Summer of 2026

The summer adventure officially started for me this year with a warm-up: a memorable night with Metallica at the National Arena, followed by an amazing Iron Maiden show at the same venue. Soon after came the Expoziție Fotografie de Concert, where Cezar and many of his fellow photo-pit colleagues had their concert photography on display.

Oslo and Tons of Rock

We travelled to Oslo once again to attend Tons of Rock. We reunited with our friends, shared stories and excitement, and simply enjoyed spending time together again.

Our friend Andrea showed us around, took us to some new hiking places, and joined us in discovering and trying new things. She made this part of the adventure even more fun and memorable.

The festival itself was so very good again this year. I wrote a long review on Let’s Rock about that part of our adventure, if you want to read more about it. Here, I will mention only one very special moment: I finally got to see A Perfect Circle, a band that had been on my bucket list for a very long time and one I never really thought I would get the chance to see live.

Germany hiking trails

After a short break back home, Cezar and I started another chapter of our summer adventure, this time in Germany.

We returned to a place we had visited before and loved so much that we wanted to experience it all over again. This time, though, we took things much slower, and I think we enjoyed the whole experience even more because of it.

This part of Germany is incredibly beautiful. We spent our days hiking, exploring and enjoying the scenery, and even crossed the border by train for a day trip to Innsbruck.

Rockstadt Extreme Fest

One week after returning from Germany, we travelled to the central part of the country for one of our favourite Romanian festivals: Rockstadt Extreme Fest.

We met again with many friends and with people we somehow only get to see at Rockstadt every year, and added another collection of memories together.

I will only mention my personal highlights here: Marilyn Manson, Amorphis, The Gathering and Perturbator. The full festival review is available on the E-zine for anyone who wants the much longer version of the story.

Home for a few weeks

After the festival, we returned to Bucharest and resumed something resembling our normal life: work, concerts and weekends spent in the countryside.

Dekode Days

The finale of my summer took me back to Oslo, this time to meet my colleagues under the same name for one last time.

The whole gathering felt incredibly emotional and strangely final. At the same time, I don’t think I had ever seen us feel closer or more united.

This part of our adventure is over, and a new chapter is starting to unfold. I am sad about what is ending, but also excited and curious about whatever comes next.