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THE EZIO ZONE > LIVE AREA > Tour Diary
What Ezio has to say when he is on tour
The Duo Tour 2005, Germany
... written by John Rech from DreamCatcher, Tour Manager
Dudelange (L), Sept. 29th
What a night!!! I don’t think we ever had a better tour
start. The “Salle des Fêtes” suits
Ezio’s music perfectly. And the fact that Ezio and Booga had
arrived a day earlier, actually helped us preparing everything in a
very relaxed mood… Followed by a great lunch at my place at
noon… Jordan helped me pack the merchandise…
I’m not quite sure what I should write about on this tour,
but I’m definitely not gonna write down the
setlists… Or maybe later… By the way, give me
some feedback on what you would like to read about in the
diary…
I really enjoyed our set with dream catcher. Different and deeper.
Apart from a little mistake during “maybe”, I felt
like doing exactly the right thing… And the songs seemed to
get a new life. We started with “la plume” and
“brand new toy” and it seemed like we did surprise
the people. I really loved the new versions of “happy in my
tree house”, “kitty” and
“déjeuner en paix”. But I think
“A long December” was just great. A nice way to end
our 1-day-tour as Christian put it… “The last gig
of a tour makes you always become so sentimental”…
Ezio had felt great about the room as soon as he had seen it. Me,
too… But I had been dreaming about having them play it for
ages… Anyway, it really is a great place to see
Ezio… I’m sure it won’t be the last
time, unless the architect of the future “Centre
Culturel” decides to kick somebody’s ass and finish
the building sometime soon…
This tour will bring you several new songs which I really
love… Especially the slow ones… But
I’ll write more about these songs in a couple of
days…
Aarburg (CH), Sept. 30th
Switzerland can’t be described as “Ezio conquered
territory” and the last experience in Bern didn’t
recall the best memories… I wonder what I wrote into the
diary about this gig… I think I’ll look it up, but
with distance, I don’t think I liked it… The
promoter was kinda weird and didn’t give us a beer after
packing… The audience was quite reserved… But as
Peter, today’s promoter and a nice guy, told me, the Swiss
won’t sing that much but clap a lot harder… Well,
it made sense tonight… I really enjoyed it and thought it
was Ezio’s best appearance in Switzerland so far…
Despite the late hour… We also had a local opening act (a
duo) that played cover versions of songs by Garth Brooks,
U2… in a very acoustic Bon Jovi style… Quite
good, I gotta admit. But they didn’t attract the expected
additional audience…
2 new songs to open the night and the atmosphere was set.
“Hotel Motel” and “All I really want is
you”. There’s a strong melancholy in the new songs
and the Mandolin song is definitely my favourite new track…
To my surprise, they played “The further we
stretch” tonight. I don’t know why, but I had the
impression this classic Ezio track needed a holiday on this
tour… For the second consecutive night, Ezio and Booga ended
the night with “One more walk round the dance
floor” which is a great way (if not the best) to end the gigs
on this tour… It leaves you with a mixture of melancholy and
desire…
Brackenheim (D), Oct. 1st
3rd day, 3rd country. It almost feels like a world tour… :-)
The journey was quite tough because of the rain… The venue
was in a castle and proved to be a winner. When you’re on
tour and you’re booked into a venue you don’t know
in a small town or village you’ve never been,
you’re slightly nervous… The welcome was warm and
the people promoting the gig really nice. We enjoyed every single
minute and we’re already looking forward to the next time.
But back to the gig… Since I’ve told you before
that I wouldn’t write down the setlists, it’s my
pleasure and privilege to break this promise… I
can’t tell you why, but when Ezio and Booga started playing,
I felt like I should write down the song list because I had the
impression that it would be an exceptional night with songs I
hadn’t heard for a while. It was a great night indeed and the
audience was just as surprising as the gig.
1) Hotel Motel
2) All I really want is you
3) Wild side
4) Back on your own again
5) Perfect
6) Everybody forgets sometimes
7) Now that you’ve gone away
8) Alex
9) Agony
10) 59 yards
11) Brackenheim Pumpkins (impro)
12) Mandolin song
13) Deeper
14) One more walk round the dance floor
15) Go
16) Mermaid song
17) 30 & confused
18) Angel song
19) Circus
20) 10.000 bars
21) Just to talk to you again
The Brackenheim Pumpkins song was one of the best improvisations that I
have ever witnessed. I had a big laugh…
After the gig, we had a late night meal with the local promoters (hi
and thanx to Joachim & co.) and some friends. Sandra (a friend
of ours) unintentionally said one of the funniest things ever (but it
might just be funny to us, so I’ll keep it locked –
for the personal archives: it was about lemons and
grapefruits…). On the funny side, after listening to a
compilation of acoustic music, Ezio had a great quote today:
“Acoustic music is fucking rubbish!” I think
we’ll put it on a shirt.
Karlsruhe (D), Oct. 2nd
So here we are once more… Back home… As Ezio put
it during the gig. Karlsruhe is like Freiburg or Cologne… We
love these places and we are always looking forward to playing there.
This time, we’ll even have a day off there. Brilliant, except
for the fact that it’s a national holiday, which means: No
laundry, no shopping! Since the drive was really pleasant and short, we
had loads of time off in the afternoon and we all watched
“Team America” on tv. Brilliant movie. I just
laughed so much. We met at the venue (5 minutes walk from the hotel) at
5.30 p.m. and were done by 6.30 p.m. I love the duo version and since I
had time to organize the merchandising before leaving, it hardly takes
us an hour to be ready, given the local p.a. & light people
have done their preparations properly, which is usually the case.
For me, the duo tour means a lot less work and actually some time off.
Which also means that I’m up-to-date with the diary.
Pleasant, too. Though I couldn’t have done it during the
spring tour, I almost felt like I had let you done last time. But it
was just impossible to write. The amount of work was huge and I used
the tiny moments of spare time before the show to concentrate on the
fact that I was gonna play, too…
When we entered the hotel we faced a huge crowd of people. A convention
was held there and we were afraid that the day off might not be as
quiet as expected. Upon second look, we noticed that the people
attending the convention were all handicapped (legs and arms). Later, a
lot later, sometime during the night, we were sitting at the bar and
somebody sat down at our table by accident… but somehow
stayed there for the rest of the night. He was handicapped and at some
point asked us whether we were shocked by them. We weren’t
and during the conversation I noticed that all of us had thought about
it (as if preparing to have to answer this question at sometime
– maybe we even asked ourselves). We’d spent a lot
of time in the hotel that day and nothing had been shocking to us,
except for the music in the bar. And the drunken people singing
“Viva Colonia”. Bad taste is all around…
Anyway, since I’ve played a couple of times at the Special
Olympics, I have to admit that I’m always overwhelmed by
their welcome and their joy. And I’m often impressed by the
performances of these young athletes. And thankful for the innocence
they still have while practicing their sport. Winning becomes not that
important anymore…
Wow, now I’ve drifted away from the Ezio world…
I’d better give you a setlist then…
1) Hotel Motel
2) All I really want is you
3) Everybody forgets sometimes
4) Waiting for too long
5) Wild side / Moon
6) Steal away
7) Now that you’ve gone away
8) Alex
9) Karlsruhe Citizen Application (Impro)
10) 10.000 bars
11) 59 yards
12) Mandolin song
13) Angel song
14) Deeper
15) Mermaid song
16) 30 & confused
17) Freedom
18) Perfect
19) Saxon street
20) Go
21) Moonburn
22) Day off blues (Impro)
23) Maybe sometimes
24)The further we stretch
No need to say, that the gig at the Jubez was great. So were the
people. And it was a pleasure to see Manfred again. Maybe, there was a
little less melancholy in this gig… Still a lot, but maybe a
litlle more “wild side”…
Karlsruhe (D), Oct. 3rd,
day off
It’s 2 p.m. and we’re trying hard not to do
anything… Since, we’re quite successful at it,
I’ll stop writing for now… See ya later…
Having a day off on a national holiday sucks. Everything’s
closed and you can’t go shopping. Even the museums are
closed. Movies synchronized in German are not really great for our
little English travelling party, so all we could do is go for a walk.
Which we all did. Ezio and Marcus even went for a run. At least 5 km,
Ezio said… Hmmm… Anyway, while Ezio was preparing
for the New York Marathon, I was having a great Panini and a cup of hot
chocolate at Conny’s favourite bar… Great.
In the evening, Christiane (a long time friend of ours) and Felicia
picked us up for dinner. We had a great time, especially when I spilled
my beer over the only dj in Germany who did still play Ezio music.
Well-done, John. While Felicia was discovering dream catcher (i-pods
for ever), we were trying to get an order or smile (in no particular
order) from the waitress. Was she in a bad mood. Then we ha Michael
Schumacher’s little brother as a taxi driver… No
need to tell you that though we didn’t crash, we only arrived
3rd…
Frankenthal (D), Oct. 4th
It’s late, it’s raining, it’s Tuesday
night… I was so surprised when Ezio played it, but it
couldn’t have fit better. I hope I’m not gonna hurt
anybody’s feelings here, but Frankenthal is such an ugly
place… Autumn weather doesn’t really help. When we
arrived at the Club, preparations weren’t running according
to schedule, and we had to spend more time there than intended. With
time passing, things got better, and the concert was fine, too.
Here’s the setlist (feat. “Meet me in the
gods” & “Tueday night”, yes):
1) Hotel Motel
2) All I really want is you
3) Wild side / Moon
4) Perfect
5) Everybody forgets sometimes
6) Agony
7) 59 yards
8) Saxon street
9) Tuesday night
10) Now that you’ve gone away
11) Alex
12) One more walk round the dance floor
13) Deeper
14) Angel song
15) Mandolin song
Break! Some people had to move their car. Otherwise they’d
have to walk home…
16) Waiting for too long
17) Oranges
18) 10.000 bars
19) C’mon little girl
20) Go
21) Meet me in the gods
22) Steal away
23) The further we stretch
Ansbach (D), Oct. 5th
Mick, our agent, did a great job on the routing. The distances are
quite ok and we are enjoying some time off during the day. After 2 and
a half hours spent on German highways, we arrived in the beautiful
little town of Ansbach. What a contrast to Frankenthal. We had a great
meal together and then either fell asleep or went for a walk. Last time
we played here, we had a small but fine audience and our fears had been
proven wrong by the quality of the audience. This time, our
expectations (and the promoter’s) were to be a little
disappointed. Less people, though still a very good and attentive
audience.
Ezio broke his first string of the tour (during 59 yards) and used his
number 3 guitar for the first time. Number 3 is the regular name, even
if we carry only 2 guitars for him on this tour. Thus resulting in him
playing “Cancel today” and “Sometimes I
wish”. Other surprise guests on the setlist were
“Oranges” and “Freedom”.
Reichenbach (D), Oct. 6th
**** for the cook. She’s the best so far… The club
has changed and we enjoyed it more this time. Unfortunately, it was one
of the most chatting audiences of the tour and some people seem not to
understand that it’s sometimes funny to talk to the band
while they are on stage but it becomes very disturbing for them and the
audience when it doesn’t stop. The lightning guy on the other
hand didn’t understand any English. Par64 lights are a killer
on small stages… I drove home straight after the
show… Election weekend in my hometown and a chance to hug my
family…
1)Hotel Motel
2)All I really want is you
3)Wild side
4)Back on your own again
5)Perfect
6)Angel song
7)Now that you’ve gone away
8)Deeper
9)Circus
10)Waiting for too long
11)10.000 bars
12)Alex
13)Mermaid song
14)Steal away
15)Everybody forgets sometimes
16)59 yards
17)Commercial break
18)Cinderella
19)30 & confused
20)Go
21)One more walk round the dance floor
22)The further we stretch
Wetzlar (D), Oct. 7th +
8th, Bochum (D), Oct. 9th
Since I was at home for the big election weekend in Luxembourg, I
can’t tell you anything about these gigs. All I heard from
the boys is that the show in Bochum was great and that it’s
absolutely stupid to have a hotel in Essen when you play in Bochum,
especially since we had a hotel in Bochum last time we played in
Essen…
Btw, for me, the elections went really well. My hometown’s
political team has been confirmed and harvested the fruits of their
hard work. Furthermore, it’s very good for the
town’s cultural life, too.
Frankfurt (D), Oct. 10th
I’m back. This time, I found it extremely difficult to part
from my family and Jordan’s “papa
heem” (= papa home) at the phone don’t really
help…
Ezio’s woken up with fever and a coughing. I’m
worried. Remembers me of last time when we all got sick at some
point… Booga had imported the virus. This time, too, it
seems like he’s brought it in…
The Sinkkasten gig proved to be one of the best so far. After 10 years
of coming to Germany, Ezio learned his 20th word of German, which he
unfortunately uses a lot since then: “Verpiss
dich”.
Great audience. A lot better than last time. And more, on a Monday
night. Cool.
1)Hotel Motel
2)All I really want is you
3)Wild side / Moon
4)Back on your own again
5)Steal away
6)Alex
7)Darkness
8)Waiting for too long
9)Mermaid song
10)Deeper
11)Everybody forgets sometimes
12)59 yards
13)10.000 bars
14)1.000 years
15)Commercial break
16)Go
17)One more walk round the dance floor
18)The further we stretch
19)Cancel today
20)Sometimes I wish
Bonn (D), October 11th
Ezio’s sweating a lot and his coughing has become worse.
Intensive care has started and we ship him back to the hotel straight
after the show. We’re considering a visit to the doctor in
Bonn. After a very uninspiring breakfast at the Maingau Hotel (how can
you put up so many things without having anything interesting on the
buffet), we left for Bonn. The journey was quite short but long enough
to notice that my mobile phone had slipped out of my pocket at the
entrance hall of the Frankfurt Hotel. Damn… Negotiations to
have it sent to Bonn cost 9 phone calls (DHL’s computer
having broken down and the Hotel’s reception crew not being
the most helpful in the world) ended at 6 p.m.
Meanwhile we had arrived at the venue and every light that was directed
at Ezio felt like an arrow to him… Do you remember
“Ohne Filter”, he asked me… Panic in my
eyes… Oh no… tomorrow, we’ll see a
doctor…
Anyway, Ezio’s become very reasonable over the last years and
knows exactly how to protect himself the best. Drinking a lot of water
helps… Sleep, too… And eating the right food. You
can’t imagine how much these little things can
help…
I loved the show and admired Ezio’s fight to perform the best
he could… And he did play a great show. He gave all his
energy for an over 2 hours’ show… Great audience,
too. I loved Ezio’s comment about imitating Bruce Springsteen
during “59 yards”… why should I? I sound
like him anyway…
1)Hotel Motel
2)All I really want is you
3)Wild side
4)Everybody forgets sometimes
5)Back on your own again
6)10.000 bars
7)Alex
8)Saxon Street
9)Deeper
10)Now that you’ve gone away
11)Freedom
12)Mermaid song
13)59 yards
14)Monnburn
15)Waiting for too long
16)Go
17)Mandolin song
18)Cancel today
19)Sometimes I wish
20)One more walk round the dance floor
Bonn (D), October 12th,
day off
Just got back from the doctor. Ezio’s feeling slightly
better, but we wanted to be on the safe side… He got an
injection that should help. Next appointment tomorrow morning. No
show’s in danger. The doctor (very nice, helpful and
expensive) had treated Joe Cocker in the past… I wonder how
Ezio’s fingers will move at tomorrow’s
show…
We’re resting now, well, I’m finishing the diary
first… and we’ll watch the football games
tonight… Will France qualify? Italy’s through, so
Ezio is relaxed, and Germany doesn’t have to qualify (thank
God for them). Spain’s not out of danger… Looking
forward to it…
I thought, over the next couple of days, I might describe some people
we regularly meet on tours… Like the local sound engineer,
light technician, promoter, agent, manager… Would you like
that?
Magdeburg (D), Oct. 13th
Nothing special to tell you about last night’s dinner. Too
expensive, too heavy, too much wine… No football, since the
only game that was shown was Germany vs China and we didn’t
particularly feel attracted by it. France got through, so
Ezio’s slightly nervous about the World Cup.
Italy’s last encounter with France didn’t go too
well at the European Cup 5 years ago…
We’re in Magedburg today. And Carmen, an old and close friend
of ours cooked some Goulash for us. Great! I think we’re sick
of restaurant food. Ezio feels better, too. He had another vitamin
injection this morning and is very careful about his health.
The gig was fine. Cinderella said hi. Ezio broke a string during
“Darkness”.
1) Hotel Motel
2) All I really want is you
3) Wild side / Moon
4) Go
5) Everybody forgets sometimes
6) Waiting for too long
7) Saxon Street
8) Now that you’ve gone away
9) Alex
10) Mermaid song
11) 59 yards
12) 40 & confused (the 40th birthday version)
13) Darkness
14) Cancel today
15) Cinderella
16) Commercial break
17) Moonburn
18) One more walk round the dance floor
19) Deeper
20) The further we stretch
We met Ezio’s manager and we’ve decided to have a
meeting in the morning. About the future… Managers are an
interesting subject to start our presentation of the Ezio
world…
Generally, I think Managers talk too much and mostly about the things
that can’t be done. They like to use the word
“single” to explain why you’re not played
on the radio. But they become good once the ball is rolling. However
that might have happened. On the other hand, I’ve rarely met
a manager that was great at building up the career of talented
musicians. Managers are always very busy, too. And rarely have time for
their artist, except in public. They like to show whose artist it is.
In Ezio’s case, a manager rather tries to hide once his
artist has a go at the new chancellor or the old Prime Minister. What
else could I tell you about managers? Hmmm, they’ve got big
cars, 3 houses, great holidays, a couple of horses, a boat or two, a
wife or two, and they don’t have much money. Honestly, they
can’t invest in their artists, because the last tour
din’t make that much money and the last album
didn’t sell that much, and then there are taxes,
and… blablabla…
Concerning EzioÕs management, I will just tell you that thereÕs gonna be a new departure with the new album that we start recording after Christmas... WeÕd love the record company to release it by the end of the summer. We all feel that we need to find the right partners for EzioÕs music. And that will definitely not be the company that puts the most money on the table, but rather the people that love his music and are ready to represent it... A record company representing its artists??? Wow, I read about it in booksÉ Apparently, there are people out there in the music business that still like music... know their artists and speak to them...
Oh, I almost forgot, on Oct. 14th, in the lobby of the Plaza Hotel in Magdeburg, I was promoted to co-manager... I told you "Managers suck"
IÕll try to help the band as much as I can... I think my first task will be to find a decent managerÉ No just kiddingÉ I know, tour humour is weirdÉ Michael and me are really motivated and weÕre gonna try to shake up things... A new departure? WeÕll see... An interesting mixture between friendship and knowledge might help.
Ezio thinks IÕve changed and I suspect he likes me less now that IÕm a co-manager... IÕm thinking about resigning...
P.S.: Today, Jordan, my two years old daughter, told me to come back home... IÕd love to, but I canÕtÉ
Lüneburg (D),
Oct. 14th
In Lüneburg, the promoter has managed to build up the band and
there were almost than 350 people in the Kulturforum. There were some
“Dummschwätzer”, who did disturb the two
as well as the audience (who finally took care of it), but it still was
a highlight on this tour…
In the afternoon, we met some nice people that could possibly become
interesting associates in the Ezio world… More about this
later… But it seems like the “Ezio
franchise” could soon sail on to new horizons…
1) Hotel Motel
2) All I really want is you
3) Wild side
4) Waiting for too long
5) Oranges
6) Steal away
7) C’mon little girl
8) Mermaid song
9) 59 yards
10) Deeper
11) Everybody forgets sometimes
12) Now that you’ve gone away
13) Angel song
14) 30 & confused
15) 10.000 bars
16) Alex
17) Commercial break
18) Moonburn
19) Cancel today
20) Sometimes I wish
21) Mandolin song
22) Go
23) One more walk round the dance floor
24) The further we stretch
P.S.: Jordan has decided not to talk to me anymore...
Sondershausen (D), Oct.
15th
Well… hmmm… let’s put it this
way… great, marvellous setting… unique
(I’m sure about it) venue… but an awful
sound… that made Ezio and Booga feel like they betrayed
their audience… who didn’t seem to have the same
opinion, though the acoustic conditions were desperate… This
influenced the setlist enormously and there were far more slow songs
than usually to be heard… Thanx to Mike (website),
“Moonstruck” was played (well, more or less) for
the first time in ages…
Should I mention the worst lunch in Ezio’s touring
history… We wondered what you could do wrong with Steak and
Salad… Well the answer is, not use neither Steak nor
Salad… and drown whatever Ersatz in Oil…
1) Everybody forgets sometimes
2) Darknss
3) Agony
4) All I really want is you
5) 1000 years
6) Moon
7) Waiting for too long
8) Now that you’ve gone away
9) 59 yards
10) Steal away
11) Mermaid song
12) Deeper
13) Moonstruck
14) Angel song
15) Cancel today
16) Mandolin song
17) The further we stretch
18) Moonburn
19) Go
20) One more walk round the dance floor
P.S.:Jordan doesn't talk to me anymore and runs away when her mother tells her that I'm on the phone...
Schöneiche (D),
Oct. 16th
The only reason why we play the B1 is the warm welcome of many friends
in Schöneiche. Peter, the
“Bürgermeister” and all our friends make
this day a privileged one and we feel like having a day off if it
wasn’t for the show in the evening. After a very untypical
dinner for a sports centre (it’s Bavarian week), we played
Bowling and managed to beat Robert, the son of the owner of the Bowling
Centre…
Ezio’s still fighting with his health, but the performances,
though different, got to a new level. Somehow deeper… The
interpretation has changed and it’s like rediscovering the
essence of it…
1) Hotel Motel
2) All I really want is you
3) 30 & confused
4) Mermaid song
5) J ockey full of Bourbon (Tom Waits cover)
6) Now that you’ve gone away
7) Wild side
8) Waiting for too long
9) Everybody forgets sometimes
10) Deeper
11) Moonburn
12) Alex
13) Saxon Street
14) 10.000 bars
15) Commercial break
16) The further we stretch
17) Cancel today
18) Go
19) 59 yards
P.S.: Jordan told me wih great pride that she used the "Potti" today, then reminded
herself that she actually didn't wanna talk to me anymore and threw the phone on the ground...
Hannover (D), Oct. 17th
What a great idea! What a stupid waste of time! What a bad result!
I’m sure that the people who initiated this event were driven
by a good idea, but they should have taken the time to plan
it thoroughly. “Iwwert de Knéi briechen”
is what they say in Luxembourg… 10 people on a huge
square… plus 10 local crew… a mayor that gave a
shit about who was playing and a couple of members of the press who
gave a shit about who was playing… Ezio and Booga played for
the people who came to see them… All 5… They
played “hotel motel”, “saxon
street”, “when all I really want is you”,
“now that you’ve gone away”,
“the further we stretch” &
“everybody forgets sometimes”… while I
was watching a double bass passing by on a bicycle, Ezio praying for
rain, an female journalist checking the position of her
scarf’s ponpons, a speaker eager to take over the microphone,
Ezio’s melancholy (They booked me a gig and no
one’s coming), the grey sky not ready to deliver its
tears…
At the arrival of 15 cycling helpers and the the speakers’
thanx, we packed our stuff as quickly as possible and flew to the
airport…
P.S.: Jordan says "no"... when asked whether she wants to talk to me or not...
Bad Iburg (D), Oct. 18th,
day off
Ezio and Booga are in Cambridge, Marcus and me in Bad Iburg at
Marcus’ place. After carrying a truck full of wood, and a
good lunch (pasta with tuna), we drove to the studio and wrote a new
song called “huel mech”. I guess it’ll be
on the forthcoming dream catcher Ep. Champion’s League
tonight and another good meal to make it a perfect day off.
Let’s talk about light technicians… If you wanna
see a good light technician at work, you can go to the KuFa in Krefeld.
Michael’s doing a wonderful job for Ezio every time we show
up at the KuFa. But he’s an exception… Most of his
colleagues wanna have a digital light orgasm and are blind…
to the musician’s needs… They care about what it
looks like, but rarely whether it fits… Don’t
misunderstand me, I’m not gonna criticize every single
position in the music business, but it’s like in every job,
you have different leagues of people and only few are up to the
responsibilities of their task. Thank God, most of them are nice people
and we manage to get to the point… The worst technicians are
very often those employed by a town’s cultural
service… Frustrated ex-musicians, they know what’s
best for the musician you’re touring with, despite their
(our) orders… By the way, this counts for sound technicians
as well… What light technicians like to do as well is put up
too strong lights too low… like a Par64 at 2.50m…
In Ezio’s case, he likes to see the audience, because they
strongly influence the show… But then, you’ve got
to explain that he should not be blinded… just as the
audience should not be blinded… That seems to be quite
difficult… 1 out of 3 times, it’s a disaster and
his complaint are not heard since the lightning guy is focused on the
mix of colours… If you think we should have told the
engineer before the show, you’re right…
that’s why we tell him before the show… But some
light technicians are great, like recently in Bochum, as I was
told… Lots of lights… all serving the MUSIC.
Another aspect that could be explained and that is quite important
especially these days are the lights’ influence on the
body… This enormous source of heat makes you perform in an
environment that is far above the high temperatures that the audience
has to endure… When you’re ill, the lights become
an enemy… they literally burn all your energy…
and a simple light can become a burning spear…
Here a couple of memories: In Frankfurt, the light technician was a
drummer… That couldn’t be overseen… In
Offenburg, the light technician knew it all and probably thought he was
Bon Jovi’s light designer… In Aschaffenburg, he
was a local musician hero and didn’t accept any commentary,
especially when I discovered him at the bar during one gig…
after Ezio was complaining for 15 minutes… In some other
towns, the local sound guy does the lights as the promoter wants to
save some money, which generally isn’t worse, sometimes even
better… Sound technicians are often used to
listening… but not always… Sometimes, Marcus or
me end up being light technicians... and the secret is very
simple… listen to what the musician tells you…
dim a little bit… and don’t beam the band into a
disco… Well, we don’t give up the hope that most
lightning colleagues will see the light one day…
Now we’re gonna watch Bayern Munich vs Juventus Turin. Prost
and Goodnight!
P.S. Annette, Marcus’ wife just asked me to tell you how
beautiful, clever, hard working, strong and so on she is…
She’s absolutely right… as long as I get another
glass of red wine… She’s a great rapper as
well… Now, could I please get another glass of wine?
P.S.: Jordan's boycott is still on... My aunt who took her to
gymnastics couldn't believe her eyes when she saw the reaction...
Leiden (NL), Oct. 19th
We were all looking forward to the Dutch dates as last time had been
like a new start in this country. And Leiden was our first
station… We met Hans, the promoter, at the venue and found
out that Holland was definitely not like Germany. The P.A. arrived with
us and we became aware of the fact that things would go a little
smoother from now on. Hans is a great guy, very enthusiastic and,
together with his crew, made us have a great time.
1) Hotel Motel
2) All I really want is you
3) 1000 years
4) Waiting for too long
5) Everybody forgets sometimes
6) Deeper
7) 59 yards
8) Angel song
9) Saxon Street
10) 10.000 bars
11) Now that you’ve gone away
12) Moonburn
13) Commercial break
14) The further we stretch
15) Mandolin song
16) Mermaid song
17) Go
18) One more walk round the dance floor
Amsterdam (NL), Oct. 20th
Well, Amsterdam was supposed to be an absolute highlight on this
tour… and in some ways, it was… from the musical
point of view… and the audience was great,
too… Ezio and Booga played very well.
Ezio’s voice was at its best… and the
angriness from what had happened before surely gave a boost of the
energy level. The Paradiso had sold the small room twice, i.e. booked
two different bands, selling twice tickets. The booker had also
forgotten about our Dutch opening act and the whole time schedule was a
mess. Furthermore, the local production manager tried to avoid us the
whole evening, so that I ended up reorganizing the night…
The worst was probably the fact that the ticket mess up had led to the
fact that the gig was declared sold out although there was enough place
for another 80 fans. Which also led to us losing money. The Paradiso
seems to milk the cow at all ends. If we are to play it again,
we’ll surely fix different rules… Anyway, we met
Mathijn (it’s surely written differently, but I
don’t know better) and all his friends, who ran in by
accident, and Marco (who helped us in Holland) and many more
friends… The funny moment of the evening (that was really
really very funny) was Ezio joking everyone and himself to a point
where he wasn’t able to play the Mandolin song
anymore… Later, we didn’t go wild, as everyone
would expect us to do in Amsterdam, we went to a Blues Bar and had a
big laugh… and a great night…
1) Hotel Motel
2) All I really want is you
3) Everybody forgets sometimes
4) Deeper
5) Angel song
6) 10.000 bars
7) Alex
8) Mermaid song
9) 59 yards
10) Freedom
11) Steal away
12) Mandolin song
13) Waiting for too long
14) Commercial break
15) Wild side
16) Saxon Street
17) Cancel today
18) Sometimes I wish
19) Go
20) One more walk round the dance floor
Jordan called me today. I’m happy…
Amsterdam (NL), Oct. 21st
Shopping, restaurant, paperwork… Not quite exciting, but
that’s basically what we did. Met a friend of
Marcus’, went to an Indonasian Restaurant. Then Ezio and me
went to a party at the Van Gogh Museum, where our new friend, Mathijn
(I’m still spelling it wrong) held an auction…
He’s great. We asked a girl if this was Amsterdam’s
young artist scene and she answered: “I just gave
birth”. We escaped to an Irish Bar not too far away, had a
drink or two, and went to bed. The artists’ world is too
complicated for us…
Jordan called twice…
Verviers (B), Oct. 22nd
Last gig for me… I’m driving home. I bought loads
of presents for the kids… can’t wait to hug them.
Radio interview in the afternoon
I’ve just become aware how quick time flew by these last
couple of days… I really enjoyed this tour… I owe
you some descriptions about sound and monitor engineers, promoters,
musicians, tour managers (they usually are the worst…) and
most of all record companies (they usually suck and can’t
remember why they’re in the job…). In general, if
you get the impression that we think the music business sucks,
you’re right! Why are we in it? Because we love music and
performing to you… And unfortunately, the business goes with
it… And there’s no way around… Quit or
fight!
But before leaving you, I think I should lose a couple of words about
our very personal humour… Sometimes people get offended
because of what I or the boys write… it’s not
meant to… at least not always… To go out on stage
and “entertain” you night after night, far away
from the loved ones and the little joys and tragedies back home, is,
despite the great time we’re having, a big challenge and
sometimes a big burden… Ezio describes it so well in
“10.000 bars”… If you’ve been
on tour before, you know exactly what he’s referring
to… In order to make this long trip a successful one, we can
count on our friendship and mutual respect… and on focusing
on an enemy… our humour being the weapon…
About Verviers: a great and special gig to end “my”
tour. As I told you before, I’m leaving Ezio, Booga and
Marcus tonight to fly to Jordan, Owen and Antonia. Like usually, when
you expect the worst, it turns out to be a very enjoyable
night… And maybe, with Francis, we now have an ally in
Belgium…
1) Hotel Motel
2) All I really want is you
3) Wild side / Moon
4) Everybody forgets sometimes
5) 59 yards
6) Agony
7) Now that you’ve gone away
8) Deeper
9) Circus
10) Waiting for too long
11) Moonstruck
12) Just to talk to you again
13) Alex
14) Commercial break
15) Angel song
16) Darkness / Tuesday night
17) Steal away
18) Maybe sometimes
19) Mandolin song
20) Go
21) Sometimes I wish
22) Saxon Street
23) One more walk round the dance floor
So, bye for now, there are a lot of Ezio plans and ideas waiting for
me… but most of all a little girl and her brother that I
want to hug for 24 hours… at least…
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