Seein'Red, Sin Dios, Menos Que Nada, Lesser Of Two, Katastrophobia @ C.S.O.A. La Nevera, Madrid SPA 25 December 1999

Seein’Red, Sin Dios, Menos Que Nada, Lesser Of Two, Katastrophobia @ C.S.O.A. La Nevera, Madrid SPA 25 December 1999

In their 12 year existence, Seein’Red has only played 2 times in Spain before. That was about one year ago when Manliftingbanner did their reunion show in Barcelona. They played an extra, surprise-show, in Badalona as well. With Lärm (same line-up minus the singer) they have toured Euskadi and one concert in Barcelona in 1986. Ironically, this (rather short) tour doesn’t include Euskadi, much to the indignation of the people there.

Thursday 23/12 (drive to Amersfoort NL) 9 pm departure from Groningen. 2 Hour drive to Amersfoort. 30 minute search operation for the Marx Brothers residence. We are welcomed by Paul, Olav and photoman Theun K. Around 12 a very ill Roger, another photographer, enters. He’s determined to come along. We cram him with aspirine. We sleep in the van to accustom to the bed. It’s noisy in the streets. People throwing fireworks under cars.

Friday 24/12 (drive to Bordeaux FRA) Get knocked up around 7 am. Take a breakfast, load the van with the backline and drive to bassplayer Jos. He injured his knee last week and they cancelled last weekend’s show with Catharsis to spare him for this tour. He dramatically appears with 2 crutches… At the Dutch-Belgium border we take the first of many to follow coffeebreaks. The van is constantly slowing down because of the strong wind. There’s also lots of dangerous squalls. We arrive in Bordeaux around 3 am. Nice-Guy Erik made us some warm food which we save for breakfast.

Saturday 25/12 We slept 4 hours, have a quick breakfast and arrive in Madrid around 8 pm. The concert is a benefit for Encuentro Libertario in Brasil and Jar in Mexico. The squatted place is a gigantic hall, like a factory-site. I see friends from all over Spain. It’s incredible how far people travelled for this concert. Sin Dios starts. The acoustics and sound is weird. After a while it gets better (there’s 6000 watt soundequipment!). During the concert I start to feel sad. This is the last concert I will see with Pepino, the bassplayer. On monday they will do the last one with him in Lisboa. Too bad. Eva sings a Dirt-ish song along as well. After Sin Dios we go upstairs to get supper. SR gets interviewed. I regulary stumble upon a beheaded Roger. It’s quite cold in the squat and he’s totally wrapped himself up including his head. It looks bizarre. And then he’s even wondering why all the concert people look strange at him…. I see a short piece of the Menos Ke Nada set. Catchy. Whenever a Dutch band is playing in Madrid, you can bet they will play as well. Katastrophobia has an horrible sound. I guess I prefer to see them in a smaller environment. I escape to the van to make some hot coffee. Eva and Roger join in for some tea. When I return, Lesser Of Two is playing. SR set up the merch stand and it is crowded. I’m sure lots of people are interested coz not too much of their material is distributed well in Southern Europe. It’s late, very late when SR enters the stage. They all wear the Sin Dios “Guerra A La Guerra” shirt. The talks in between songs are in English. I guess mainly the “foreign” people understand it. There’s usually a big difficulty in Spain concerning communication in the “the language of the imperialist”. After the show, suddenly an other band is appearing and wants to play. We’re all dying for some sleep so we don’t think this is a good idea. There’s some discussion and eventually we can clear off. After a dozen goodbyes we can have a good sleep at Pepino’s place in Vallecas.