by guest author Cliff Moore
The excitement and anticipation upon arriving in Bucharest, Romania was overwhelming. I had never been to Romania before.
Upon arrival in Brazoi, which is a town in the north west mountains of Romania, I felt like I had stepped back in time. The small town was dotted with small shops, small public areas, and a few churches. Our driver brought us to our villa that we would be at for the duration of our stay. After some much needed rest, we headed to the festival grounds to see the layout of the festival grounds and the backstage area.
The festival grounds were nicely put together. There was makeshift seating built out of pallets and logs, several oversized bean bags, and drum barrels for setting drinks on. The stage was massive!
Next, we ran into Ana Popović and her bass player Buthel! It was great catching up with old friends. We returned that night to see Ana and Beth Hart perform their sets. Ana was absolutely amazing! She and her band played with conviction and passion!
After a 30 minute change over, Beth Hart and her band took the stage. She is a favorite in Brazoi after doing a five-night run at the festival during Covid. All I can say is it was an emotional experience! I almost shed tears when she came back out for her encore with an acoustic guitar. The crowd was singing along with her and it was magical.
Day Two started with a morning hang at breakfast with our neighbors Kaz Hawkins and her friends! Kaz is such an amazing human being. We shared stories, had some great laughs, and drank some really good coffee.
We had to be at the festival grounds for sound check at 1pm. Our sound check went very smoothly with no issues. After we were comfortable with everything, it was time for Walter Trout to sound check – so we had a private Walter Trout show for a bit. Man, was he sounding great! After Walter and his guys finished up, we all hung out for a few minutes to catch up. Again, it’s always great to see old friends.
After a great lunch served by the staff backstage, we headed back to the villa to get ready for the night’s shows. We arrived back on site to see thousands of vehicles parked anywhere there was space – it was a sight to behold!
We had about thirty minutes to get ready before we took the stage. As I walked on stage and looked out to the crowd, I was stunned to see so many people! We played like there was no tomorrow!
Albert Cummings was on fire! It was a true honor to be filling in on bass for him and to play with his drummer Warren Grant. The crowd was loving Albert’s songs so much we got an encore!
After our performance, we hung around to see Walter Trout and his band burn the place down! Unfortunately, we had to leave early so we could get packed up. We had to leave at 4am to head back to Bucharest, and catch our flight to the next gig in Italy.
It was my first time ever in Romania and I will never forget the experience. The people of Romania are salt of the earth. They make the best out of their situations. They are hearty people who are not afraid to have a good time. I have a lot of respect for them considering the adversity they have to face in their country.