Antivalent – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, the alternative rock band, Antivalent, shares one of their stories from being on the road. You can check out the story, after the break.

So this story took place in 2018 when we were heading to a venue in Lapua which is located about 30km from our hometown Seinäjoki, Finland. We’ve had great times on the road before and somehow managed to avoid the bullet of misfortune, until now…

When we travel to a show we usually move with a 5-passenger car with a trailer behind. Guys in the car, gear in the back. At the time none of us had a car with a rear hook on it let alone a trailer so we usually borrowed them from a relative or a friend that had one. The show date was getting closer and thus started the car arrangement and reservation hassle. So we got ourselves a car and this time it was from our singer/guitarist Omar’s father. The car was a 1987 Mercedes 300, an old and heavy lady that has always been an apple of Omar’s father’s eye. We’d made a few trips to shows with the “Old Lady” before so we knew how to handle her.

And so arrived the show day. We started the “Old Lady” and drove to our rehearsal space to load up the trailer. Everything was going according to the plan and we were on schedule. After the trailer was loaded we set off for Lapua. We were pumped up and slowly getting “in da zone”. The trip started like any other time, listening to some awesome music and just having a blast. We drove smoothly for about 15km when suddenly we heard an awfully loud impact. Immediately all the laughter and buzz inside the “Old Lady” just stopped. The first reaction that everyone had was “did we hit something?”. At the same time, our drummer pointed his finger to the sky and shouted “look!” Instantly everyone was looking at the sky seeing a big springy thing flying out of the car to the other side of the road. Luckily there weren’t any cars coming toward us from the other lane. We stopped the car right away on the side of the road.

After we recovered from the jumpscare caused by the “Old Lady” Omar got out of the car and ran to the other side of the road trying to find the springy object that flew from the “Old Lady”. It turned out that the big springy thing was the actual spring from one of the car’s shock absorbers. Luckily we had time to come up with a backup plan to get to the venue in time. Immediately everyone started scrolling their phone’s contact list and making phone calls to get an alternative ride to the venue. Luckily one of our friend’s parents lived nearby and were willing to lend their car to us for the rest of the night. After half an hour or so our friend arrived at the scene. Oh boy, we were so relieved. Despite the mild panic attack that the “Old Lady” gave us we got to the venue in time and the show was killer! We might even have kept a short moment of silence for the “Old Lady” before the show. And for those who are wondering what happened to the “Old Lady”… She recovered from the incident after a visit to a car repair shop and she’s now driving just fine. ;)

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