Well, to be honest it was a gig I waited almost 16 years for. The gates of the Blue Hole were supposed to open at 19 p.m., but for my surprise when I arrived to the club even a few minutes before the opening time the first act was on stage, he-he. It was Hungarian DARK CLOUDS whose brand of groovy Deathcore was familiar to me quite well. The five-piece sounded very clear so it was interesting to listen to their powerful set of Hardcore influenced Death Metal. The band mostly played songs of their well-done "Global Depressing System" album, but they used to play one BOLT THROWER cover song too! This pretty well-covered song also featured TESSTIMONY's brand new vocalist. After their half an hour set I've started to search the place where the guys from D.R.I. dwell, ha-ha... Quite fast so to say I found Kurt Brecht (vocalist) at the band's merchandise table and we drown into a long chat about the band's past, present and future happenings! During the chat I had the chance to buy some cool D.R.I. merch (you can see one weared on me top left, ha-ha)!!! Unfortunately no CDs and LPs left for the Hungarian gig (I suppose because this time the fans were really hungry to get their hands on some pretty hard-to-get D.R.I. stuff), except the Beer City compilation CD called "Counter Attack" that featured four D.R.I. songs (as listed) and one hidden track alongside with a bunch of other cool hardcore/punk/thrash acts, ha-ha!

Hey, in a while Spike Cassidy (guitarist) also showed up at the merch place and we did a photo together (you can see it top right)! Cool! Then I had the chance to get acquainted with Jeff Fögerty (tour manager and sound-engineer) of D.R.I. who was damn cool and invited me to the backstage, where the guys prepared themselves for the long-awaited Hungarian Crossover Attack! Then I've signed some D.R.I. stuff for my friends and myself! It was quite interesting for me to see how the guys spend their time before their live appearance! Everyone was tuned to have fun, ha-ha, even Spike who worked hard with his second guitar's floyd rose, which was rusty a bit and was hard to replace the strings thus. During the resque process I've got a lot of tips and tricks regarding guitar techniques. Thanks for the free lesson Spike! Below find enclosed some photos with Harald Oimoen (bass), Rob Rampy IV (drums), Jeff Fögerty and of course with Spike and his faithful guitar!

OK, the time has come it was about 22 p.m. or so. The crowd began to shout loud three letters - D.R.I.!!! There were about 300 die-hard maniacs in the hall. And a few minutes later the guys started their amazing show with the classic "Dirty Rotten LP" song "Who Am I?" (it was also re-recorded later for the "Full Speed Ahead" album). It was pure old-school hardcore feeling to see the guys performing such classic songs as "I Don't Need Society" (during this tune was like in hell in the pit, ha-ha), "Couch Slouch", "Violent Pacification", "I'd Rather Be Sleeping", "Argument Then War", "The Five Year Plan" (this "Crossover" song made the crowd moshing pretty hard), "Suit And Tie Guy" ("4 Of A Kind" classic), and then there were some very dynamic "Thrashzone" era songs like "Thrashard" (fantastic song!), "Beneath The Wheel" and "Abduction" (Jeff's favorite one!), "Acid Rain" (huh, another killer thrash anthem, which starts the incredible "Definition" album), "Dry Heaves" and the list goes on and on... If I remember well it was "The Application" song, which finished their unforgettable show. Hey, it was partly sung by Harald and Spike, by the way, as Kurt disappeared somehow from the stage during this track! They played about 36 songs (!!!) in total that was supported by a pretty tough and heavy sound production! Unfortunately during some songs Spike's amplifier (or the transformer itself) didn't work perfect, but it happens sometimes, isn't it? All in all, it was something I won't forget for a long while and I want to thank the D.R.I. family for it! It was simply a killer thrashing party! And we eagerly wait the new D.R.I. masterpiece!!! Hey, I almost forgot to mention, that they also played a new song, which was totally in the vein of the "Full Speed Ahead" album! Oh, and the band had the chance to record 4 new songs in Germany when they had a day-off! So hopefully we will experience the new D.R.I. stuff this year! Below you have the complete photo session of D.R.I.'s live show!

After this brilliant Punk/Thrash/Hardcore show I furtherly had the chance to stay with the D.R.I. team! Helped them to bring their equipment to the tour-bus and continued the talk with Jeff about a possible Ukrainian appearance of D.R.I.! That would be really killer, am I right? It was about 3 o'clock a.m. when I left the place with all my pleasant memories!

P.S.: Sorry for not writing about the other participating bands that night, but as you might noticed I've been busy with D.R.I., he-he...