Slovakia

Clearly you could tell that Slovakia was waiting for these concerts for a long time.. Everywhere you could feel people having big expectations about our presence and giving us such a warm welcome.

A reception was organised on monday morning at the city hall of Bratislava to meet with the Mayor and all the media. Then we had a walk, sunny but cold, with the group in the old city, a beautiful area partly destroyed by Napoleon, who clearly has not done only good things in this part of Europe, and which since has been rebuilt.

Hard times for James and the crew for loading in and out, the local production being obviously not used to that kind of production.. The Bratislava Hall was probably the most bizarre of the tour, with more seats on the sides than in the front, a low ceiling, clearly made for basket-ball rather than for concerts.

At showtime, the hall was packed, people were everywhere, even standing in the alleys. The mood was as hot as it was freezing cold outside. I was not even able to perform my entrance from the back of the arena. Every inch was occupied.
The crowd responded as soon as the concert started. The energy was high, like the temperature. We ended sweaty and excited with a continuous standing ovation on the 4 last songs..

Fred, the interpreter, got a sore throat, lost his voice and asked his wife Yvetta to replace him at the last minute. Instantly nicknamed "the voiceless interpreter", Fred brought us to his restaurant, "a french creperie" where we had delicious pancakes and cider. We had a good time with the musicians, Fred, Yvetta, Milan the head of the slovakian fan club who invested a lot of time and energy for the concerts, Richard a business man who took few days of his time to be my driver.

They explained us what my music represented to them. It has always been a symbol of evasion and dream about the outside world. Even until the late 80's, they had to climb on the mountain nearby to get and record my music on cassettes from austrian radio stations! It was really moving to listen to them. So close to us, those people suffered so much, they could be put in jail for years just for writing, listening or reading forbidden things.

It suddenly takes a different dimension to play in such a country.

Richard said to a journalist, after the concert "I know now, why I am born"! Even if it is a little overly dramatic, it means a lot to seize how Important it is for western artists to spend some time in this great country..

The following day, we flew to Kosice, the 2nd town of Slovakia, near the Ukranian border. The venue was bigger, more civilised and still packed. Saturday night in Kosice was probably even hotter than the previous evening. We were really into it and had great fun on stage in front of a fantastic audience. It was difficult to leave the stage.

Our voiceless interpreter had to be replaced by his wife one more time. We went back for dinner at the hotel where Fred having slightly recovered his voice taught the local cook how to make pancakes for us. In the meantime I tried to improve my slovakian.

Thanks to everybody in Slovakia for such a great time, especially thank you to Milan, Fred, Yvetta and Richard.

Oxygene 12

The beast..

Feeling the wind of Bratislava

With a local celebrity..

Contemplating the town hall

Red Square, Kosice..
Claude smiling at his pancakes

Dominique's familiar silhouette in Kosice
Great audience
In the arena at Kosice..
Space Domino
Dominique after landing in Kosice
With Yvetta and Fred, eating..

..crêpes flambées!

The Bratislava Arena, wide but not deep..


(posted on a mobile phone)