European Queensr?che Fans – A controversy of words or a solidified fact for peculiar talking earthlings?

A. What the hell is Europe?

Basically “the oldest” of the continents and “the world” as we knew it before 1492… Okay, that’s it for history class today; 85$ please! I guess most Americans might have a slight problem pointing Europe on the map… Maybe their fingers would rather land in Japan, it has such a nice figure. Maybe not… The point is that people living in a country of three hundred million souls and five different time zones… That’s pretty much a world to them. Complete and not negotiable… until the pond is crossed! Twice!

B. Queensr?che

The “item” of our desire, the essence of our passion… For Queensryche fans there are two options… IF you live in the US! One, you check the tour section over their official website (of course we are referring to the Internet years – I know it was harder in the preNet years so why bother?) or other gigs webpages (which used to update faster than “our” website – now how can this be, mate?) and book show tickets, trip means and accommodation, maybe even telling the other fans you’re coming in case you don’t wanna miss the parties and find someone to share a room with (The Ryche Human Network at large) and TWO, go back to the tour section to plan the next show/trip/room/peeps/parties/whatevah (British idiot… err… idiom).

C. IF, Pt. II (Back with no vengeance)

Now, for those NOT living in the USofA… It’s a bit different… Queensryche visit Europe frequently. Almost every year. That’s the good part… The “other” part is that they don’t visit all European countries. Understandable. The latter means that you probably have to fly abroad to see them live on stage. Well, that’s not necessarily bad, is it? Queensryche is the best excuse to travel! And travelling (not talking about basket ball now, please focus!), although not bad at all… it’s expensive – naturally. And that’s the fine line (or is it the thin line? Certain English band will revert with a lawsuit) that separates the “fans” from the FANS.

D. “Fans” and other assorted delicacies

“Says here Queensryche will play in London on the 16th… That’s nice cuz I only live thirty minutes away from the venue… Cool, I get to wear my brand new Def Leppard T-shirt…”

“Wow, says here Queensryche will play in London again! But I’ve seen them last year… Wondering what else is in town that week…”

Ladies and gentlemen, you have just witnessed the classic “fan’s” reaction. “I’ve already seen them, so why bother”? Well, that’s not the point here. Either you are a fan or you simply like the band…

E. FANS in Europe

First time I went to the States I met with a lot of people. A LOT of Ryche fans. And they were all nuts! Which is perfect! You gotta be crazy to be a fan! Otherwise, where’s the fan in that? They all were like “I’ve seen the band 347² times plus one” and “Well, I’m just following the tour” and “Yeah, I’ve been attending since before they got that additional “E” in their name”! Wot?

There are not that many peeps in Europe… In fact, it may be a heck of a historic excavation to try to find original EuroRychos. Different culture, different people, different money (almost – Euro currency made sure we share the same lousy banknotes and changes in more than 27 countries). here are not that many Empires in Europe either. Only seven (?!?), when there are thirty in the States alone. Quite the decadence for a continent that’s been a target place for the band since the beginning…

I have tried to locate some original European psychos… Yeah, make that RychoPsychos… Yep, much better! Some of them are still active, some others… even more active! Well, that’s the name of the game…

Rychendansen the Svensk way

Patrik Wikstrom, a Swedish professor can be quite the Ryche FAN? Yes, he most certainly can! This PhD holder has seen Queensryche on stage over twenty times, in many countries in Europe (Sweden, France, England, Germany etc.) plus he attended a show in the States. Plus, he mentions he was present at one of the band’s rehearsals? WHAT? A spectator in Scott’s basement? We need to find out how… Patrik has posted dates and places over his website and he surely is proud of one of the pix he’s taken with GT, back in 1989…

Patrik strikes me as a serious fan, mentioning tons of trivia from the vaults and portraying a bunch of stories, including Chris DeGarmo and the “Mindcrime” years.  

French class immaculate visit

During S2k4 (you don’t know what S2k4 means… you are free to leave the room and continue listening to DT), many Europeans visited Seattle. Okay, time to rephrase… Gotta count them all first… Yeah, strike that one ryche out… I think there were eight (as in 8) EuroRychos who attended the two shows at The Moore. Amongst them… a French guy! Harraq came all the way from France, watched the two shows and even got to Vancouver, Canada, to see a third one! I spotted Harraq two years later, in Antwerp, Belgium; he was there to see the show – of course! Nice guy, low profiled, totally pissed because Greece has beaten France in football (attention, Americans, this is what you call soccer) for the 2004 European Championship. Don’t have a clue what he’s doing today… No, I’m not going to make any frog jokes… Wait a paragraph or so…

Saxons… full stop!

The English… oops, meant the British… No, come to think of it, the English… Well, that species always loved to cross the Atlantic to see the Ryche, although rumor has it that English never do well outside their isles… I guess it only remains to be seen…

S1999, S2k1, East and West Coast concerts, S2k4… Naturally they will travel to Holland or a funny (funny? Try godforsaken!) place named Wales as well… They are there, at least one of them every time, to watch, learn and re-love the Ryche way. Real troopers, fans like Burning Man (aka Steve), Nick the famous Rushman, Mark Coops (aka Polaris – Leader of the British Empire) and his wife Rachel, who’s not really crazy about the band, yet completely crazy about her husband; works great in our case… Them guys never say no when it’s time to travel to see the band live – especially when the latter appear during a Rock cruise. I wish I could understand them when they speak “English-English”… Ta! Oh, btw, Mark and wifey are visiting as many countries as they can, Rychewise and they came to Greece a few years ago. Miss them and do hope to reunite. Soon, peeps!

Big Fat Greek Stories

Ryche listener/ fan Nikos Resperis (try to say that twice as fast… Ehm… as fast as what?) was about to embark to Paris to see the band in the heart of France… Along with his wife and best friend and also super RycHead Dimitris Papandreou and his spouse as well, they flew to the land of people-who-eat-frogs-for-pleasure and they became a whole feature cover at the “Eye on Queensryche” fan-mag back then. Interviews, photos, feedback… One of the Misses found out she was pregnant, and they even asked GT to be the godfather! The incident got great exposure, yet I fail to remember any other trips by this particular fellow Rycher. Although the Greeks managed to assemble a group of ten and made it to Amsterdam and London for two Ryche shows, back in 2003; they even got sound-check m&g’s! However, seven out of those ten don’t seem to be active RycHeads today… In the holy words of Penny… The Horror! Gotta tellya tho… The last time Queensryche performed live in Athens (June 14, 2006), they got almost fifty people for the m&g! And one of them furiously asked every member “Why didn’t you play ‘Roads To Madness’, people”? Yeah… setlist should have been three and a half hours long, in order to satisfy… As an epilogue, I honestly believe that we should give the spotlight to Dimitris Kazantzis, the man with his own Ryche Museum in Athens and probably the European with the most shows attendances.

Ze breakfast iz ze most important meal of ze day

Leaving the land of the godZ behind us we move over to central Europe again… Germany, Europe’s locomotive! 85 million people, two Germanies in the past, East and West, adopting cool names like “Federal Republic of Germany” and “Germany Democracy Republic” (all good words, sire!). When the wall fell, they all understood it was simply a bunch of words. The people make the difference… A few years ago, a cool Rycher and member of the Official FC, Mr. Andreas Soentgen, decided to form a German Empire, he even started a poll, regarding the new baby’s name. “European Resistance” won and the rest of the Europeans gave it up for another member was born. Too bad it didn’t last.

Then a brunette gal got dressed in black, put her best boots on, smiled towards the sun (I think – dunno if she was wearing her shades) and rode her horse (it was a car, I’m simply trying to be poetic…). And the German Empire was rising… again! Afa Angelhardt (yes, the one keep writing her name AEFA – sounds like an ancient Greek goddess in Speedos and boots though – or is it actually UEFA? Soccer fans, unite!) has been wondering in Europe and the States, watching the band live, taking millions of pictures and… AND? What, you honestly want more? Naturally there are times the Germans astonish us. Slobodan is one of the coolest Germans ever (cool and German don’t match, however, Slobo has got the magical recipe) and he frequently travels to Holland and England and… other places, to see the band hailing the new arrival on! Rainer, a fine German Rycher, has even traveled to the East Coast to see GT live (solo tour) and Markus, a German dude, flew to Seattle for the two Cabaret shows in 2010, without even being a member of the FC back then, without anyone knowing he’s coming… Just like that! Why?

PortuGirl at the Moore

Maria Tolentina is a fabulous lady from Portugal. She lives in London and frequently travels to the States to see Queensryche live. And nobody knows about it! She’s not a member either, yet she was in Seattle in 2006 for the three shows at the Moore and she loved it! She wasn’t upset because she didn’t get m&g passes, she wasn’t present at the fans forum, she didn’t have FC tickets. Yet she loved every bit of the shows! When we met, I simply told her “You are nuts! I know that working for an airline helps when it comes to fly, however… What”? Mediterranean ladies… go figure!

So you think you can Swiss…

Okay, so the people from Switzerland are called Swiss… Why didn’t they name the country Swissland then? Or the peeps Switzerlish? Yeah, it rhymes with blowfish… Thomas Brogli, collector extraordinaire, is also a man who’s traveled the world and back, to see the RycheLive… He would never say no for a trip to the US or Canada or both and then the same trip only four months later… Weird? To say the least! He must have seen the band live in the States a lot more than in his homeland! He always plans ahead, he tried to make his lovely wife Monica to like the band as much as he does. Dunno if he succeeded (HE DID!). He won the tattoo competition back in 2006 in L.A. and made Mike Stone wonder about his “Queen of the Reich” tattoo. “That thing with the shield… That’s ours, too”? Finally, Thomas introduced his lovely wife Monica to the band and now it’s a good time to introduce his daughter and son as well. Ryche, Tommy?

Welcome to the Batcave!

Rik and Rozelijn are the Queensryche King and Queen of Belgium. I sincerely doubt it if there are other Belgian people seen the band half the times these two have. They are always polite and cool, and they travel through Europe to see their beloved band live. They even brought one of their lovely daughter’s shirts to a m&g and gave it back to her, with the addition of five signatures. And the girl posed with the dirty shirt. Yeah, those signatures can be pretty… big! Next time use a postcard, will you? Haven’t seen them in the States yet, however I know they’ve got that thought somewhere in the back of their heads (the right side of… their heads)…

Netherlands finest

Wim is a huge fan from Holland. Yes, you can also call The Netherlands Holland, you are allowed to and yes, I stole that last one from the “My stepmother is Kim something” movie. You can find Wim in Germany or some other places in Europe, standing in queue for the show and talking to other F.C. members. Wim is a genuine RycHead, although he must feel really lonely as there not that many dedicated fans in Holland… I have received some emails in the past, regarding the making of an Empire there, they had even come up with a name… LowLand Empire. I guess finding a name is not the toughest task…

Una Faccia, Una Razza

It’s such a nice lil’ phrase… It actually means “Same face, same race” and it applies to Greek and Italian peeps. Yeah, we look alike… and act alike. Fabio Lentola, the Leader of the Italian Empire is a superb guitarist who decided to release seven Ryche song covers on an EP and made every one of us thought it was the actual Queensryche performing! “Anarchy-X”, the name of the band and the website, is a glorious sample of craft, when it comes to cover such a huge band. You will simply be shocked! Fabio is going to Italy and Germany and who knows where else, to the see the band live and his lovely (Dude, you’re using that “lovely” thing too many times… Need a dictionary?) wife (Dude, it’s wise to use the “lovely” thing when referring to a girl!) Elisa is also a BIG fan. Fan couples are the new thing in Ryche… I guess… Actually, I’m wrong! Fan couples have also been there…

?????????? ?????? ?? ??????? (translation: Russian fans do not get cold)

A tiny yet beautiful gal from Moscow decided to raid Europe in order to see the mighty ones on stage. Linda fought and won! Got her traveling visa and then… it was downhill, people! Saw Ryche in Germany and most probably in the States as she’s spending a lot of time there. Yeah, Russia used to be the mirror of the US, back in the 70’s, until people realized music has no boundaries.

At the end of the day…

… There are people who like to live and breathe “Trains, planes, automobiles”; there are fans who love to see the band live everyday. It’s all about the people and this is really a boring epilogue. Wish I could have some boob pictures to show but the guards at the gate confiscated them all…

Costas Koulis

Costas claims he has seen Queensryche live. Debatable, one might say. He also claims he is one of the three European Ryche fans, ever to receive the Member Of The Month title. Last but not least, he claims he is taller than Adam Larson. Highly debatable.