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Friday, December 26, 2014

SOS...HAVE A HAPPY HOLIDAY

1990 - It was the day after Thanksgiving.  I had structured a tour for Sepultura, Obituary and Sadus....the SOS TOUR. It took some persuasion to get the tour booked.  Sepultura's previous tour with Faith or Fear had a miserable turnout, and many of the US clubs did not want them back.  I had just done a very successful Sacred Reich tour, so I got on the phone and called the clubs and assured them I would book a proper tour for the Seps and it would pack the venues, that's how I was able to book the dates.  

Sepultura was recording Arise.  They finished in the wee hours of early morning of the first show.  We were jammin for time, and headed to the first gig.

At the venue, I met Obituary and Sadus.  Roadrunner had hired me to tour manage them, since both bands had no one to look after them.  It was a killer tour, and the venues were packed, like I promised.  By the time we got to Phoenix, it was a couple days before Christmas, when the bands arrived at my house, Christina had surprised us and put over 30 stockings on our living room wall!!  One for each band member, each roadie, and our family.  We laughed our butts off when we saw them because it covered the entire wall.  

December 23rd we played in Oakland.  It was the last show of the tour.  It was also Sadus' home town.  Back in the day, we all raged daily and this was going to be the ultimate bash!

I can truly say it was the craziest Sepultura show in all the 7 years I was with them.  Sadus set up scores of mudslide shots in the dressing room.  When we got to the stage, all the amps were covered in shots.  

Chaos broke out during the show, a fight brewed on the side of the stage and it ended up with Max's stack (speaker and amp) getting knocked over, and a visiting member of another band getting thrown down a ramp to the stage. When Max played Black Sabbath twice, it was too much for Andreas and he walked off the stage.  I coaxed him back on just as Max fell over.

We made it to the end, and I was speaking to the promoter arranging to collect the fee.  Max came over and saw me, grabbed Iggor and said "Come on, this dude is fucking with Gloria."  They approached us, but Max suddenly pulled an Exorcist.  He puked on the floor and then belly flopped in it!  I used this as an opportunity to steer Mr. Cash into another corner.  

It wasn't over yet.  The bus driver dropped us all at the Oakland airport, but our tickets were from San Francisco!  By the time we got on the plane to Phoenix, we were dead tired and collapsed in our seats.

On Christmas Day, in Phoenix, Iggor answered a phone call while I was cooking.  We were both in the kitchen.  It was another manager, you all know, calling my house to steal the band!! Iggor laughed and said "no" shaking his head.  We all had a good laugh.  

Merry Christmas!  Class dismissed.......







Class Dismissed...