CANNIBAL CORPSE Bassist Issues European Tour Report

CANNIBAL CORPSE bassist Alex Webster has issued the following tour report:

"Hey everybody, we're back from the European tour, so I figured it would be a good time to give a report of how things went.

"The last time you heard from us, we had just begun the Scandinavian portion of the tour. Everything wound up going very well for us up there, with lots of killer shows. We also got to play with some really cool bands such as VISCERAL BLEEDING, NAGLFAR and MAPLE CROSS. Many thanks to the bands, fans, and organizers of the shows up there, we had an awesome time.

"After leaving Scandinavia, we did a couple of shows in Germany, and then we headed on to the Eastern European portion of the tour. We had some great shows in Poland, Lithuania, and Latvia. It seemed like everything was going really well, and we were very excited, since advance word said that the next show, which was in Belarus, would be sold out with 1,000 people. Advance sales for the Ukraine show were also amazing, with a reported 1,200 tickets sold.

"Unfortunately, things started to go bad the moment we got to the Belarussian border. We wound up being stuck there for 9 hours, dealing with paperwork for customs.

"We had been to Belarus for a concert in 1998, and we got the through the border considerably quicker, so we weren't expecting such a delay.

"When we finally cleared the border, we hurried across the country to Minsk, ready to play the show. When we arrived in Minsk, we had a few more customs concerns to deal with, and while we were taking care of those, we learned that the government had banned us from playing in Belarus. They had gone to the concert venue and shut down the concert 2 hours before we arrived, and sent the fans home. This was horrible for us, knowing that we were there, ready to play, and the fans were there, ready to see us, and the government wouldn't allow it. We were very disappointed, but we still thought we'd be able to play in the Ukraine. We were told that we had to do some more paperwork at the customs office in Minsk, which would re-open the following morning at 7 am. This paperwork was needed for us to leave Belarus. We waited overnight in Minsk, and then the tour manager began working at the Belarus customs office. By 10:30 am, we still had not been given permission to leave Belarus by the customs office. We were told to try to get permission at the Ukrainian/Belarussian border, so we began the long drive to the Ukraine. We arrived at the border at 6pm, the concert was supposed to start in a couple of hours, so time was running out, but we were still hoping for the best. Unfortunately, the Belarus border officials kept us at the border until 1:00 am, which left no hope at all to play the Ukraine show. Two shows cancelled because of government/border problems in Belarus. We were disgusted, and very disappointed. It's a terrible feeling, knowing that you can't play for fans who have been waiting so long to see you.

"After we crossed the Belarus portion of the border, the Ukrainian border was just as difficult, if not more. We waited there from 1:00 am to 5:00 pm the following day. We now were at serious risk of missing yet another show, the Serbian gig on the 14th of October. The drive there would take more than an entire day of driving, non-stop. Add to this the fact that the Ukraine has some of the worst road conditions in Europe, and trip seemed nearly impossible. We were also forced pay a fee to have the police escort us across the Ukraine to the Hungarian border. Despite these obstacles, we were determined not to miss another concert, so our drivers set out and drove in shifts until we finally arrived in Serbia, at 12:30 am on the 15th of October. The fans were still waiting, even though we were late by several hours. We were able to play, although the curfew did not permit time for our tour partners SPAWN OF POSSESSION to play. The show in Serbia was excellent, and we were able to play there because of the incredible effort put forth by our drivers Steve and Tony, and our crew — Pol, Brian, Stan, John and Robin. We also need to thank SPAWN for helping to get the gear in while we hurried to prepare to play, and the promoters from the Ukraine, Katerina and Oleg, for all of their help at the borders.

"In all, our experience at the borders of Belarus and Ukraine was a bureaucratic nightmare. We want to say we are sorry to the fans who we were unable to play for in those countries. We did everything we could.

"After the Serbian show, things got back to normal, with a couple of great shows in Hungary and Austria. Now we are back home, preparing for our big fall tour with NAPALM DEATH in the USA.

"We want to thank everybody who came to the shows on the European tour; you guys were awesome. See you next time!"