I wanna get lost in your Rock 'n' Roll and drift away.

Lets see if I can type up this post while superglueing my nail. Don't ask, bitch broke literally in the middle, and I don't even want to think about the pain if it breaks off completely. Brrrr. I don't really know when I crossed the line of concerts being fun and more of a chore but it happened. While I spent looking forward to Mondays concert for years (yes literally years because COVID), now it felt like going will be like just another errand (I was totally wrong though because it ended up being really amazing). I suspect it's the people, people ruin all good things. In theory. And don't even get me even started, I feel disgusted with myself and mostly ungrateful. I know how many people want this and never get the chance. Maybe the recent Crue drama adds up to it too. Maybe just the fact that I am so emotionally tired that there's hardly words. I avoid all local concerts and events like the plague because five minutes in human company is about 4:50 minutes too long. Sigh. But I would be unfair if all I did was complain. Met a group of people (imagine that from my own country, that saying that we are everywhere is completely true) which were actually really nice. Surprise surprise.

I've been to Budapest before, it's a charming city, the parliament and Fishermans Bastion alone are worth a visit, but this was my first concert in Hungary. I suppose the fact that I love Italy most adds to that. But it was a new experience especially when despite them being in Europe they don't use Euros (smart people actually) and figuring out their insane currency when they hand you a 10 000 bill…yeah that's an experience. And the language you guys! If you think Scandinavia is exotic…you aint ever heard Hungarian yet…not one, not one single word makes sense. You'll break your tongue just trying to repeat after them.

Y'all wanna hear a little secret? Ya know when I used to say I don't give a rats ass about no big white wedding? I mean in theory I don't. But maybe getting married up on Fishermans Bastion wouldn't be so bad…the wedding pictures (full on gothic weddding OF COURSE!) would look absolutely stunning. Even more so if the husband standing next to me was Tom Cruise BUT lets not go there right now. (But you guys know we just make sense right? Hah)

Now lets leave that and focus on the concert. First the venue. It's called the ''MVM Dome'' and you guys! It's absolutely gorgeous, edgy modern design which glows in the colors of the Hungarian flag at night. It is a completely brand new venue that only opened in December 2021, and it was actually originally build for the European men's handball championship. It's a multifunctional arena so it's also absolutely perfect for concerts which is what I find sometimes when building arenas falls to the side. They create sports arenas with poor sound and concerts never sound right in them. This one aint that way. Only eight concerts were held in the venue up till now, mine being the eight. And guys! The venue still smells new, it's shiny, it's beautiful, the seats are not hard plastic but cushioned, the design of it, the lights, the sound, the freaking bathrooms! Everything is perfect. To my fellow concert goers you will understand how much a clean bathroom in a concert venue is worth. Lol. And even more how much it's worth to have basically a ton of bathrooms on each floor of the venue, which means no hour long waiting lines to actually go.

Few more ''fun facts'', the venue has the capacity of about 20 000 people which makes it one of the biggest venues in Europe and also about the same size as the O2 arena in London. How about that? It was also my first time in a venue this big, usually they're smaller or it's a much bigger venue, meaning a stadium.

Another fun fact which might be useful to all y'all going to Hungary or specifically this venue. First of Hungarians like to complicate some things. The gates, rows, seats, entrances etc all very well marked and numbered so that's no issue. But they only have print at home tickets which we all hate obviously (I need the nice tickets to hold as memory forever not a stupid A4 paper sheet come on!) and they are not in English so everything on the ticket is Hungarian, exibit A;

 

I assume y'all understand about as much as I do huh? Lol. Second useful tip, so while Hungarians are in European union they do accept Euros but they don't really update the trading list so you might end up paying far more for things than you would in Forinti, plus it's less of a hassle and you don't have to worry about amounts spend given that most places (like the Burger king down the block) only take up to 20 Euros. Second thing inside the MVM Dome. Don't take money only a credit card. They do not allow you to pay drinks with anything but a credit card, which was a bit of a surprise, I usually never take a credit card with, don't really wanna lose it but of course by another lucky coincident I had the card on me. Drinks? Ridiculously cheap! Seriously not kidding. I paid 10 Euros for alc free beer, ice tea and water and count in 3 eur since you have to pay 1 eur as downpayment for a cup. I mean what! Water alone on Ernst Happel Stadium in Vienna is 7 eur. I was pleasantly suprised about that. Right also a dumb thing, they don't give you money back for a cup but a token which you can use next time you come. I mean I'm not saying there won't be a next time, but it's ridiculous returning from a concert with pockets full of tokens like you just came from a god  damn casino. But seriously though how gorgeous is this venue really?

Now let me tell you about this insane luck I had. I bought these tickets very early when they went on sale, I think it was like late October or early November of last year and I was broke due to spending SO much on the Boss, I had to settle for higher category seating because tix were cheaper up there, which is fine you go to listen with your ears not eyes after all. Right, she says, while screaming bloody murder ''Joe I love you''. Ha ha. Either way nothing sounds cheap in Hungarian because their Forint has such low value. Price is up on the ticket but I believe they were about 33,900. That DOES not sound cheap at all lol. But really it's about 90 Euros. Which for a seating area way up high is very expensive, but then again if you go see such two legends, the price is not that high after all. NOW! I was inside the venue very early, literally right after the doors opened at 6, because really there aint nothing to do around this venue, no shopping mall, just 2 fast food joints to pass the time…and secondly I really wanted to see the support band.

Now because I was so early, I was walking around enjoying watching the fans, you guys we're talking long haired makeup wearing metalheads! So sexy. Would you also believe I bumped into two of our own musicians it was all ''oh my god hi can't believe you're here'' cue in people with me being all like ''what the hell! You guys are friends???'' it was hilarious, really, and I keep getting sidetracked. The lucky thing! The venue was not sold out at all, tickets were very expensive and they put seating area down on the ground which is absurd on a metal show. Anyways during walking around I chat with several volunteers, compliment one's outfit and she tells me that she can upgrade my ticket completely free because the venue is not sold out and they were moving people from higher seating area to lower seating area. WHAT! You guys because I came early (so kinky) I had my 90 Euro (34 000 forinti) ticket upgraded to a 190 Euro (71 200 forinti) ticket and was right down by the stage. And to think I was debating if I should go at all after that Crue drama. As if my Joey alone wasn't worth it.

You guys. YOU GUYS! ASDFGHJKL! The stage was so close I'm still shrieking. That feeling of being so close to someone you love and idolise? Ah! Now the opening band. Abahazi. RT. Hungarians. They sing in Hungarian. Heavy sound, hard rock, amazing voice but he might as well be singing about Justine Beaver and I'd not know. Ha ha. But seriously I absolutely loved them, they were fun and also it's so great to see when local bands get a shot to play with the big dogs. And to be completely honest, don't you think more bands should rock out in their own language? It's not a barrier of any sort, if it's good it's good, no matter what language it's in and maybe we can all pick up a couple of words listening to them. Yeah lets pretend that will happen. Hungarian is just….special. But seriously if you ever feel like trying out something completely different, give them a listen, they're really cool.

Now…in theory the boys share the headlining spot which means one night it's Def Leppard first and Motley Crue second and some nights the other way around. In Budapest it was Leppard first and might as well because we all know who I happen to prefer out of the two. Yep, I still get Hysteria when Joe Elliott is near. But listen aside from screaming Joe I love you I didn't throw any underwear at him though I totally could because I was really close to the stage. Both bands tour EU pretty rarely tbh especially Crue that were on a farewell tour some time back, hah.

So this time before the concert starts with the two headliners Def Leppard have a countdown, 15 minutes. Kinda practical if you think about it no? Got time for that last bathroom break or one more drink. As the last seconds tick away numbers go from green to red  and flash a huge ''take off'' sign. They were playing David Bowies Heroes just before the countdown stopped and venue went dark. All my hairs stood up tbh it was amazing. Joey was like ''do you wanna get rocked?'' please do not even doubt where did my filthy mind go at that point…they actually opened with ''Take what you want''. And it seems like the venue was a tiny bit mellow at that point. It kinda showed that most people in there actually came to see the Crue. Like oh my god you guys I freaked the fuck out when Joe was walking up and down that cat walk with his no longer blond but now silver hair. It looks amazing on him, and the jokes and smiles and hair flipping is all prince Charming and I'm hyperventilating. I kinda love him okay.

My voice was kinda gone the next morning from all the Hysteria tbh but whatcha gonna do? Show the band on stage some love right? Scream and sing along as loud as you can, that's what's it all about aint it. They played all the best songs; Let's get rocked, Animal, Foolin', Armageddon it, Kick (which is from the new album) Love bites (oh my god I am begging you bite me please for the love of everything holy and pure on this planet), Promises, This guitar and When love and hate collide which were both semi acoustic, and the second one was an amazing version started off acoustic and ended up fully electric. Amazing. There was also; Rocket, Bringing on the heartbreak, Hysteria, Pour some sugar on me (you can only guess what happened at that point or how my shrieking seemed to amuse all the boys around me lol), Rock of ages and they closed with Photograph. I loved all the pictures that were displayed on the big screens at that point. Baby Joe Elliott and Steve Clark? Uh fuck yes. I mean all of them of course but yeah. Priorities.

One thing that never changes that I just ADORE is all the love for Rick Allen, the guys and the crowd, cheering him on and giving him praise. YES! I mean fuck yes. Always welcome and he absolutely deserves all of it. That drum solo in between? I'd not be able to do that with 4 hands nevermind one. And another never changing thing that I love is Phil, half naked strutting up and down the cat walk, with scarves hanging from his guitar belt, worn out biker boots and attitude that makes a girl feel hot under her collar. My god that man is just confidence and sex and just gah! But honey aint like Sav and Vivian are far behind him tbh. Actually, this entire band is just oh my god okay.

The whole show with the music, the voice the lasers the sound, everything down to the last note and the last tiny detail everything is absolutely perfect. There's not a thing misplaced and it really shows that they're complete professionals. My only complaint might be that the show didn't stray much from the one in 2019, it was pretty much the same down to the set list. I mean it's no issue for me I'm just super happy to see them again, but I would have loved some songs I haven't heard live from them, like maybe Man enough or Make love like a man, which is one of my faves of course. Oh OH! You guys in between there Joe asked Rick to give him the beat for the next song and you know how he did that? Singing ''Give me the beat boy and free my soul I wanna get lost in your Rock n' roll and drift away...''. I shrieked a little bit because yeah I really love that song.

Here's some pics for y'all they are what they are, whatever the hell my iPhone thought it's the best lol. Also completely unedited because well idk I don't have the will power or patience or just desire to deal with them lately. But also I do believe that some things shouldn't be edited, some pictures should be like Rock n roll, not perfect, raw, like whiskey, burns a little when it goes down. Check out that last one I know it's not super sharp but there was a moment between Rick and I just sayin.

Alright so after Leppard you got the Crue. Obvs. I had to look back to my ticket when was the final tour. Hah. My concept of time is so warped you guys. It was in November 2015 in Milan, the Mediolanum forum, also such a great venue. You know what Nikki said at that concert? Like he had that whole speech on his love of knives and where it comes from and so on, but he also said ''You know someday somebody's gonna look at you and they're gonna say ''you know what Motley Crue is pretty cool'' and you're gonna say ''well fuck you cuz I was at their last fucking concert in Milano Italy'' ''. How's that turning out for us Nikki? Hah. They build up the anticipation with Mozarts ''Requiem in D minor K.626'' it feels etheral like you're in a church or something and you know what? It's kinda really amazing. The show starts off with CNN like news broadcasting with breaking news. I mean appropriate for their show and their drama hah. I loved that they opened up with Wild side it's one of my faves obviously, hence the blog name. They also did; Shout at the devil, Too fast for love, Don't go away mad (that was not good but more on that later on), Saints of Los Angeles (I love how Vince sings this part ''saints of los angeliiiisss'' hah), Live wire, Looks that Kill, then it's a newer version of The dirt (est. 1981) with Machine gun Kelly (he appears on the big screen) and you know what? They kinda fit together really really well. Omg. Ha ha. I love the lyrics obviously.

''Give me more sex, more tats, more blood, more pain, more threats, more theft, torn jeans, cocaine, more pretty strippers with the big red lips, making big tips, showing off the nice big tits, ha!''

Height of inteligence you guys. No, but really I love the song.

Next is a guitar solo and as much as I wanna hate John 5 I really can't because he's kinda amazing. Ugh. Like ughhhhhhh. You also got a great mix of Rock n roll part 2, Smoking in the boys room, Helter Skelter, Anarchy in the UK and Blitzkrieg bop, you can imagine how the crowd totally lost it there and if I was paying enough attention the girls that do the back vocals and dancing actually had Sex pistols shirts on. You can't do without Home sweet home with Tommy on piano, Dr. Feelgood, Same old situation, Girls girls girls, Primal scream and they close off with Kickstart my heart which is soooo freaking loud, also cue in huge loud explosions at the end of this song. I literally twitched a little. Did not expect that. Hah.

Now first things first. A lot of people bitch about Vince's voice. Yeah, it's quite bad on some songs. He butchered Don't go away mad, but listen he's no longer twenty something and as I always say if you want perfection stay at home and listen to the vinyl. He's trying, he's doing his best, he shows up for us and I think that should matter the most. SO he aint perfect, big fucking deal, he still managed to raise the venue that was there pretty much just for them, they were NOT as excited during the Leppards set lol. And I agree maybe he shouldn't torture himself and just let it go but listen it's gotta be hard, it's all he knew all his life. I liked the show regardless, but what I would do? Just turn down the volume a tiny bit. Oh my god. That was SO LOUD. Haha. I honestly can't remember last time I left a concert venue and had my ears ringing for an hour. Lol. I mean okay heavy metal gotta be loud but that was holy shit really loud.

The two back up dancers? Nicknamed ''Nasty habits''? Yeah okay I might go gay for them. SO SEXY! Vince didn't spank them though but they did help bring a little more energy on stage and also back up vocals help Vince if you ask me. Nikki had a really big flag and told us they finally fucking made it to Hungary. Were they there for the first time? Anyone knows? I know they went on to Krakow Poland where they were for the first time. Anyways he also picked up a random fan, young girl probably around 12 or so, told us Rock n roll will survive given that there's new generations listening to it. Yeah that's true, when there's kids listening to RNR instead of ''cajke'' (my fellow citizens will know) then there's still a little hope left for this world. It was ironic he told her ''listen to your mom and don't do drugs'' you're one to speak Nikki.

There's also a super smart speech from Tommy Lee. I mean the guy is every bit as crazy as he was in the 80's. Y'all watched the Pam and Tommy show? Yeah…same dude. He gave us a speech on missing out on everyone's beers ''the fuck is going on man, did everyone quit drinking?'' ha ha hahaha. And also ''another thing I aint seeing is titties'' which went on with the fact that everyone has them, no need to be shy about it and then some guy taking mercy on him showing him his ''man tits'' it was kinda hilarious tbh. Should we point out that we were an inch away from seeing more than we paid for? Someone had a poster ''Tommy give me your drumstick'' and yeah the drumstick? Can y'all guess without me spelling it out? He almost took his pants off. I mean…I guess we all know there'd be plenty to see right? That man has nothing to be embarassed about. Unluckily Tommy Jr. Stayed in his jeans. I heard in UK women obliged though and when he ranted about titties he did get to see quite a lot of them. Seems to me that European women are more uptight, given how same story happened in Milan and Croatia on other concerts. Y'all see Panthers shows in USA right? None of that here. Except in Germany, but those Germans are a species of their own. Oh shoot I'm mentioning Panthers here with Crue, jesus Nikki will smite me for this. Hah.

Lets talk about stage design for a quick second, out of nowhere in the middle of the show two huge women figures appear, I thought they're holograms but really they seemed to be blow up dolls (wink wink) and there's a ton of pointy thingies, like little platforms, which remind me of the GoT throne, girls are also chained at some point, microphones hanging from the ceiling are hanging on a coffin with a cross on it, it's a whole ordeal you guys. Lights are also much different from Leppard. While Leppard are all cool blue and green tones, Crue are all red and yellow. Excuse the cliche but they kinda remind me of heaven and hell. Idk if it's intentional but they sure gave me that vibe.

John 5? This one time he missed a note so bad I nearly choked. How was that possible is beyond me. Distracted by his woman in the front row perhaps? Her and Courtney Sixx with Ruby were there btw. I was joking that Ruby is the most interesting bit of the show. Hah. OH you guys will not believe this! I was in this sitting area that was looking straight into side stage watching people walking around and I keept looking at this dude with huge beard, looking very bikerish and I kept thinking why the fuck does he look familiar to me. Turns out? Zakk freaking Wylde. I could cry. The entire Pantera were on this show because they had a concert a day after ''Def Crue'' so they just casually dropped by. Seriously pay me no attention I'm just over here fucking sobbing. Oh right I keep getting distracted. John 5 is actually a great guitarist, I love his little strutts and twirls and guitars with lights. I really wanted to dislike him because you know loyal Mick Mars fan but I literally couldn't hate him because he's really kinda perfect. Isn't that the worst? When you wanna dislike someone for all the right reasons but you really can't because they make it impossible? Yeah. It sucks...here's some pics of the Crue guys as well...

 

Alright so the boys both promised ''see you next time'' and I hope they hold on to this promise. So I guess all I can say now is ''till next time''. Rather sooner than later, especially Leppard because we all know who I was really there for, and in case you have any doubts...