Gig Report: The End of Heartache Trip
 

EVENT INFO
Line-up for the show:
Muhannad Bursheh - Vocals/Guitar/Bass
Sirenwave * - Bass/Vocals/Guitar
Zaher Siryani * - Guitar
Johnny Marzouka * - Samplers & DFX
Software - Drums

Member with the (*) mark participated as live session members

Gig info:
Title: The End of Heartache Trip
Date: Thursday, 25 May, 2006
Time: 4 PM
Venue: Wadi Rum, Jordan
Tickets: 20 JD (1 day), 35 JD (2 days)

Bands Performing:
Phex, Tyrant Throne, Dementis, Munz n the Gang, Deathraw


EVENT REPORT
Well well well, what I've got to say! Could it get worse than that? I don't think so, at least I've learnt another lesson about Jordan and it's foolish peoples' mentality! Have fun reading! That trip thing was the biggest down point in my musical life so far! It was a complete mess, not a single good thing happened; zero managerial work! Here's what happened, in a summarized way of course (That's for both bands Phex and Tyrant Throne):

We arrived to Wadi Rum at about 13:30, weren't able to see anything because of dust, but that is not an issue! After an hour and a half, the lunch buffet was set, the food sucked, it was more like horse shit! After that, we went and got our selves a tent. Until 17:00 which was the hour when the bands should start playing, the stage equipment wasn't set on stage yet, amps and monitors were still in their boxes, the sound mother fucking assholes were sleeping; I got really angry because of that and went to the stage with Dementis's drummer and guitarist and we started setting the equipment ourselves, then when the sound guys saw us they came to set the equipment. When everything was set, electricity problems happened, and until the problems were solved it was 19:00 already. Tyrant Throne started playing, and the mixer guy fucked everything up, he kept playing with volumes all the time, then a manager from the camp came and said that the gig must stop because the DJ party has to start, so Tyrant Throne didn't even complete the playlist. Promises came that at 9 o'clock the DJ party will end and the metal gig will start again - LIES! The DJ party didn't stop before 1:30 AM. Anyways, even if we were going to perform at 9, we as Phex decided not to perform and draw back after what we faced when we played as Tyrant Throne. So Tyrant Throne was the only band that performed and only for 20 minutes. There were only about 35 metalheads max including band members; the hundreds of other attendants were families, kids and old people, that's the reason why Tyrant Throne were forced to discontinue! It wasn't a metal concert after all; only a party in Wadi Rum with some metal performance!

The biggest fuck up: When we as Tyrant Throne came down from stage and went back to our tent, we found out that all our things and baggage were thrown out of the tent and put in a place far, filled with sand! The reason was because they wanted to give the tent for a family!!! So the camp management simply throws our things out and gives the tent to the family! Its great how they treat bands, eh? After arguments with them, we got promises for 3 hours that a new tent will be set for us - LIES! We stayed until dawn sitting on chairs in the middle of the camp looking at stars! In a moment of silence, guys from the "intelligence" started making some hustle about hearing people swearing God's name, so problems started all over, they even wanted to take a girl who accompanied us to the police station for swearing, we went to talk to them but they forced us to stay away; unbelievable! After that, they wanted to gather all the metal guys in the camp to take their names and see if there are any previous charges against them (us as well of course)! What the fuck, from problem to problem. The problem was finally solved I don't know how, I think one of the security guys went and talked to the intelligence guys, so no one's name was taken! These guys just wanted to have fun by the way... At about twelve at mid-night as I recall, dinner finally came, and I wish it never did; I think it was Hyenas' meat or something, the most disgusting thing I ever ate in my life! After dinner we went and sat again under the stars, till around 3:30 AM, then everyone slept at someone else's tent, friends' tents and stuff like that! Thanks a lot for Dementis for offering us to share their tent with them, you rule guys! But we didn't want to be pain in the ass!

So to sum up, is was total shit! Water bottles; hot like a piss and so fucking expensive... The next day we made it better ourselves, we went to Aqaba with all the group, but there we split from them and went alone (Johnny's idea), took hotel rooms, got a rest, swam in the hotel's pool and met with the group again and went back to Amman!

So for those who want to know how was Phex's performance in the gig - We didn't perform, the only band that performed was Tyrant Throne, and only half the playlist!

I hope the bad picture and disappointment will be removed in future gigs. There's a gig probably on June 15th, Phex will participate; the playlist will be so interesting, wait out for that!

The last point that I want to mention is that not everything was the fault of Rami Mattar; the metal part manager of the concert; mostly all the blame goes on the camp management, specially a guy called Saleh!

This is I; Muhannad Bursheh in the pics with the session members Zaher Siryani, Sirenwave (Muhammad Masri) and Johnny Marzuka! First and second pics were shot before we reached Wadi Rum, the third pic is us sitting "Tentless"!

- Muhannad Bursheh (April 14th, 2006)