4 November 2015
Great opening night at the Boerderij and the dancing bear returned thanks to my spinal injections yesterday. Best sound on stage for a while for everyone and it led to a really inspired performance all round. I had the extra bonus of having a decent posture and better breathing giving me great voice control. I really enjoyed singing and with an attentive and respectful audience it really turned into quite an occasion and we finished with a rousing ‘Company’ to a great reaction.
It wasn’t as loud and rock and roll as the Liverpool crowd, more what I would call a ‘Prog’ audience and I settled into a bit of banter during the set which went down well . Best bit was just before the ‘Company’ when the entire band came down to front of the stage to sign the plaster cast on a young ladies arm leaving her ecstatic. There was the obvious football banter as I reminded the Dutch that they seemed to be the ‘new Scotland’ both of us failing to qualify for the Euros! smile emoticon
Altogether a great first night on the mainland and tonight promises more as it was the first date to sell out with yesterday’s gig added later to fulfill demand.
Lazuli are going down really well and making a lot of new friends and fans. Lovely guys they are a pleasure to tour with and the permanent smiles warm the backstage area. They are quite the troopers and seeing them pile into their sleeping quarters in the back of the camper van after gigs looks like something of the ‘Time Bandits’.
News arrived today that Berlin, Mannheim and Oldenburg are sold out and tickets are flying in Germany. Berlin tomorrow will be quite an emotional occasion all round on both a personal and historical level. Playing ‘Misplaced’ for the final time in the city where it was put together and recorded is sure to be special. Added to that their is a family gathering with Tara,Simone, her son Liam and her Berlin based family being joined by Tara’s Berlin family including her mother Tamara and her partner who are coming out from Edinburgh to visit. A genuine Fellini moment for all concerned on this particular show.
The show is being recorded and filmed for inclusion in the eventual live album from this tour. An opportunity that came up and which was too good to turn down.
I’m just about to ok the ‘Fellini’ remaster booklet today and that should be in production by the end of the week and with us hopefully in Germany. It looks great and the tracklist works really well and sounds great on the bonus discs. I’m still writing up ‘Field of Crows’ and have to go through folders of photos to send to Mark Wilkinson. It’s still a few weeks off but we should have that sorted by the end of the tour.
Looking forward to tonight’s gig and band are all in great spirits.Give me a show like last night and a result for Hibs against Dundee United in the Scottish League Cup quarter finals and the bear will be having a dance again on stage later.