01/11/19 Café Le Chez Nous & Les Tanneries, Dijon, France
Day eight. Rain. Rain in Basel, rain on the way, fog and even more rain in Dijon. Le Chez Nous, as on my last show here, a cosy harbour on the stormy seas of touring. After two days in Burgundy's finest, being fed and watered, being treated like the long-lost son or brother, this feels more than ever like some place I could imagine calling home some day. Even more so knowing I'll be without a flat in eight months time in Germany. Opening up a punk festival at Les Tanneries was a wild ride last night. No safety net, sort of back to the wall, loved it a lot. Moment like this remind me of what a good song, a voice and a guitar can do. A last one coming tonight at the Vieux Léon to kiss this city goodbye before leaving in the early morning hours for Ambert. The end of the world where souls were weeping and hearts were broken a year ago. Where the congregation of mourners were to set out for their grievous trail down to Nice. To the south. To bury the ghost that has spoken to me from the other side.
02/11/19 Au Vieux Léon, Dijon, France
Day nine. Yet another rainy day in the city of Dijon ended with a show at Au Vieux Léon. A smoky bar in the heart of the city, named after a Brassens song. Entering the bar made me instantly feel like being in the right place. The air heavy with rock'n'roll. Good spirit, lovely people, a perfect place for the kind of songs I write. At least tonight the whole scenery and atmosphere seems to be the perfect surrounding for them. As predictable things got later than planned or expected. Of course on this one tour day I have to catch an early train the next morning. Two sets. First one upstairs in the actual bar, second downstairs in the Léon's vaults. Late lunch in-between. Saw it coming but hell, no, I'll never skip a gorgeous lamb stew prepared by the boss himself if that's on offer. Delicious can't really describe it. The full monty. Of course followed by incredible cheese, a coffee and eau-de-vie. And it was a good night to hang out with Philippe who hosted me for the past days. What a guy! Nuff said.
Day one. Good start. Not the biggest audience ever but very attentive. Surprise of the evening was the young couple who came all the way down from Prague to see the show. Said they saw me with the band at MisMas Festival in Bojkovice/CZ this summer and will probably come down for my second Weiden show in December again. It's little things like this that you will remember later on. People taking the effort to travel quite a bit because the songs are strong enough to make them do it. Little moments of bliss making the whole idea of travelling about / touring worthwhile.
27/10/19 Die Neue Fledermaus, Karlsruhe, Germany
Day three. Lack of sleep already. Made it straight from Weiden to Fürth, just in time to hook up with the Folk's Worst Nightmare collective for an afternoon rehearsal. Quick run through most of the songs, picking up some gear and off to Kofferfabrik for soundcheck. No time for packing all my shit for the upcoming tour weeks yet. After a late show in front of a packed auditorium taxi back to my flat. Half the night sorting all travel documents, packing gear. Up early doing the same thing trying to keep the amount of stuff reasonably light enough to travel. Still too heavy in the end. Suppose I have to sell as much merch as possible to reduce weight...
The train ride to Karlsruhe takes me through picturesque landscape, especially around Crailsheim. Sunny autumn weather, could have been a relaxing trip if the train hadn't been cancelled. The substitute train made my reservation obsolete and I had a three hours ride on an emergency seat in the bicycle compartment. Good place for musicians as it turned out. Had enough space for both guitars, the trolley and still room for the girl travelling with her concert harp. Quite a thing to drag around. Will stop complaining about what I'm carrying with me...
28/10/19 Capri Bar, Basel, Switzerland
Day four. Enjoyable, intimate show it was at the "Neue Fledermaus" yesterday. A former pub in the bar district of Karlsruhe converted into an arts space with regular acoustic shows, readings and exhibitions. Just few minutes prior to the show my old pal and ex-band mate Jay turned up whom I haven't seen in ears. Lovely little surprise. Amazing hosts, fantastic (much needed) food and a hotel room with musician friendly check-out times around the corner. Felt fantastic to wake up refreshed after a good night's sleep, having a hot shower and a decent breakfast. Looking forward to playing Basel tonight, meeting old friends from way back then and of course returning to the Capri Bar one of the most memorable shows I had the luck to play last year.
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I might have mentioned this before somewhere. This is my first ever large-scale European tour I'm doing solely by train/public transport. Means there are a lot of new things I'm just in the process of figuring out or understanding. Among those new insights I'm just starting to achieve in - particularly - German public transport ways are the seat reservations. They're EUR 4.50 and in theory this entitles the passenger to have a guaranteed seat in a train that might be very crowded. Unless... Well, unless it's a substitute train without numbered seats that's servicing your connection, what actually happened yesterday. Or unless a wobbly, elderly person has taken your seat instead of the one she initially has booked. Which in consequence, as in my case, means, the seat I booked thinking about the space behind it for my guitars, was taken by a cat transport box and aforementioned lady not being very compromising to shift all her luggage and pets to a different place... If you're a very patient person and got a lot of time to kill you might in fact join the line at the service counter at the next train station, show your ticket and reclaim the reservation fee. They do that. It's just all up to you if you want to queue in for 45 minutes to get those EUR 4.50 back.
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Got picked up at Badischer Bahnhof by Michu and Kati. Tramride to Capri Bar, one of the nicest shows I had on my last year's tour. Been looking forward to this for quite some time. Apart from that I love Basel. Any time I played here since the early 2000s something special, out of the ordinary is connected with those shows. Including one song on my first solo album. This might sound funny for you but for me this town has got an air of strangely fertile creativity whilst at the same time being a bit sloppy and laid back. Especially for a Swiss town. What adds to it is its a river town. In my experience a different quality of energy in such places.
Had a smoke prior to the gig. I always do this if possible. Felt empty. Just totally blank. Physically and mentally. Kickin off with Tuesday Lilies flicked that imaginary switch that sometimes gives you a bit of an extra ignition spark. Or boosts that machine that is just too beat-up to work properly. Or feels like that. In retrospect, it was a 200% performance. Again I'm wondering how to keep up this energy level for the coming forty shows. This tour has just begun. It's a bit scary. When clearing the stage after the show we just found out the carpet they borrowed me for the concert was a handwoven one from Finland. Model "Pelimanni". Weird little coincidence.
You feel it must have been a good one if your money
The first European tour of the Anglo German Low Stars in 2001
(https://9pm-records.de/cosmos_1.htm) is, to quite some extent, responsible
for what I'm doing now for many years. Formative. Touring, writing
songs, collaborating with wonderful artists I come across. It was then
when I met Andy Keeble first. Fiddler with Grae
J Wall. My first longer tour performing solo and alongside like-minded
songwriters/musicians in a loose and slightly chaotic collective. Most
of them people I hardly knew or just heard of prior to meeting for our
first show in Berlin. Among them Andy. Without him I suppose that whole
four week stint wouldn't have been what it turned out in the end - an inspiring moment in life and the birth of numerous ideas, projects and - most of all - long-lasting friendships.
Andy made us smile when there was no reason to smile, crackin a joke when things got too tense and most importantly -
encouraged me to keep on going my way as a performer/songwriter just by
doing his thing and being an example. For four consequent years we were
touring in that lose line-up varying from four to eight artists. As
touring is what it is there were both magic and exhausting moments, good
times and difficult times. What made me keep going was this cheerful
chap from St Albans. What a friend.
After the last Low Stars tour we regularly met when I was playing the UK, either sharing stage with The Trailer Trash Orchestra, Los ChicosMuertos, popping into Bill's Blue Angel Acoustic Sunday or just hangin out and chatting about over a couple of drinks. So many memories... Playing pinball the whole night after a Kulmbach show, Andy showing me around gardens in Hertforshire
he took care of, having my first ever full English with him in
Portsmouth. The night we spent talking, talking, talking till dawn in
that trailer he used to live in then somewhere near Luton.
I
never gave up hope Andy would make it over to the mainland for a tour
together. Revisiting the places we played before, exploring new ones,
going crazy and making friends with new people. Spending time on the
road with one of the best mates you can be on tour with. It's not going
to happen. A bleedin shame.
I'm
glad he found the time to contribute some fiddle to my last album early
2018, and we had the opportunity to perform together in London this
year February. Means a lot to me. Hope they're well-stocked up where
we'll probably meet next. There'll be time for a decent bottle to share,
brother. I know you'd like that. Bye Andy.
