"EUROBLOG #6 - LISBON"

By ANDREW PALOCHKO - 11/10/06

You'd think that by my third trans-Atlantic flight I'd have it figured out. Well, nope. I arrived in Lisbon completely exhausted and it took most of the weekend to kill my jet lag.

The last leg of the European trip started Wednesday night with an 8:30pm flight out of Newark that arrived in Lisbon at 8:15 the next morning local time. For the first time on the tour I had come company on the plane as many of the guys going over connected through Newark. Our European tour manager Robert Black picked us all up from the airport and the European tour was underway once again.

Lisbon is a beautiful city on the ocean and is the southernmost stop on the tour. Within a few hours the rainclouds that lingered for a week had lifted and beautiful weather greeted us. It was a drastic difference, especially for the guys that left the chilly town of Helsinki the week before. The duration of our stay in Lisbon was sunny and in the 70s. The Pavilhao Atlantico was right on the water next to a boardwalk-type area with open-air restaurants and bars. A huge floor meant the Portuguese were in for some good shows.
 

Dan and Lorrie Evans stayed in Europe when the rest of us went home last week to do displays, so they had the town of Lisbon figured out for us. Their display work was a tremendous asset to the success of the show. For a week and a half, the trucks of Monster Jam combed Lisbon and brought an immediate surge in advance ticket sales.
 

The first Monster Jam in Portugal was a good time. A roundy-round track on a concrete floor with a head-to-head start in the middle of the floor produced some great racing and tight action. Great crowds enjoyed some great shows and I'd put my money on a return trip to Portugal next year. A reflection of local culture, the showtimes in Portugal were unique from any other show I've ever done. Saturday's shows were at 3pm and 9pm with a Sunday show at 11:30am. We were packed up and out of the building around 5pm but it felt a lot later because of the early show.
 

After the show Sunday night most of us headed to the Hard Rock Cafe. Getting around in all of the cities we've been to has been real easy. Most of the hotels we've stayed at have been walking distance to the building. Cabs are cheap, trains and buses are everywhere, and Live Nation purchased a few bicycles to go back and forth from the building. So we haven't really been trapped anywhere we've been...there's always an easy way to go out and experience local culture. In this case, local culture was Hard Rock.

Monday morning our whole European staff scattered. The show in Milan, Italy has been canceled and we were given the option to go home or stay in Europe for the week. Eight of us are on our way to Barcelona and Rome before meeting
back up with the rest of the Monster Jam crew for the final European show in Stockholm.
 

Talk to you all from there!

- Andrew Palochko
 

Email Andrew and let him know what you thought!!

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