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THE ARCHIVES
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Morrigan's Pit has closed down as of November 2006. The site and its articles will stay online as an archive until September at least, but probably longer.
The Archives
2002-2006
» CD REVIEWS
» INTERVIEWS
» LIVE REVIEWS
» SPECIALS
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CALLENISH CIRCLE TOURREPORT
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In support of their new album "[Pitch.Black.Effects]", CALLENISH CIRCLE were supporting Paradise Lost for a couple of shows in Mexico.
Frontman Patrick Savelkoul wrote a report about the events around those three gigs. Expect stories about packed venues, screaming fans, the national immigration service, rip offs at exchange offices and many more.
A few months ago we got an offer to support Paradise Lost on their three Mexican dates. An offer we didn't have to think about twice since Paradise Lost is one of the bands that initially inspired us to start playing this kind of music. As some people still might remember Callenish Circle originally started as a cover band back in the early 90s by playing covers of bands like Death, Pestilence, Bolt Thrower and yes...Paradise Lost. So it speaks for itself we were very proud we now (almost 14 years later) got the chance to support one of these bands.
After months of preparations and taking care of loads of paperwork we finally left home on Wednesday 5.30 am to catch our first flight in Brussels. The flight from Brussels to Atlanta and from Atlanta to Mexico City went pretty smoothly and at the airport in Mexico City we were already welcomed by promoter Rodrigo (Inferno Productions) and the roadcrew. Soon after that we were picked up by the touring car that would transport us (and fellow countrymen Asrai) during the next three days of our trip. During our travel to Monterrey (where the first show was booked) we were first pulled over by the Mexican border patrol who inspected the touring car but not very thoroughly if I may say so. But then, just two hours before our arrival in Monterrey, we got a very unpleasant inspection from the national migration service who claimed the paperwork (working visas) were not ok. These f#ckers really gave us a hard time 'cause we had to drive back for almost an hour to their nice little office to get everything sorted. After more than two hours of endless waiting at the migration station and Rodrigo paying them a shitload of ca$h we were finally released so we could continue our trip to Monterrery where we arrived pretty late in the afternoon. All in all we travelled nearly 40 (!) hours (by car, plane & bus) to the first show that was scheduled on thursday evening in Club Iguana. After a quick meeting with the two other bands (Paradise Lost & The Birthday Massacre) and Carlos (the other half of Inferno Productions) we went to the hotel for a few hours of very welcomed sleep.
Despite the exhausting travel our very first show on Mexican ground went pretty well and also the audience seemed to like our stuff a lot as they responded in a very enthusiastic way. Unfortunately the (vocal) monitoring on stage was really bad so I forced my voice a little bit too much but all in all it was a nice show and a good warming up for the two other shows still to come. When headliner Paradise Lost entered the stage we were kinda curious how the band would sound in 2005. Most of us hadn't seen the band for quite a long time but all of us were positively surprised by their tight performance that night. The band played a superb show and also the newer material sounded really great live. Well...maybe a classic like "As I Die" will never be written again but still the band really caught our full attention and so we decided to watch their entire set even though we were extremely tired of the exhausting travel. After the show the club was quickly transformed into a techno/house club and it looked liked a nice party was going to be started but unfortunately we had to leave early that night as another long trip was waiting for us.
So immediately after the show we went back to the hotel for a quick shower and right after that we continued our trip to Guadalajara, where we were scheduled to play at the well-known Hardrock Live Club on friday evening. After a long bus trip of nearly 12 hours (again without too much sleep) we finally reached Guadalajara and it was a very cool venue with a big stage. When we arrived at the venue the first fans were already waiting outside for signatures, photographs and a friendly chat...a sign of what was still to come later on that night. Right after our show we had some mixed feelings 'cause we made a couple of big fuck-ups in our set due to the extremely bad sound on stage. For example Gav (drummer) wasn't able to hear anything of the rest of the band...and that makes playing together pretty difficult I can assure you. On the other hand the fans went completely nuts during our show by screaming out the lyrics, banging their heads like maniacs and going completely crazy in the big slamming pit...hell yeah, that's the way we like it! After our show we went back into the venue where we autographed tons of cds & concert tickets and got caught on photocamera by an insane crowd. A lot of fans even told us they just came to see Callenish Circle, which was really a big surprise because upfront we thought Callenish Circle was still pretty much unknown in the Mexican territory… how wrong we were!
On the last (satur)day we travelled back to Mexico City which was an adventure on its own. Mexico City is a huge (the biggest in the world?) city with not less than 26 million inhabitants. That's 10 million people more than the whole population over here in The Netherlands. It takes more than three hours of (highway) travelling to drive through the entire city. People who have been there know what I am talking about I guess...this city was like a big frightening monster swallowing everything and everybody around. So after almost 2,5 hours cruising through the city we finally arrived at the Gran Forum venue. The venue itself was pretty huge and outside the first fans were already waiting for our arrival. Outside there was also a little metalmarket with all kinds of bootlegged merchandise. Our show went really great again and this time without the major fuck-ups of the day before. The audience went totally crazy once again and even though we were exhausted from the intense travelling we gave our last drop of energy to the insane crowd. What happened after the show I still find hard to believe...as soon as we left the backstage area we were surrounded by an almost hysterical crowd who all wanted autographs, pictures, guitar picks, drumsticks, setlists, even our wet clothing was demanded...maybe they thought we were some kind of popular boyband... hahaha. But with this show we unfortunately also reached the end of the tour and so it was time to pack our bags and travel back to the airport again. We said goodbye to the lads of Paradise Lost (and their crew) whom all turned out to be very friendly guys after all.
At the airport we also got ripped off for nearly 500 euros by the official money exchange office. So everybody travelling to Mexico City beware of these thieves! After a long and totally exhausting travel we arrived back home on Monday morning...back to normal life 'cause on tuesday our regular jobs were waiting again. Looking back I can say this was not just a musical experience but definitely a lifetime experience that we will remember the rest of our lives.
So hereby we want to thank Carlos & Rodrigomo Mejia (Inferno Productions), the rest of the Mejia family and the entire roadcrew for doing a great job and making this all possible for us. And last but not least all the fans for coming out to the shows… be sure we will be back soon!
Muchos gracias amigos !!!
Cheerz, Pat on behalf of Callenish Circle & Crew.
submitted by Cora February 2006
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