We are still floating on Midwinter goodness, working on getting our words written down.
In the mean time please enjoy this latest contribution by Kees:

I went to see Omnia in Matrix Bochum on 27-11-2014. It was quite a while ago since I saw them last, and Bochum is not too far away from Eindhoven, so it should not have been a problem. However, it turned out to be quite the adventure.

I was a bit worried that I would not be able to leave on time from work, since I was in a loooong meeting. Fortunately it ended on time. But after that it was all downhill. I started my car at 17.15 and should have been in Bochum at 19.00, but the traffic was really horrible. It rained a bit and for some reason that makes everyone drive very slow it seems. There was a horrible traffic jam around Eindhoven, the road to Venlo was packed with trucks, and there was an ever bigger traffic jam on the A40 around Essen. Judging from the amount of Polizei and Notartzt cars that were racing by it must have been quite the traffic accident. When I finally arrived at Bochum it was 20.30 and Omnia had been playing for half an hour already. Matrix shares a parking lot with a supermarket and of course the lot was jam packed with cars. I had to circle it for quite a while before someone finally left and I got a spot for my car.

Then when I arrived at Matrix the security wouldn’t let me in because I had brought a SLR camera and they only allowed compacts and phones. I was able to get around that because Daphyd had made a pass for me proving Omnia invited me to come take photos. When I was finally in, I had to go down an incredible amount of stairs to go to the hall the band played in. When I got there, it turned out to be a very narrow and long tunnel with Omnia at the far end, and the entire tunnel was filled with crazy dancing, singing, and jumping Omnia fans. I almost gave up at this point, they were packed closer together than sardines in a can, and it was incredibly hot and humid in there.

But I dived in anyway. If I only wanted to listen to Omnia, I might as well just listen to a CD. With a lot of trouble and bumping in to people I managed to make it to within ten yards of the stage. It was impossible to get any further. On the way someone had accidentally pushed me to the wall, and that had jarred my F2.8 zoom lens so much that it would no longer focus, so I had to use my F4 spare to try and take some photos. (I am by now well versed in changing lenses while in the middle of a pandemonium.)

Fortunately from this point on the situation improved a lot. I was able to make it to the bar at the left side of the tunnel, and they had air conditioning! A very welcome breath of fresh air. I decided to stay at that spot then and there and enjoy the music. Even though most of the band had not fully recovered from their flu, they put up a great show with enormous fire and enthusiasm and they really worked the crowd up to a frenzy. Some songs were livened up by Kelvin Kalvus, the crystal ball contact juggler, who even performed blindfolded during one song, and never dropped a ball during all his crazy stunts. The sound equipment of Matrix was very good, Omnia sounded a lot better than they usually did at the MPS. I managed to take a few photos, and when the concert was over, I met my friends, and after the signing there was time for a chat with the band.

Matrix security had shown themselves from their good side then, because one of the fans that had visited the concert was a lovely woman in a wheelchair, and security had carried her all the way down the stairs for the concert and back up again after it was over, that was very nice of them. Faith in humanity restored!

Now I’ll have a look at my photos, I hope there’s a few good ones among them.

– Kees


For more photo’s, check: http://www.pbase.com/kees_s/omniabochum