Day 8 – Day 11
Day 8
Bleary eyed,
we struggled through the day nursing hangovers from the night before and
cursing the previous night’s hijinks. We decided that the best way to proceed
was to head to the launderette and watch the tumble dryers spin round and round
and round and rou…………… That night we set off for Sonnendeck in Dangast on the
North Sea coast of Germany. The venue itself
is situated right on the sandy shore, with the bar acting as a beach hut. The
staff were very accommodating – especially a lovely guy called Gordon - and the
free pizza and beers were perfect after the long day of hangovers and washing
clothes. I loved this gig and the venue as I got to sit in a wooden deck chair
on a beach, in September, with a cold beer whilst the sun set to the west. It was the most relaxed I had felt in the tour
up to that point, and for a long while.
Our
performance itself was ok, not our best, presumably due to the remaining dregs
of hangover that was yet to leave our system (I wasn’t hungover cos I didn’t
drink *smug* - Alex). Saying that, the gig was a lot of fun and the location
made us feel really relaxed. It summed up the kind of opportunity that the
Songs & Whispers tour has given us.
Day 9
It was
Saturday morning, and we had the opportunity to do some casual busking in
Bremen city centre. We headed out with Tom, while Steve stayed in bed. The five
of us got to Bremen railway station at around 10:30am and proceeded to wow the
passing crowds with our stripped down blend of Stressechoes greatest hits. As
expected, this endeavour didn’t generate a large amount of money, but was
certainly fun and different to what I’d usually be doing on a Saturday morning.
After finding that all the best pitches had already been taken by early-bird musicians
we settled for a crap spot which proved to be fruitless. Abandoning the busking
idea we settled at the Alex café for a
bite to eat.
The show
that night was at Harlekin Pub, again on the north coast. This was the furthest
we had travelled so far, being over an hour and a half from Bremen. The pub
itself was an Irish bar, i.e. the walls were plastered with Irish memorabilia,
photos of U2, and provided Guinness. The crowd were really receptive and accommodating
as usual. We were also treated to a marvelous German meal before our show, which
included a scurvy-preventing side salad.
Day 10
It was
Sunday, a week since we had been in the flat in Bremen, and we were once again
up early for a gig. This time, the show was in a small café on the outskirts of
the city centre, Glucklich Café, where local residents had gone for a quiet
Sunday afternoon tea. We rocked up and played a stripped down set for the unsuspecting
public. The café itself was very small,
which meant that we had to keep the volume to a minimum i.e. no bass guitar. As
a result, the crowd were very welcoming and appreciative, and really didn’t mind
their quiet Sunday lunch being interrupted. At one point a restless baby tried
to join in on backing vocals. We headed back home for a rest before heading to
our gig that evening. The show was in
the living room of a Songs & Whispers friend and fan, Jens Fischer. This
was an odd show for us, and one that we had never done before. The show doubled up as a house party
gathering, with a delicious buffet, beers, and the German election on the
television in the background. The crowd were very happy with both us and Tom
and we sold a few CDs. Once again learnt how effective these intimate gig
settings can be.
Day 11
Another
Monday was upon us and we rejoiced in the fact that we weren’t at work but on
our European Tour instead! However, due to a leaky wall behind the shower, we
had to be up relatively early to welcome a local plumber and Astrid to the
flat. Once this had been settled, we headed en masse to the soulless Waterfront
shopping centre to visit the local Starbucks or, more precisely, steal their
wireless internet. Here, we updated our
blogs/ tour video diaries, drank large teas, and ate chocolaty muffins.
Later we
headed to the Bei Beppo bar in Oldenburg where both we and Tom would be
playing.
Tom played
first and the crowd were really receptive, singing along at all the right
moments. A couple of die-hard Rom Tichardson fans appeared too, including a
woman who had been at the café the previous afternoon. Our set went well, but I
was slightly uncomfortable due to the heat in the corner of the room where we
were playing. Needless to say we all got
a bit sweaty. We absolutely nailed our new favourite set-closer, ‘Hold On’,
which resulted in one of the most enthusiastic round-of-applause's we have ever
had.
Day 12
I woke up
stupidly early on this day and headed in to the city centre to explore. I have this thing where I really want to act
like a regular tourist, but somehow not look obvious about it. So, I grabbed a cup of tea and walked along
the river watching the goods ships sailing up and down. I then headed into Bremen,
where we had played at Litfass the previous week. This whole area reminds me of
Jericho in Oxford because its carefree attitude and ramshackle appearance.
It was here
that I met up with the rest of the Stressechoes boys and we explored further,
after munching on the biggest burritos we had ever seen. We stumbled upon a
record shop, which was quite small, but had an ample selection of musical gems.
After splurging a stack of Euros in there we sat down for a spot of tea, before
heading back to the house.
The gig that
night was at the Lox café in Bremen, where we had the chance to meet Heiko, our
primary contact at Songs & Whispers. We played before Tom, and had a really
good show. A request was made to sing Happy Birthday to a 9 year old girl, Lina.
We did so, and Andy adapted our song ‘Lucy’ as a dedication. We received another
very good reaction to our set, which put us in good spirits. We got sore wrists
from signing CDs. The other benefit to playing first was that we had the
opportunity to drink a lot of beer and watch a Tom Richardson master class. Tom’s
set was well received, leading to 2 encores. We all had really good fun at this
show and really lifted our spirits after a few tiring shows.
scurvy-preventing side salad. :D
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