Tour diary : " In Search of a Winter Tour "
I will be on the road for 10 days and the first stop is a one horse town in the middle of Saxony. This is a remote little paradise. You can actually hear the sound of silence in places like this. The venue is a refurbished barn in the middle of the village build in the 1800's. I kick off the Tour with my first barn dance this year. Friendly people, good food and a warm welcome. A big thank you to Melanie Pien, who put me up for the night, check out her site www.kunst-macht-glücklich.de
A fairy tale place in a sea of silence.
Next stop will be in Belgium. Accompanied by the band and really looking forward to it.
Day 2: 01-02-2014 ‘t Bronneke – Asse
On my way back to Belgium today. The lads are looking forward to kick off their Monotrol Kid year as well I presume. “A short set” ..that’s what they asked for! We are introducing The Monotrol Kid to the hometown of the bass-player and the drummer. “Make sure it is good set, You need to impress them. “
Well guess what, we did. The short set became a full one and apart from breaking a string halfway through the playlist they liked us.
We had fun in this old-school 80’s youth club. A good place to be on a Saturday night, bringing back memories of growing up in clubs like this. Life is good.
Hope there will be a happy ending to this gig so stay tuned for updates.
Day 3: 02-02-2014 Norderneyer Brauhaus - Brauhaus
An early start today to catch the ferry to Norderney, a well-kept secret to mass tourism. A haven of peace and quiet on the North sea coast.
Playing the “Norderneyer Brauhaus” Pub/ in house brewery for the second time now. Great place, great publican and a very inspiring atmosphere. If you ever end up on this island make sure you visit this place. It’s well worth a visit.
It was a very relaxed gig, slightly different to the other ones during the tour, all due to the restrictions of not being able to carry a truckload of gear on my back. (No cars allowed). Just one guitar and banjo were used. I liked it and judging the response I got I think the audience did as well.
A big thank you for the Cap Mister Tobi. I will be wearing it as the official “In Search of the Winter Tour” cap from now on.
I saw Lady Winter’s tail on the island. “50 cm’s of snow they had last week” according to the Taxi driver who brought me to the harbour in a 2 minute Taxi ride. “The whole island came to a standstill, they don’t have the equipment over here” he told me, “so they didn’t do anything!”
I guess I would have done exactly the same. Enjoy it and take in the beauty of nature when it’s there.
Day 4: 03-02-2014 Intersoup - Berlin
Leaving the island at 6:15 in the morning and another long drive ahead. Long drives are good for listening to good music, shame I left my iPod in the car overnight so I’m stuck with a very limited selection of music on my phone.
Intersoup is a livingroom bar, they put the band gigs in the cellar and it is equipped with some great BOSE speakers. This place sounds amazing and it looks exactly how it should look.
The next stop here is already planned and I’m really looking forward to hearing that great sound again.
Day 5: 04-02-2014 Klosterschänke - Hude
This gig has been planned for months and it is the real reason this tour is happening right now. It feels good when people you don’t know book a concert simply because they like your music. I guess that’s the reason why people like me make music! So when you guys in Hude read this, I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for inviting me to this place. Thank you for giving me a nice room, a delicious meal and an attentive audience. I really enjoyed giving everything I had in me to make it work.
Great venue as well, a refurbished watermill right beside the remains of what once was an abbey. New music in an old place, there is something very special about that.
I like it, so I really hope to see you all very soon.
Day 6: 05-02-2014 Feliz - Finndorf
I decided to enter the venue way to early and be that mystery coffee drinker alongside the other coffee drinkers and cake eaters, just checking out this very friendly Bistro on the outskirts of Bremen city centre. No busy traffic, no stressed out shoppers on their way home. Just friendly and relaxed people having a warm drink and something sweet to eat.
The request to use what must be the smallest stage in Europe in the evening came as a bit as a surprise to me. At first I thought it was a window seat but the owners made it very clear it wasn’t, they actually wrote ‘little stage’ on it to avoid any discussions about it!
The concert was a very relaxed affair and just the way I like them. Real contact with the audience in a very intimate and friendly setting.
A special thanks to the host for allowing me to check out her 300 year old Baroque Cello. You can just feel the passion and history in instruments like that. I am now dreaming away about my next guitar…...
Day 7: 06-02-2014 Living room show – Verden
My day started in a Cello players house and ended in a living room about 40 kms further.
The remarkable thing happening at the moment is people wanting me to play shows all over the area. Every show I play there is somebody else asking me to appear in their Living-room, local cultural project or event. Thank you for asking and please let me know what you want and when and where I have to turn up.
I played in this living room about a year ago and it is great to meet these people again, I enjoyed playing my songs and the food was great too, musicians appreciate being well fed when they are on the road. Thanks for being so generous and glad that you liked the shirt! Those of you have seen this particular shirt know you need a lot of courage to put it on!
In the words of last nights host, ‘see you next year, same time, same place.’
I decided to stop looking for that winter. The temperatures here are rising instead of dropping, so I don’t think I will get the winter wonderland I was hoping for!
Day 8: 07-02-2014 Lilie - Bremen
Not the most ideal way to start the day on tour….. an early wakeup call because the car is blocking the
drive way. The people who let me entertain them last night forgot they had to go to work today and I
didn’t.
I forgive you for waking me up so early! and I will keep my promise to entertain you again next year. So
that is one show booked for 2015.
The venue today is a very busy and well known bistro on the outskirts of town. Great food and
interesting people. A great place to play! The evening went well and the audience was sweet. Hope we
will be back soon.
Day 9 : 08-02-2014 DETE Kultureinrichtungshaus - Bremen
Now this place is the coolest place by far I have come across during the last few months. A pop up store/
coffeehouse / gallery/ favourite hangout for the young and beautiful. Good drinks, good music and a
good sound for the audience and onstage. What more can you ask for.
This old furniture store is really a must visit place when you pass by.
It was a full house and a great audience. It was one of those gigs that I will never forget so a big thank
you to everyone who made the effort to come in and have a listen. We will be back very soon.
Day 10 : 09-02-2014 DETE Kultureinrichtungshaus - Bremen
Good morning people. The Monotrol Kid for breakfast in the coolest place. These guys served up an
amazing breakfast and the place was full of the same people as the previous night including their kids.
Didn’t really know how to take the stage this morning because there was a family with two sons having
breakfast on the very place where I was standing last night!
My first breakfast show is history and apart from slicing my own hand right before the start with a bread
knife, everything went well. Great idea and a great final show of this tour.
Thank you everyone who made this happen.
Hope to see you all very soon.
In : Tour Diary : "in Search of the Winter Tour"