Santiago de Cuba

After saturday's bad weather we hoped to be more lucky with the show in Santiago. We arrived pretty late and so we unfortunately didn't got the chance to see a lot of the city. Again it was already dark when we got to the venue and again the sky looked kimda menacing. Lightings were flashing but luckily they seemed still quite far away. The venue was called "Anfiteatro Parabailar". There was a huge seating area - which easily could have held a couple of tousand people -  surrounding the dancefloor in front of the stage. There even was a massiv LED screen behind the stage where they were showing videos of the bands that were about to play. This night it was Joilette's part to set off the party. But then halfway through the soundcheck...it started to rain again. It wasn't heavy rain but it was to much to just go with it. So all the PA stuff had to be covered with plastic and the backline had to be taken off stage...and we had go wait. After the Bayamo experience everyone got pretty nervous and feared that we had to cancel another show. But the rain stopped soon and the backline was set-up and Joliette got ready to play again...and just before they were ready to start the next raindrops fell. We already knew the deal: cover the PA, backline off stage and so on. This game had to be played three more times before Joliette finally could start the show around half past twelve. The crowd that has been anxiously waiting was going crazy really quickly and we knew that it was going to be a good night after all. Vale Tudo was up next and they nailed it and left a really happy and warmed up crowd! Then it was our turn to hit the stage. Because it was already so late all the bands rushed during the changeovers and it was pretty much a plug and play thing...which actually worked quite well. A couple of guitar strings broke throughout the night but all the bands were really supportive and were lending their instruments or helped changing strings.
After three songs of our set Ian said that we would give away some CDs for free on stage and invited the kids to climb on stage and get them. I guess we kinda underestimsted how desperate the Cuban kids are to get new records...a internet connection is slow and still nearly unaffordable and there is not exactly a virgin store around any corner...anyway, the kids were raiding the stage to get a CD and the Brutal Fest crew was running on stage as well to protect the backline and all the equipment! Luckily everything was still working and from that point on the show was a real blast!
It was already late but there were still four more bands on the bill! By the time we finished and got back on the bus it wss around four in the morning and bus call for the drive to camagüey was only five hours later.
So it was a short night but right now were 10 kilometers outside from Camagüey. We got the night off so let's see what happens...