For 4 years now we have traditionally attended this event in Marseille, France but everyone knew it had run its course there and with rumours of the local council wanting back handers floating round the internet, it was looking doomed. But to be honest, the Marseille council in all those years never even installed toilets for the thousands of people who witnessed Europe’s most influential Bowl Comp so it was definitely time to move on.
We had a false start though. Got to the airport and missed the flight, in fact we saw it leave the runway, the pilot actually waved at us as we stood waving frantically with tickets aloft to see if there was a chance. Basically, if you go on a trip with Guido Gazzi (crossfire filmer) make sure you check the departure gate numbers yourself! The beer we had in the wrong gate was the most expensive one in the house! We had to stay in a hotel nearby and got the flight at 6am the next morning but my baggage and skateboard had already arrived in Sweden and my board did not even make it that far….bummed.
The event of course ended up in Malmo, Sweden after it was released to be taking place in Bologna, so many UK skaters from our crew spent their weekend there instead as they had already purchased flights, so that was a bit disappointing from the start but we went to Malmo anyway and were greeted by sheets of rain and an outdoor skatepark that looked like it would be the best fun in the world to skate.
The weather did not dampen our spirits whatsoever; we were picked up by Danijel Todorovic and our Swedish session maestro Seth who lives in London and welcomed by the local scene with open arms. Within 20 minutes of arriving at the event, the guy who works in the local skater owned shop Streetlab, mentioned that they play Crossfire Radio shows in the shop a lot, so that put us in a great mood and the rest is a total blur!
The weather dried up and this park was unleashed to the worlds best bowl skaters. The heats ran and the beer flowed at 4pm as it always does. It rained in Fosters beer all afternoon, and the atmosphere was fantastic as everyone caught up with each other.
I stayed in the bar whilst people legged it over to Pontus Alv’s mad little bowl for a sesh, in fact, I had to, I missed the ride! Free beer huh! It pissed down with rain anyway though so I didn’t miss much.
The first night we were there, a party took place in a cool club, it was a Streetlab video premiere and Malmo’s scene turned out in force to witness the first showing. It’s a great movie and worth grabbing if you want to find out more about how good European Skateboarding has got thesedays. These guys rip. One thing I have to mention is that Sweden is full of tight units, girls and boys. Obviously the girls are off the hook, throughout and tonight, the club was awash with beautiful women. We realised that this would be the case for our entire weekend, it was superb.
The other notable thing for the traveler is that the clubs have smoking bans throughout, which, if you like to smoke, is a pain in the ass and something us Brits will have to get used to next summer apparently. Some of the yanks went to jail that night for smoking in clubs. I spoke to a bouncer about how things have changed since the ban and he said straight up – “it’s healthier cos there is no smoke and people’s clothes don’t smell like they used to, but at the end of the night, the clubs stink of body odour and piss, so I would prefer to smell of smoke!“
That night was fun, although David Martelleur from Belgium was arrested and thrown into the slammer for being drunk and disorderly again! Every skate trip, every country, you know where to find David at 6am – being released back onto the streets!
The hangover on the Saturday was priceless but the skating today was even more so. You see, this skate park is a work of art and most people have not sessioned this place yet as it is so new. It did not take too long though and the park was hit at every angle. It was built by Stefan Houser, a yank running PTR Skateparks and was completed in November 2005, but with snow falling, the Malmo faithful had to wait until the good weather arrived, you can imagine how stoked they are about it now, in fact if you click here and read Danijel Todorovic’ interview on this site, he will explain the Malmo scene in much more detail.
I think we should concentrate on the good times as the skating can speak for itself in our Bowlriders video filmed by Guido Gazzi and Alan Christensen on this page. Download it to save our bandwidth.
There are too many names to mention, but of course the style and trickery of Italian heavyweight Daniel Cardone stole the show with Spanish rider Alan Goikoetxea in 2nd and the Dane Rune Glifberg stealing 3rd on the day. It was fucking mental, that is all I have to say, and the pool sesh that followed the final was electric.
Have you seen that kid Screech skate? What the fuck?! this is him right here smashing blunts in the pool!
So for the first time in Bowlriders history, the Europeans stole the first 3 places. Omar Hassan was followed by Benji Galloway and Chris Senn to finish the top 6 places and British rider Pete King lost out on the opening rounds whilst Ross McGouran who looked lethal, went through with Andy Scott who reached the semis and skated really well.
The Saturday night started with a pizza. We managed to attract new friends from the USA as well, namely Craig Whitehead (who is now writing for the site) and his entourage from San Diego…I don’t know what it is about that part of California but people from there seem to rage harder than anywhere else, and yeah, San Francisco, take note! You were missing this year J-Dog! The other hilight of the weekend was meeting Chris Cab from Austria. Top penis, great cab driver! Here he is below admiring Fosters!
The pizza went down well, then a crew of 15 drunken skaters tried to make sure that Renton Millar didn’t piss himself in the main square as he shouted “Cunt” at the top of his voice. Things were getting gnarly. We went to see Jocke Olsen at an underground bar who was playing drum and bass and then went off to a “Skate Party” that most thought would be a sausage fest, funny how they all managed to scramble into that place once we got there and they got the message it was 50/50.
You would have loved to have checked the moves on Niall Neeson Editor of Kingpin Mag at this party, this bloke can seriously be a contender for Staying Alive, and actually I think the entire party must have just thought we were gay! Oh well! It could have been worse, I could have been dancing with Silent Will and Jason from Method Mag who were legends all weekend.
This party was amazing, great music, seriously tight units everywhere and cool people, maybe this is standard stuff in Sweden but it rocked! Once that ship sunk, we went back to Jocke’s where Aussie Tom was about to headbutt one of the bands I do PR for in Malmo. I saved his arse as Tom is like an Elephant on Acid at this time of the night and the band member went home in one piece but probably woke up with a sore arse! Ask Tom! When Jocke’s club kicked out at 4am, it was the usual – just me and Pete King left!
We hit a cab and went to a rock club, only hour left on the clock so they said, we got there and a full on fist fight erupted outside a kebab shop (Swedish Kebabs are the nuts btw!) and the whole street was in disarray! Out came the meat cleavers and baseball bats and the place kicked off. The rock club was empty but they played The Slits for me before I stumbled out of there pissed as a fart! A blonde girl took me down the street on the back of her bike and then I woke up in my hotel room cock in hand, still dressed. Sunday’s finals had arrived!
The finals were indeed a spectacle. The rain came and went but no one gave a fuck. Everyone was in high spirits. At one point there was a board focusing moment at the bar and The Harmony Skateboard Company will be very happy to know that thier boards were unbreakable to all pro riders at that bar! Kids take note!
After the comp, the annual Quiksilver party rocked the City. The concoction of Dave Duncan and David Martelleur got David locked up for a second night of the weekend but at least this time the tables didn’t all go over! Gerald Roche in true Gerald only style was banned from the main event for drinking a beer outside, I must admit, my main man went missing all weekend but flew the flag, top geezer.
The comp was amazing, Malmo’s people are amazing, the park is off the hook and Quiksilver once again pulled off one of the best events of the year. Thanks for the hook ups.
Enjoy the video on this page.
Chuck Bangers
