Hey hey!
First show in Latvia is done! It was definitely an experience! Or I'd rather say a culture shock experience! For me it was a pleasure to see so many unseen young bands and also veterans of the local punk rock scene! And other artists as well… But…
Organization of the LABA DABA festival left me with a kind of bitter aftertaste. With fairly expensive tickets, the festival organization could not be able to support the artists even with travel money. Nor food or drinks. For two days of the festival each artist got only one food ticket and two beer tickets. Of course one of the cheapest beers and food tickets was offering from all the menu only the cheapest food on the list and a tiny portion. No personal drink allowed on the territory (even a bottle of plain water got taken away from me). Instead we got a not so friendly security firm that was not letting people dance next to the scene. And lots of police (undercover rats too) were scanning the tent city in search of drugs. Sadly in 30 years of independence from a totalitarian regime we are still keeping the best traditions of the police state! We got a punk band singing "God bless Latvia!". We got suspicious pagan metalheads with masked swastikas. And we got suspicious punk rockers wearing Latvian flags. I guess not to forget what country they are from!
At least I've got lots of fun on stage and got my chance to express my feelings about what I saw there! And nobody punched me in the face after! That was the last LABA DABA for me!
Next stop Tartu, Estonia. Lets see what they got there!
