Saturday we played in Roermond for the first time. The nice people behind Rockschool Open Air put up this festival for the first time and had no one less than their major and people from the local government attending. All festivals needs some time to establish, and there are always a few hiccups here and there. This year someone – I think he has a Norse origin – were a bit too enthusiastic behind his drum kit kicking through the bass-drum skin (how metal is that!). It took some time to get a new one, so the sets of the bands later had to be cut a bit short. We had a nice time there though, and especially for me meeting up with the Bergeners of Batallion. If you have ever met anyone from Norway, you know the Viking way of drinking. There were no exceptions Saturday…

This gig was our last before the summer kicks in. The plan is now to fully focus on making a new album. We already have around 7 songs we are working on and we are all super enthusiastic about them! We are in a very creative place at the moment, ideas are flowing! We found a new place we will do preproduction of the new songs. Very cool and relaxing place. It is really fun for me this time to be part of this song making process from the beginning. A few days ago Frank and me sat down with a brand new song we ended up really happy about. Today I am off to work in the studio with René on some other new songs. I can’t tell you much about the direction of the songs, but I can say it is going really well! And one more thing: the Gathering never stops surprising

I had a little photo session for a project here earlier this week with the multi talented and lovely Gema. She is working her portfolio and asked me to do a few for The Gathering. If you want to have a little look you can check her gallery here

Enjoy the summer/winter where ever you are on the globe and we will keep you posted with any news coming

Lots of love

Silje and The Gathering

There is so much to tell about this trip! I could make this a really long story , but I’ll try to cut it down a bit

A few surprises turned up before leaving home:

A week before the benefit concert we got some really good news from the Dutch artist organisation Sena. They wanted to help us by sponsoring 5000 Euros for our flights (it is quite expensive going to Chile from Holland, so this helped a lot!!).

Just after this, Hans got a really bad ear-infection (he was almost deaf on his right ear!) and had to go to the emergency hospital for treatment and I got a soar throat. At the same time we were all still very busy getting things ready. A bit hectic and stressful, but we had good spirits and looked forward to the trip a lot!

Since I live in Norway I went down to Holland a bit earlier to do a few rehearsals before going West. Marjolein, Frank and me prepared for our acoustic show at Radio Futuro in Chile (check out our little clip here).  The day after we did a full band rehearsal and packed all our stuff for the next day. Friday morning we all met up at Franks place together with our super cool sound engineer Wouter and off we went to Düsseldorf. Only René wasn’t with us, because he was leaving with another flight as he would stay longer in Chile with his girlfriend Gema, who was already in Chile preparing for the show.

In Paris we had a flight transfer and there we met some TG fans who were also going to Chile (hi Rodrigo, hope you made it to the show!). The flight went pretty good, although it was 14 hours. Some of us where lucky to get some sleep in the plane, but some didn’t at all.

Down on the ground, we met René and Gema again and also our friend Fran. The Dutch Embassy in Chile was so kind to sponsor us with a van and driver for the weekend (it was a lot to do in short time, so this was fantastic help to get, driving back and forth to venue several times, radio station, interviews etc). The driver picked us up at the airport and took us to the hotel for a quick shower and to get some food. Then we went off to the studio in Radio Futuro.

We met a group of really nice TG fans outside the radio station who welcomed us with open arms and lots of smiles. They came with us in to the studio to have a little meet&greet and listen to us playing. Frank, Marjolein and me did acoustic versions of Treasure and No One Spoke plus our cover of Daniel (by Bat for Lashes). The guys at Radio Futuro were really cool, and made us feel very welcome. Thanks a lot for a superb time!

After finishing, we had a few hours to walk about in the city. We decided to hit for San Cristóbal, one of the few mountains in the city. It was a beautiful day, sunny and we all got the feeling of being little bit on holiday: eating empanadas, sightseeing a bit of the city and relax for a few hours. On top of this mountain we had some food and shared half of it to the stray dogs coming over with really sad and hungry eyes…

Being on this top, watching the sun go down in the massive city, just below the huge statue of virgin Mary gave us time to take everything in a bit. For me it had been such a few hectic weeks (even months) and now I was really feeling the beauty of it all, actually making it to Chile with the guys doing a benefit concert, and be able to help some people in need!

The guys went out for dinner in the evening, but I had a soar throat and went to bed early to get as much rest as much as possible before the show. After all we had been travelling for almost 24 hours! The reception woke me up twice though, once with flowers for Marjolein to be delivered and once with some other request. Later on I wake up around 6:30 of my bed shaking.. another aftershock..quite weird to feel, lying on 8^th floor… but it was just a small one, and I was so spaced out of tiredness, I managed to fall back to sleep again.

Next morning we had a great breakfast together, got a little cup of Chilean honey from the breakfast buffet and got some Strepsils for my throat (thanks Fran!!). Some went off to the venue for prepare for sound check, some stayed at the hotel. At the venue we got to meet the guys of Crisalida and Paula Barouh (the support bands) and the amazing crew of Teatro Caupolican! They were all super helpful and so nice to us!

There have been a lot of activities going on before and around this concert. One thing was family and friends of The Gathering also supported with money and Radio Futuro gave away 65 tickets to a school in Chile. It was also organized for people to donate food and water by the door that would be distributed to people in need by Hogar de Cristo foundation. The Gathering also gave away CD’s, merch and other goodies for people to get as well as doing a big meet & greet after the show with the winners. All this was arranged by volunteers, the crew at Teatro Capolican, the Gathering community in Chile and our fantastic Gema who did an amazing job getting it all together!
For me this whole concert was extra exciting, knowing that around 3500 people were waiting just downstairs to see The Gathering and they had never seen me before. I remember my third gig with the Gathering in June at Graspop/Belgium in front of ca 4-5000 people, I really enjoyed it. So I crossed my fingers it would be just as fun here. I have to say, it was so cool playing Graspop, but doing this was…absolutely wonderful! You could almost touch the atmosphere; it was magic from first note! The people at Teatro Caupolican blew me away with their warm welcome, their beautiful presence and fantastic support! I hoped for a nice response, but we got something better. I will never forget it!

This night we all raised USD 25.000 for the Red Cross in Chile in co-operation with Chile Ayuda. They will do some really good work with the money. The lottery (with number one prize René’s Eastwood guitar!) raised another USD 2.500 especially for the fishermen in Pichilemu. And also the Hogar de Cristo foundation will take care of distributing over 90 boxes with food and water that was given by the door. Amazing! Thank you so much!!

After the show we felt the need to sit down a bit and just let it all sink in, so we went to a nice bar with the promoter and some friends to have a proper pisco sour and talk about the night, celebrating it went so well!

During our short stay in Chile we got to meet so many beautiful people and talked to some telling us we actually made a difference coming over. One sweet girl met us at the airport in Santiago. She told me she lost her aunt in the earthquake and also her family experienced a lot of other damages. Really heavy things… She was standing there, smiling, and she told me how happy she was to meet us and that she truly enjoyed the concert the night before… Then I just have no words anymore…

The day after the concert we already had to go back to Holland. It was a crazy trip, many hours of travelling, little sleep, some pain killers, one lost voice, one eye infection, one deaf ear, but sooo many many happy memories that will stay with us forever! J

Chi chi chi le le le viva Chileeeeeee!!

We want to thank all the wonderful people who made this special concert come true: Gema, Wouter, Jose Luis Corral, SENA, Chile Ayuda, Paula Flores, Dutch Embassy in Chile, Catering Miel, Teatro Caupolican, Conapach, gathering.cl, Radio Futuro, Rockaxis, Hernan Rojas, Juan Carlos Araneda, Cruz Roja, all volunteers, friends and family in Holland, and everyone else that has helped. We couldn’t have done it without you!

It has been a wonderful experience & we’re grateful for that!

All the best,
Hans, Frank, Marjolein, René and Silje.

We are proud to announce that the Gathering will be playing in Teatro Caupolican, Santiago, Chile on April 11^th 2010!

Normally it would take months to put up a concert like this, but when we heard about the earthquake we immediately felt the need to do something to help. The Chilean people have always given us such a warm welcome and giving this special concert is the most natural and personal way for us to do something back. We hope to not only raise money for the people that are in need of help, but also to give some hope and strength to rebuild this beautiful country after such a natural disaster.

It will also be the first time for our new vocalist Silje Wergeland, who joined the band for the latest album The West Pole to play in Chile. She is very happy to be part of this very special event & has also worked really hard to make this come true.

In cooperation with “Chile ayuda” the money raised will be donated to Red Cross Chile to help the people in need after the damages from the earthquake.

Presale tickets will be $ 7.000,- (pesos) and it is also possible to donate non-perishable food at the door. Tickets are available through www.ticketmaster.cl

We are feeling so lucky we’re able to reach out a helping hand for people to rebuild their homes and lives again. So amigos, spread the word, come and join us and let’s create a beautiful evening together to help the people in need!

Our very best
Marjolein, Hans, Frank, René and Silje

The Gathering would like to give a BIG THANK YOU to our amazing crew, the promoter and our partners in Chile who have been and will all be working hard to get this together for the good cause.