As we've said before, Shadowside tours are anything but monotonous. Every day brings new things, whether good or bad. Unfortunately, the travel day from Brezno to Krakow wasn't the best. Life as a band on the road is extremely dangerous, and you're subject to all sorts of adversities. I believe the most famous story in Heavy Metal, in terms of tragedy, is about the death of bassist Cliff Burton during Metallica's tour in Sweden. And Shadowside almost had that day…
Many people think that going on tour is just a matter of throwing equipment into any old car and eating dust from city to city. That's not quite how it works. It requires a huge operational logistics operation, even more so in the case of the Hellish Rock tour, which involves two uninterrupted months of shows across various countries.
Each location has a different type of road, which isn't always satisfactory or spacious enough to accommodate both cars and trucks at the same time. If it starts snowing, it's even worse… Sometimes the signage is also poor, and relying on GPS hasn't been a very reliable option for us. Therefore, extra caution is necessary. This is without even mentioning the speed limit, which is monitored even within those small, ghost towns where you can't even manage to shift into second gear. And if you're careless, the police will come after you, and you'll definitely get a fine. At least, the police in the countries we've passed through aren't corrupt at all, and even because we're Brazilian, they give us some perks.
The truth is that March 25, 2013, could have been a tragic day in Shadowside's career. In 228 km, we almost suffered three accidents that could have cost the lives of the entire band and crew.
First, our GPS gave us a different route than the Helloween and Gamma Ray buses were taking. We crossed paths with them on one of those small roads, but we were heading north and they were heading south of Slovakia. Since we sometimes don't trust our trusty GPS, we immediately thought we were going the wrong way. We stopped everything, turned around, and chased after them, trying to catch up. However, because we were going at high speed, we couldn't avoid a huge pothole. The impact was so strong that the car activated the engine's protection system as if we had crashed. We couldn't start the engine because the fuel supply system had been blocked. Luckily, we had a 3G modem and were able to find the manual online to quickly resolve this problem. After this shock, the only option was to stop in a parking lot to rest and continue our journey later.
The second scare happened shortly after we woke up. On one of those narrow, two-lane roads, a truck partially crossed into our lane and narrowly missed hitting us head-on… but it did take our left rearview mirror. The sound of the glass shattering was terrifying. Moving forward with this additional trauma required a combined psychological effort.
The third and final scare happened on another two-lane road practically near Krakow. Once again, due to the recklessness of a truck driver. If you think this kind of thing only happens on Brazilian roads, you're sorely mistaken. We see so many absurd actions that we could write a book about their reckless driving. (laughs)
This last near-accident was the most dangerous. The truck driver tried to overtake in a prohibited area just as we were crossing the road. The truck bed completely blocked our lane, and if we hadn't been at a safe distance, this last tour report would have been our last. It was a close call, a very, very close call indeed!
After a few minutes, we arrived in Krakow, safe and sound, and ready for new adventures!
Check out the complete Shadowside travelogue
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