An "English Experiment" fan's story
Kent, I'm a fan from the English Experiment era.... Got to know them in late 1999 or whenever Hagnesta Hill was released in France. Love at first sight litterally.
They released a special french edition of the album with a bonus CD (although the songs are not LIVE). This was great to get my hands on this edition and since my mother liked the band, I gifted her the album!
When I got 18, I was finally allowed to attend shows so my first one was Reading Festival 2000 in the UK which is not a small concert! This is a 3 days huge festival, and the line up was insane. Here is the poster :
http://www.stereophonics.com/images/...9c41f08f35.jpg
This was amazing to see KENT for the first time at the festival. I did not even know they were playing since they're very first in the morning on the main stage and the line up was partly announced when I bought my ticket.
It was rainy and the crowd was very spread around and not packed, nobody knew the band or something, this was such a pity.
I spent hours writting down the lyrics to learn them and I sang all the Kent songs' lyrics and people were looking at me for this. I felt very much on my own since my friends wanted to see Ooberman or something instead!!! This was a huge time though on my own.
I then decided to make the french Fanzine fo Kent (this is a handmade magazine about stuff and news about the band since the internet did not really exist).
Then I got to know one month later they came to play in my town!!! (september 2000) I mean nobody played in Nantes back at the time because it was not very influent or famous (now there is a Zenith and is popular).
Kent played in a very small venue, and I got there very early to meet a friend of my mum that was working at the venue and she gave me posters of the event, and I then saw the guys several times on that day. I brought the cover of my first #1 fanzine to get it signed by the band, which would look better for interested people to buy (it was like 2€ for a copy to cover the postage, this was promotional use and not to make money!)
At first, I came to the venue very early because I wanted to have a good standing position in the club to enjoy to the best and feared there would be too many diehard fans... Oh well, I was on my own at the venueMy mother came along to the show and to see her friend working there.
Suddenly while talking to her, I saw Joakim and Martin crossing the street and I was feeling so stressed out to get to meet them!
There was no problem and it was very natural and I have never met a band like Kent that are so friendly and just not thinking you're just a fan.
We talked, hanged out in the bar underground and even had fun on a picture of the french singer KENT on a magazine that was there, I showed Joakim and Harri and they were why "oh no way", everybody at their turn would do him something (glasses, beard, pipe) to make fun of him. Priceless amazing time!!!
I have got pictures from the meeting and still have that magazine copy. Piece of laughing history!!!
My fanzine became official by BMG France although I never recieved the goodies to start a competition for the fans, and a rock magazine had fun of my work. French spirit is not the best really.
I think they were kind of giving up and letting down the band which I did not like, eventually I got to know why.
This was a huge wound to know they never came back here and I never made it to go to Sweden, but very often in my life since 2000, I made dreams at night that I went to Sweden and got to see Kent live, my absolute dream.
In 2005 or something, I met a lot of people because I started studies in the most famous french school for arts. A night I was invited to the flat of a swedish girl and guess what? She was playing "Vapen och Ammunition"! I told her that FF includes french lyrics and she didn't know
I wonder why Kent never got famous here because I have heard for over 15 years, music and songs that seemed to have been copied on them!!!
They're very talented and nobody can write better music as Mister Berg.
In december, my dream will come true! I will see Kent in Sweden! My dream at night for so many years!!!!!!
Well for now, I just need to find tickets....Such a detail... As long as I fly there and hang out to find the tickets, they'll just come to me. Hope and faith is the most important in succeeding.
Of course I know I will never meet them again, but I still have the fond memories for ever to remember.
Now in France, you can still hear Shivaree (who played after Kent in my town) on the radio, but everybody has forgotten about Kent!!!! But I did not.
To be continued.
Thank you Kent for getting me to study english harder and get me to have amazing marks at my final exams, and then for getting my attention to learn swedish. Well thanking them for the dreams and the music is the least I could have done!!
Hope you enjoyed the reading. I'd be curious to read yours!
(I will add the pics when I get my hands on all the stuff)
Svara med citat
Ursprungligen postat av MaddyJ
Oh man, I'm getting emotional again....
You'll recognize the influence for sure.
