Wet Sand of Finland. Red Hot Chili Peppers live in Tampere (1.08.2012).
Here it is - The Setlist of my dream! MUUUTHAAAFUKKAA!!
Hey, see this little white line with Wet sand on it? - This is for me!
David, who by that time knew me already, suggested to send an SMS to Anthony asking to play my request.
So here is the deal.
Before going to Finland for the show (after Moscow and Kiev gigs) I thought: “Well, If I did not succeed in havin’ Anthony’s sign… (I really wanted to… but sitting next to hotel all day long is not my method though)… I’ll try to Knock-on-peppers-door and have a feedback by other means, which was a request for my beloved and very rare song WET SAND: according to statistics after Josh has joined a band Peppers played it for 4 times only.
I decided to make my dream come true with help of David - official photographer of Chilies, who made friends with lots of Russian fans by that time. I think he remembered me especially after photoshoot on a Red Square, when he pictured my t-shirt with Kiedis-alike tattoo on the back and immediately sent it to Anthony. ;)
So we arrieved in Tampere early in the morning and by 8 a.m. were near stadium. We found the line, checked in (I’ve got number 70 and ended up in first row in front of the stage). Skipping the details, all I want to say is in Finland as in any other European country people DO have understanding what the LINE is. So there weren’t any cases of some douchebags cutting into the line as it were in Moscow and Kiev. But what ever…
David didn't show up. In Kiev he went to the crowd near stadium, while in Tampere he did not at all. Finally we saw him before first encore, 18 p.m. Till this moment I held a defense in the first raw since 16:30 p.m. It was impossible even to sit! Crowd went completely nuts! I was like “guys we need to sit, cause we have to wait for 3 hours more before encore” But no one cared, everyone squeezed sooo hard, I could hardly breathe. Still it was 3 hours BEFORE the gig! At some point I understood that my legs gone numb from the side pressure and if I step back I will lose my spot and gone with the first wave. After 30 minutes in such conditions I had a giant desire to give up and step back. But however thoughts of my dream, Wet Sand, and the fact I was waiting for Dave to take a chance kept me on my position! :)
As I said before, Dave appeared by 18 p.m. We called him, he saw us and smiled and came close. In Saint-Petersburg I bought a little present for him, tiny Russian hat with red star on it and a frige magnet. Somehow I managed to pull them out of my pocket and saying «From Russia with love” gave them to David. He cracked up and tried a hat on.
Then I asked:
- David, do you know song "Wet Sand"?
- Yeeeah, I know it of course!
- Do you like this song?
- Yeah, like it veeerymuch))) - he said and smiled
- I follow Peppers from Russia to Ukrain and Finland now... This is my favourite song and I have a dream to hear it in live... Could you ask Chili Peppers to...... David interrupted me.
- Oh, of course! Let's write sms to Anthony!
BOOOOYAAAH!!!
Here is a photo of that moment. Right in front of me he took his IPhone and said “Let’s send your request to Anthony Kiedis”. SMS_to_Kiedis, KIEDIS, omggg...... Daaaaamn I felt completely amazed. However after all he said that he’s not sure but hope it will work.
The avalanche of “Thank-you-very-much” crushed on David. =))))
and then…. Anthony had a really long chat with Josh on stage. They started jamming and I heard it… tone of first chord reminded me of Wet Sand, however I kept silent and didn’t say anything to my girls. Jam was going to an end and then… that was it…. First chord, second, AND EVERYBODY KNEW THAT WAS IT…. I MADE IT, gotta tell you guys it blew me away somewhere in outer space. )))) This was probably the best moment of all 4 gigs I was at. (including show in London/ November 2011) This meant to me more than a sign, which I still don’t have ( but hardly want to))) Yo, I’m writing this right now with tears in my eyes.
During the song David came to us and took lots of pictures of pure emotions he was looking for. I sent him a blow kiss and he answered the same with his sincere Californian smile.
So this is how it was.
Check the video out (thanks to Misha Tselovalnicov) starting 1:07:
Click to viewAnd the whole HD version of Wet Sand spotted by Andrew Dorofeev from the firs row. (thanks man)
On a photo of set list you can also see a guitar pick Josh gave me.
Me and Josh “got in touch” since show in Kiev. I was there standing in front of Anthony in a red snapback with LA logo on it. Somehow Josh managed to so see my cap and gave me a Thumb up and a blow kiss. A gave him three in a response, lol. He smiled so damn cute I melted and fell in love with him instantly :D
In Tampere it happened again. I’ve got his eyes on me and sent him a kiss, he acted like he caught it, pressed it to his heart, then pulled it out and threw back to me.
Second time he looked at me and asked me to show a print on my t-shirt ( with Ukrainian style yellow-blue peppers logo and I'm With You Kiev on it). I showed it, he gave a thumb up and I saw him sayin’ “I love it”. After the show he asked a camera man to give me and my friend Julia a guitar picks. To be honest I almost died because some 18 year old Finnich guy standing behind me started punching me in a head with his elbows to grab my pick, but eventually I survived and a trophy-pick was mine ;)))
There was another one awesome moment with a Russian Chili Peppers flag I took from Yuri Gromov with a mission to mark Russian fans presence in Europe.
Photographers were to interfering the view so we waited until they will leave the stage and unfurled the flag. “Look Around” kicked In and maaaaaan Flea’s face was priceless. He saw us first, looked at me with his widest gap-toothed smile and popped eyes and lips out in his style, kept staring at me eyes to eyes. In this moment I forgot what was my name and did the same face expression, lol. Unforgettable visible contact moment!
Next one who saw the flag was Chad, he pointed a drumstick on us and smiled.
What happened then was something nobody expected. At the beginning of Look Around Anthony looked at us and our flag and said: “Wassup RUSSIA?”
Check out the link starting 24:37:
...Yo... I couldn’t even imagine “Anthony - Mr. NO” would say this!! What's up Russia, OOOMG.... =)))))))))
Mission Accomplished. This would be remembered forever.
After the show I was asking everyone from the crew for a setlist. David was not around. We almost lost a hope when girls from another bus from Russia asked Ryan. Big bald guy covered in tattoos. Many of as already knew him at the moment. We gave him a present for Josh, - Russian Balalaika. And then I asked for a setlist, he was so kind, he smiled and said “yeah, one second”, and pulled a setlist out of his pocket. YES. A set list with that little white line and Wet sand written on it. Special for Elena Motornaya from Peppers with Love.
Here he is. My Hero - Ryan.
Thank You, Ryan!!!
That’s it. Piece and funk to everyone!
PS
Imagine dreams are coming true.
There are millions of chances that they will do ;)
Thanks Yuri Mashin for thanslation.