Prague – we got there quite
easily, but to find the place seemed to cause us some difficulties. Oliver
(organizer, Fleshbug Records and band Feast) sent me a map by which we could
get quite close to the venue (which was an occupied/ squatted part of the town
with about 70 people living there in caravans/ bungalows – about this I will
write later). There were some roadworks and our GPS showed us the street
indicated in Oliver’s map, though the surroundings did not seem that there
would be some squatted area there. By our luck some guy by bike was passing by
while we were helplessly searching the right way and he was glad to drive us to
the place which was just on the other side of the highway. All of us was
immediately amazed by the place: it is like a small village in a nice,
uninhabited part of Berlin surrounded by trees/ small forests. Even at the
entrance we notice post-boxes hinting that people are kind of recognized to
live here in some autonomous circumstances. They even have electricity and also
water in a common block where they have two showers, toilets and a washing
machine (was quite pleasant to find and hear a radio – I guess - always
switched on in this cabin).
Allegedly, each person living here is supposed to
pay about 100 Euros per month for the mutual cost and that’s all about the
costs living here: of course you should have your own caravan or bungalow to
live in. We were escorted to the community house, where the gig would take
place: it is a cosy, spacey hall with a little stage and a bar – perfect place
for get-togethers. We were provided delicious food and drinks, so we started
enjoying our being here – I think our hosts too, as we gave a bottle of
slivovoca to them as present:).
The more
drinks consumed, the better atmosphere created, and the time was close to start
the gig: local powerviolence band JHK blasted the small stage for about 20-25
minutes - we were impressed by their energetic show. Our performance was also
welcomed by the small but enthusiastic audience - I think both bands of us gave
the maximum starting the abroad part of the tour well.
Thanks for all the
people showed up (quite a diverse audience was gathered), and most of all for
the great organization to Fleshbugs:) The gig might have been short but the
afterparty wasn't - surely there were hours dropped out, but I remember us
sitting in some friendly guy's "apartment" drinking
slivovica and smoking weed while listening to LPs from his collections... :)
Special
message to Eva from Dresden:
sorry we could not manage the invitation for your shows - I tried to send you
emails but the address given did not work out (however I tried with both
engdings with .de and .ge) :( For sure we would like to come to play in Berlin or in Dresden
again!!!