MUNICH 8/15
In which, after much train-oriented hilarity (remember when all you had to do to make a tour-de-force farce was to put some wacky characters on a long train journey?) we arrive in Munich, and engage in a real German meal at about 10pm...furthermore, we load in to the Atomic Cafe, site of a very good KS solo show in 2001, and then have yet another fabulous German meal (thank you Justin!) and manage to play what might be the loudest show of the tour...ears and feet and feelings all get socked in the soft bits over the next couple of hours...I imagine what bar jokes Jesus would have told...Jon retracts statements about our friend Carsten's family only to insert *worse* ones...then all are dragged off to Trader Vic's. Holy mutha!
STUTTGART 8/17
We were very curious about our hotel called Mos Eisley (an odd thing to call your biz, as per the famous quote: 'Mos Eisley: you'll never find a more wretched hive of scum and villainy' from Obi-Wan K.). that we decided to boot scoot to Stuttgart on our day off...however, Mos Eisley the hotel is so small it can only fit 8 people at a time. And there was a band staying there that night. So, on the 16th we were booked at a generic traveler's hotel in the exoburb doldrums outside the city...no restaurants save for a McD's and I won't eat that...so, Matt H. & I found, miraculously, an Italian deli, and bought some salumi, cheese, bread and wine...and had a picnic in the hotel room. Watched the Simpsons and other US shows in German. I fell asleep at 11...and woke up at 11 the next day! Eventually, we set up at the Schocken club, which, in line with my jungle rants, has a sort of tropical themes...a few fake palm trees and rattan things around...great crowd arrived and I really enjoyed this show quite a lot! As usual, we got wild. And after the show, Matt H & I DJ'd as the dressing room was a separate bar in the basement...cool! With turntables and all...we had about 20-30 friends and fans dancing to the contents of our itunes...that's how you get it done, my friends.
UTRECHT 8/18
This was one of the great ones. Sold out at the Tivoli de Helling (Spelling of Helling? or is it Hellig?). Earlier in the day Jon & I played for an hour at the Plato rec. shop, first time we had done an acoustic gig in public in quite some time (we've done a couple of things for radio on this tour). Whipped out a cover of the Replacements' 'Unsatisfied'!!
Anyhow, this night's show was very special, and as always happens in these shows, I go somewhere dreamlike and detached from my body when the show really goes well. It's hard to remember anything specific (in contrast, when the show doesn't go well, I remember every grueling second). I know we did at least two encores, and many unplanned songs...'Will You Ever Ease Your Mind'! First time in how many years I can't tell you. Many thanks to our *many* Dutch friends, plus friends who came from Germany and France, for a fantastic night. It was an honor for us!
HASSELT 8/19
We were moved at the last minute to the mainstage at Pukkelpop, likely as a replacement (but with a better slot) for Babyshambles (does that band actually *do* anything? Can they just go away now?). To be honest, we are not really mainstage material...audience familiarity at that scale (35,000) is limited at best...but, we benefit from the goodwill of promoters of these things, many of which have been long time fans. They want to help us and pass along a well-kept secret to a bigger public. Which of course we appreciate...the experiment doesn't always work...not only were we knocked out by the intensity of the Utrecht show, plus instead of playing at 11pm we are playing now at 4pm, broad daylight, big open air stage...we just didn't quite pull it off in my mind. I could see some folks enjoying themselves, and I saw some people (like some of the thousands of very young Nightwish and Marilyn Manson fans) digging it...but...perhaps we would have been a better fit in the tent we were scheduled to play in. However, these are things we have to try, we must stretch to grow, and perhaps by next year we will have expanded our stage persona to project to audiences of this size properly.
Spoke a bit to the very friendly Jimmy Chamberlin who as it turns out is very much a Big Star (Jody Stephens esp.) fan...and the guys from Zornik, very kind. I was so tired I didn't watch much music, but the guys said that Maximo Park were superb, and of course the Pixies were great. Thanks to all! Hey, if you saw this show, and enjoyed it, please email me some positive feedback! I've already done my own self-critique, so no complaints please...already in my head.
EXETER 8/20
And so it goes. Hellish overnight travel to the Eden-like stunning greenery of Devon. We passed ol' Stonehenge on the way! Showered at a truckstop somewhere...that's an interesting thing to do...oof. Anyway, this is a far out hippie fest. organized by the Levellers, who have always, but oddly from a distance, supported ye olde Posies. And I can only thank them! Although perhaps we were very much the oddity here--again, much of the audience had no idea who we were, but many curious and kind folks stepped up to the front while we delivered what I have to say was a very rockin' show...some great dancing...I invented a dance, sort of Snoopy like, for the occasion, and a few brave folks took to recreating it in the grass...fun! And the pixie-haircut girl in the brown sweater who appeared out of nowhere in the last couple of songs, pogo-ing like a fiend...this festival is full of fun things like that...lots of faerie-winged little kids, and a girl with prosthetic elf-ears...pirates, dragons, all that. Vegan desserts and all the like...anyway, Levellers, if you read this, thank you for the invitation...and thanks to Dave O. for coming down to help...and the donation of Uriah Heep shirts!
That’s it...leg #1 done! I am now waiting to check in for my flight home...many, many thanks to everyone who made this the best tour in my Posies memory. It was in many ways the hardest--there were some *really* rough travel days--but I think we played the most consistently we have ever played--I would count Benicassim and Pukkelpop as the least spectacular of our shows but I would count Utrecht, Oslo, London, Catania, and a few others as right up there with the best we have ever done...fair trade...and we'll prob. do better in these big fests with a little more experience and our own soundperson (we've been looking hard, just didn't find anyone available for summer as it's such a busy touring time for all). And of course, I have to give props to a great Posies team: my bandmates; our tech Joe who did an incredible job working on his own; our tour manager, Matt who despite having only toured in his home country Australia, put everything he had into learning the roads, currencies and business ways of Europe; and our Euro-manager Marc, who has been nothing short of a lifesaver. On to the states...after a little pause.
Please, email me your comments, photos etc. from the tour...I will post photos if you say OK in your email.
Love
KS
Stansted Airport, UK
