Stuart F Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 This weekend I pay a flying visit to the Czech Republic for the first time as I have a gig on Saturday night in a town called Zlin which is nearer the eastern side. I leave on Saturday morning and return on Sunday night. Really looking forward to it as it should be great fun. I'll put up a report and some pics when I get back Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Sounds wicked Stuart - have a great time 8-) Look forward to hearing about it all :thumbsup: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Likewise mate, look forward to hearing about it after the weekend, have a good un Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonB Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 Main atraction headliner woo! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted November 2, 2006 Report Share Posted November 2, 2006 get in mate, thats wikked that is, bet you are well excited! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quadrant Posted November 6, 2006 Report Share Posted November 6, 2006 I have no doubt Sir Stuary slipped in some quality trance for us in there... tell us the reaction! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted November 6, 2006 Report Share Posted November 6, 2006 yeh come on stu, report & pics? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aza Posted November 7, 2006 Report Share Posted November 7, 2006 Great - how did you manage to score a gig over there? Tell us how it went Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted November 7, 2006 Report Share Posted November 7, 2006 I hope you've made it back OK :? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart F Posted November 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 I must apologise guys for the delay in getting a report and pics up. I got back into Oban at midnight on Sunday night and due to my lack of sleep all weekend, I woke up at 3pm. Had several things to catch up on so that took up the rest of Monday and was planning to do the report & pics this morning but sadly my dog was put down so I didn't get an opportunity. I promise though that I will have a report & pics up by midday tomorrow Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart F Posted November 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 My weekend of travelling started on Friday Night/Saturday Morning when I woke up at 1:30am as I had an early 6am flight from Glasgow to Amsterdam. I set off for my 2 hour car journey to the airport at 2:30am and it was strange leaving for my Saturday night gig just as people were heading home from their Friday night out in Oban. I arrived in Amsterdam around 8:30am and my connecting flight to Prague was not until 3pm so I decided to head into the centre of Amsterdam for a few hours to have a look around. I must comment on how easy and cheap it was to get the train from the airport into the centre. At the moment Glasgow Airport does not have a simple rail link from the airport into the city centre so it must be quite confusing for visitors who have just arrived in Scotland. There are plans however to build a new rail link and if approved by the Scottish Parliament, it should be up and running by 2009. The sooner the better in my opinion! I was in the city centre for 9am and proceeded to have a walk about for most of the morning just following wherever my nose took me. On the Thursday before I left, one of my friends had suggested I go and have a look at the Red Light District and to be honest I wasn't too keen as I didn't imagine much happening in the district at that time of morning. However while I was walking about, I turned a corner and next thing I inadvertantly find myself there. As I suspected, there wasn't much happening at that time of the morning and the only thing of note really was the building I passed with cannabis plants on show inside. First time I had seen one to be honest. I then had some breakfast and headed back to the airport around midday. At the airport, I sat down and wrote down a list of some of the tracks I planned on playing that evening although not in any particular order. I put each track into one of three different groups, 'Uplifting', 'Pumpin' or 'Hard' and this was just to make it easier for me at the gig to pick my next track depending on which musical mood I felt like playing. I then took off at 3pm and landed in Prague roughly around 4:30pm. My host for the weekend Tomas was there to pick me up and we then went straight to a town called Pardubice where I was staying. Tomas is the manager of Czech DJ Michael C who was also playing that night and thankfully, Tomas spoke very good English which was good for me as I didn't speak a word of Czech. I feel very bad going to another country and not making an effort to speak the local language and it's something that I feel that lets down a lot of us English speakers and makes us look ignorant which I suppose we are in a way. I asked Tomas to teach me some Czech words but when it came to using them, I had forgotten the correct pronunciation and had to ask him again. One thing I totally underestimated about the Czech Republic was the weather. I had taken a thin jacket without a zip and only had a T-Shirt underneath and I really felt the cold when I stepped outside Prague Airport. Tomas had told me it had been snowing during the week but this was normal for this time of the year. We arrived in Pardubice around 8pm and I was staying with Tomas & his parents at their very nice flat. Tomas's mother had made us some very nice snacks & tea and we had 30 minutes to enjoy them before we set off at 8.30pm for our car journey to the location of the gig, Zlin which is on the other side of the country and only 25 miles from the Slovakian border. Czech DJ Michael C drove us there and his friend also came with us too as he was driving us back. Michael is one of the best DJs in the Czech Republic and was voted No.3 in a poll of the top Czech DJs last year. He had some excellent live sets from M.I.K.E. and PvD on in the car and although the tunes were very good, I managed to grab 30 minutes sleep to freshen myself up for the gig. One of the things I noticed on the way there was the amount of familiar supermarkets I saw. I saw 3 Tesco's and about 5 Lidl's although I suppose that isn't too surprising as they were originally a German store. We arrived at Velryba Music Bar at 11:30pm and I had half an hour before my set to have a drink backstage and meet some of the locals. I then took to the digital decks at midnight and really enjoyed my 90 minute set. The Czechs seemed to enjoy it too and were very appreciative of the tunes, cheering, clapping and raising their hands in the air. Some of the tunes I played in no particular order were: Hammer & Bennett - Language (Santiago Nino Dub Tech Mix) Activa Pres. Mekk - Twisted Sean Tyas - Lift 4 Strings - Mainline (4 Turntables Remix) Nick Sentience & John Askew - Mind Control (Thomas Bronzwaer Remix) Fire & Ice - Lost Emotions (Bryan Kearney Remix) O'Callaghan & Kearney - Exactly Gareth Emery & Jon O'Bir - No Way Back U2 - Where The Streets Have No Name (John O'Callaghan Remix) Kyau & Albert - Are You Fine Fred Baker vs Greg Nash - Lunar Eclipse Club Scene Investigators - Direct Dizko (Sander Van Doorn Remix) Mainx - 88 To Piano (Fabio Stein Remix) Unknown - Smuggling On Flight 643 Michael then took over from me at 1:30pm and played an awesome set of quality trance. I then had a few more drinks, took some photos and chatted to some of the locals, most of whom spoke basic English which was really helpful. I also met some friends who had been working in Oban for the summer and had gone back home to Zlin in September. It was great to see them again and really ironic that the only Czech people I know live in the city where I was to play my first Czech gig. We then had to head back to Pardubice that night (or morning) and left the club at around 4:20am. I slept most of the way back and remember waking up just outside Tomas' parents flat' at 7.20am. I went straight to bed for a couple more hours sleep and woke up at 9.45am feeling slightly worse for wear. We then had to go straight to Prague Airport for my flight which was due to leave at 3pm. We got there about 1pm and I thanked Tomas for being such an excellent host. I had a bite to eat at the airport and also saw the biggest TV i have ever seen in my life. A 65 inch HD TV which would look great on my living room wall. You can see a photo of it in the photo gallery I have posted, the link is below. I got to Amsterdam at 4:45pm, resisted the temptation to go and see the Red Light District at night and decided to stay in the airport till my onward flight to Glasgow at 9pm. I passed the time by sitting down and reading Saturday's Sun newspaper while CNN was on in the background reporting the news that Saddam Hussein had been sentenced to death. I had a shower at the hotel located in the Airport as I didn't have time for one in the morning, accessed the internet, had some dinner and then took off from Amsterdam at 9pm. We arrived back in Glasgow at 9:40pm and as we descended over the city, there were fireworks going off all over Glasgow which we got a really good view of. I arrived back in Oban at midnight and it was straight to the local pub to meet some of my friends and catch up on the weekend's stories. All in all, it was an awesome weekend and the gig was superb. Everyone I met was so friendly and I hope I get the opportunity to go back to the Czech Republic again. Photos can be seen at the following link. The first two were taken in the centre of Amsterdam - http://www.stuart-fraser.co.uk/czech.htm Thanks for taking the time to read this guys. It's quite a long report but I can't stress enough how good it was Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 absolutely wikked report stuart, sounds like a dream (apart from the long journeys i nthe car - i always struggle to sleep in cars!) Top report and pics, and top effort! P.S. how were the cdj100's? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stuart F Posted November 8, 2006 Author Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 The CDJ-100s were actually OK. I knew beforehand that it was gonna be 100s at the gig but I hadn't used them for a long time. Almost 2 years I think. As soon as I went on them though, I had a feel and practice with the jog wheel in my headphones and just remembered not to push it forward as much as I would do with a CDJ-1000. I was quite surprised that I got used to them so fast and my first mix was sound Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aza Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 Greath, thorough read there Stuart & a great insight. Bet it was a quality time and something you will remember... Nice pictures too - would love to go abroad and play Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bigsteve Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 Superb report, sounds totally spot on. I agree with you about the rail link to Amsterdam - have used it many times myself and its just so easy and reasonably priced as well. The Glasgow one will surely get off the ground soon as I hear about it loads in work - part of a wider transport strategy. Shame you didn't catch the Dam in full swing, it truly is a sight! Really glad your gig went well, some excellent tunes in there. Rough on the lack of sleep, but I'm sure the adrenalin kept you going! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissie Brown Posted November 8, 2006 Report Share Posted November 8, 2006 Thanks for a such a brilliant report- very interesting. How many people do you reckon were at your gig? Amsterdam is one of my favourite cities which l've been to many times. Pity you didn't get to spend more time there as it is a very exciting place. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dewi Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 only thing of note really was the building I passed with cannabis plants on show inside. First time I had seen one to be honest. :roll: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Max Kane Posted November 9, 2006 Report Share Posted November 9, 2006 Wicked report Stuart, glad everything went off well for you Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Quadrant Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 Fantastic report, I enjoyed the read. Congrats young sir!! Make sure you keep us up to date with future gigs as you have done because you never know I might be able to make an appearance! I also enjoyed this: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bjorn Posted November 15, 2006 Report Share Posted November 15, 2006 Fantastic report, I enjoyed the read. Congrats young sir!! Make sure you keep us up to date with future gigs as you have done because you never know I might be able to make an appearance!I also enjoyed this: i was waiting for someone to comment o nthat, deffo agree tho quad Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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