recoil.cz
Report: Alan Wilder in Prague
Most fans viewed Alan's visit to Prague merely in connection with the Recoil party at the Retro Music Hall club. However, as Mr. Recoil spent nearly a week here in Prague, we would now like to offer you a short report on his stay.WEDNESDAY 26/09/2007
Alan Wilder and Hepzibah Sessa arrived in Prague shortly after 3 p.m. on a regular flight from London Gatwick. Fortunately, they were spared from the exhausting customs procedure, and instead, they were cleared through the VIP zone without any hassle. Straight from the airport, they went to Hotel 987, that is a part of the Spanish hotel chain called Design Hotels Collection. This hotel was chosen and booked online by Hep herself, but considering some of her remarks, I reckon they won't be staying there again. In the evening, the pleasant couple paid a private short visit to the town.
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| Alan Wilder and Hepzibah Sessa at Ruzyn? airport photo by Ivana Dvorská |
Alan at the airport photo by Ivana Dvorská |
Hotel 987 photo by hotel 987 |
Webové stránky Hotelu 987.
THURSDAY 27/09/2007
Alan devoted the whole Thursday to the media, in particular to the official press conference and interviews for various radios, newspapers and magazines. Originally, all these activities were spread over two days, but Alan proposed to have all the interviews squeezed into this day. First thing in the morning Alan was awaited at Radio Express where he was interviewed live on air by Dr. Bob. This was followed by a press conference at the Retro Music Hall. Shortly before 11 a.m., the media was satisfied at last when Alan appeared with a smile on his face before no less than thirty journalists. I have to admit, I felt quite embarrassed. It took two questions before the main topic of the conference became Depeche Mode yet again, and only the impenitent author of these questions would not change the topic. I am not sure how many of the remaining journalists were prepared for Alan's visit or bothered to look up anything on his project Recoil, nonetheless, the only questions related to this topic were asked by me and Filip Macháček from the Report Magazine. The conference, that lasted forty-five minutes, was followed by a number of face-to-face interviews. An exclusive interview for Recoil.CZ was to come at last, and when our conversation was about to commence at around 3 p.m., Alan seemed to have regretted his decision to squeeze everything in one day. Since I disposed of all my musical questions during the above-mentioned conference, our chat revolved around his impressions on the Czech republic, and subsequently turned into a conversation about soccer which lasted all the evening. The transcript of our chat will be made available on this website towards the end of October. As Alan had to endure one last interview at Radio 1 later on, we all could finally enjoy the long-awaited food break, for everyone's stomachs were rumbling for some time.
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| Journalists at the press conference photo by Ivana Dvorská |
Alan answering photo by irc |
Alan at the press conference photo by Ivana Dvorská |
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| Alan ends press conference photo by irc |
Alan with moderator of TV Markíza photo by irc |
A while for autographs photo by irc |
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| Interview for Report magazine photo by irc |
Interview for Recoil.CZ website photo by Ivana Dvorská |
Alan Wilder in Radio Express
Interview (MP3) from Radio Express
Interview from TV Markíza
An article on iDnes website
Interview on Lidovky (Lidové noviny) website
An article on České noviny website
Interview oon Novinky (Právo) website
An article on Aktuálně website
Interview from Radio 1
Music magazine Report will be out on November 1st
Life-style magazine Brno Business will be out on November 10th
FRIDAY 28/09/2007
On Friday Alan and Hep finally got the chance to enjoy their free time and privacy. Just like real tourists, they strolled around the streets of Prague and did not forget to visit well-known touristic places such as Kampa, Charles Bridge, or Prague Castle.
SATURDAY 29/09/2007
On Saturday, all attention was focused on the Recoil party at the Retro Music Hall. Since the early noon, the club's surroundings were swarming with fans from not only the whole republic, but also from Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Germany, Russia and many more. In his own hotel room, Alan prepared a generous Meet 'n' Greet for his most loyal fans: Oliver (www.recoil.info), Angela (www.recoilogy.com), Tom (www.recoil19.net), Vladimir (www.depmod.com) and István with Steve (www.freestate.hu). In the meantime, the club was nearly ready for the event. Soon after 7 p.m. the door opened and first dozens of fans slid into the neat Retro Music Hall club. This multi-leveled space was very smartly chosen. The club was clean and tidy, and from the main area, where the stage and the dance floor were also located, one could see the first floor, reserved for VIP guests. Fans could enjoy both a small baffle-boarded coctail bar and a large restaurant with a café. From a technical point of view, the RMH equipment was world-class, together with an excellent music equipment, plasma screens hanging from the walls, and a huge screen above the stage. From the very beginning, it was evident that today's visitors came for one reason: to meet Alan. The majority of them were hanging around the outer area of the dance floor, impatiently awaiting the arrival of our star. Almost exactly at 10 p.m. the waiting came to an end. Alan, accompanied by his wife Hep, turned up at the destination where they met up with a first group of fans demanding signatures and collective photos. It was perhaps for this reason that the planned welcome for Alan on stage, together with his greeting speech did not take place. With the help of the security guards, the couple was able to get inside the VIP section, and greeted the fans by waving at them thumbs up at least from the railing leading up to the first floor. At this moment, Alan fell on hard times. Unlike in Berlin, Alan willingly agreed to a meet 'n' greet with the fans. The only thing that people wanting to meet Alan had to overcome was over an hour-long queue. And because it is not everyday that we meet Alan, this unpleasant waiting was that much worth it at the end. Initially, the security guards let people in in small groups, but even allowing them to enter on such basis did not stop some fans from fighting for a spot and elbowing others. When this momentary confusion and a number of organizational discussions were finally resolved, the rest of the fans were allowed to approach Alan separately. I spent nearly all my time downstairs, nevertheless, from the two short visits I made to the VIP area I can truly say that Alan must have Job's patience. Throughout the whole night he kept smiling at everyone, willingly posed for pictures, signed any artifacts that were given to him and at the same time he customized them. To cut this long story short, Alan compromised his own entertainment for the sake of his fans. As far as we are concerned, more than three hundred fans asked Alan for a photo, and because almost everyone would not settle for less than two photos, you can only imagine what it must have been like for Alan with all the flashes constantly stabbing his eyes. Meanwhile, Hep was lively running around the whole VIP section, every now and then she stopped to talk to people she knew, made new acquaintances, or enjoyed herself by watching other people dance. Her presence and joy was evident everywhere. At 3 a.m. Alan and Hep departed. The entertainment in the club went on for another hour and consisted of a playlist requested by the remaining fans. And a monotonous playlist it was, for it included two words: the first one started with the letter D, and the other with M. But let's go back to the Wilders. Instead of heading back to the hotel, the couple, accompanied by a few fans, paid a visit to Radost FX club. Once inside, a number of unofficial meetings took place, and Alan became just one the many visitors to the club. Unsurprisingly, as soon as we ended the party and packed our bags, we rushed to the same club. We bumped into the whole group at the door so we were just on time to join them on their way to another club, the name of which remains secret to me. Being tired as we all were, we just sank into the sofas and carried on with our pub talk. The only person who was still full of incredible energy was Vlad. And just to add a little anecdote at the end…because it was the first time Alan came across the bottled beer of Litovel, we held a long-lasting debate on the amount of different Czech breweries, with our international company consequently trying to pronounce the name of this Litovel beer the best way possible.
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| Meet'n'Greet in hotel 987 photo by Freestate.HU |
Retro Music Hall photo by Ivana Dvorská |
Recoil scene photo by Hankaver |
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| Shop photo by Jan Kruml |
Alan Wilder arrives to the club photo by Ivana Dvorská |
Recoil scene photo by Hankaver |
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| Alan Wilder says hallo to all fans photo by Hankaver |
Fans watch for Alan photo by irc |
Group meeting wasn't good idea photo by Katka Darkest Star |
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| Alan Wilder under pressure... photo by Ivana Dvorská |
...it was not easy for him... photo by Jan Kruml |
...but he managed it well. photo by Martin Vejrosta |
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| He smiled... photo by Martin Vejrosta |
...signed... photo by Jan Kruml |
...and posed. photo by irc |
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| Hunting... photo by Hankaver |
...and endless queue... photo by Ivana Dvorská |
...but who waited was guerdoned. photo by Jan Kruml |
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| Meanwhile on the floor... photo by Martin Vejrosta |
....the party continues... photo by Ivetka |
...with videoprojection. photo by Jan Kruml |
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| DJs: Peter2, photo by Jan Kruml |
irc photo by Jan Kruml |
and Amigo photo by Petr K2 |
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| People danced mostly on DM photo by Ivana Dvorská |
but also Recoil photo by Jan Kruml |
and another electronic music. photo by Martin Vejrosta |
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| And Alan still signed... photo by Hankaver |
...signed... photo by Jan Kruml |
...and signed. photo by Martin Vejrosta |
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| Recoil booklets, photo by Jan Kruml |
...vinyls... photo by Hankaver |
...postcards. photo by Petr K2 |
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| When fans came individually photo by irc |
there was a time for gifts photo by Jakub Rožec |
which made Alan happy. photo by Jakub Rožec |
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| Hep was busy too photo by Martin Vejrosta |
with Vlad and Tom photo by Martin Vejrosta |
and Jan Vozáry photo by Jan Kruml |
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| with Kateřina, photo by Martin Vejrosta |
Peter2, photo by Martin Vejrosta |
irc. photo by Martin Vejrosta |
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| Hep with Alan. photo by Jan Kruml |
Peter2 and Amigo. photo by Jan Kruml |
Hep and Angela. photo by Martin Vejrosta |
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| Fans in the club... photo by Martin Vejrosta |
...waited patiently... photo by Martin Vejrosta |
...for meeting their star. photo by Martin Vejrosta |
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| And the clones... photo by Martin Vejrosta |
...of Dave Gahan... photo by Martin Vejrosta |
...occupied the stage. photo by Martin Vejrosta |
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| Something for boys - Martina, photo by Martin Vejrosta |
Vlasta, photo by Martin Vejrosta |
Kateřina. photo by Martin Vejrosta |
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| And Alan still signed, photo by Petr K2 |
talked with fans photo by Martin Vejrosta |
and answered their questions. photo by Martin Vejrosta |
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| The most loyal dancer. photo by Martin Vejrosta |
Amigo and irc. photo by Martin Vejrosta |
DJs - from left Amigo, Peter2, irc. photo by Jan Kruml |
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A report on Musicserver
Photo gallery by Jan Kruml
SUNDAY 30/09/2007
It was clear enough that after such an exhausting Saturday, no one planned to get up early. In their own need for fresh air, Alan and Hep spent a recovering Sunday afternoon on a steamboat along Vltava river.
MONDAY 01/10/2007
The day of Alan's departure. For him and his wife Hep it meant mostly packing and signing out of the hotel, but there was still one more interview to go at radio Wave. Nonetheless, we all managed to have one last meal together before they both left for good
Interview from Radio Wave
A report by Hepzibah Sessa - part 1
A report by Hepzibah Sessa - part 2
A report by Freestate.HU team
And don't forget! You will find your happiness at the end of the rainbow...
Your insights and suggestions.