8 November 2015
view from the bus window, thankfully this wasn’t the gig. My name blown about under ‘Marianne Faithful’
Arrived in a breezy Gdansk this morning after being buffeted for 9 hours last night by gales and bumpy roads that had us all feeling for the ‘Lazuli’ boys in their wee camper van following us later. Even the Polish promoter thought they wouldn’t make it and we ll breather a sigh of relief when they trundled into the load in dock this afternoon.
Last night in the Azoty Arena was a fine show but I didn’t enjoy it as much as Berlin. The big arena with it’s hard surfaces meant that I was singing in a ‘swimming pool’ and although the sound on stage was great the splash back from the far away walls came at me and gave me too much reverb. On top of that I couldn’t see the crowd because of the bright lights and felt a bit distanced from the audience who were split between the ‘holding area’ in front of me or on the wall of seats quite a distance away.Nevertheless it was a great gig and everyone out front enjoyed it with a lot of comments on how good the sound was.
‘G’ our driver in Stettin
It’s always difficult fronting in Poland as despite efforts my command of the language is dismal. I’ve never been good with languages with a memory like a sieve.I grab moments of contact and humour when I can. One opportunity came up just before “Long Cold Day” when I mentioned ‘Old Kruipnik’ honey vodka as being a drink of choice for singers. As if on cue a guy down the front produced what could only be described as a miniature 8th of a bottle that he offered as a gift. Not wanting to throw it on stage he asked security to hand it up which they duly did.I found out later from Tara that the police in the building had seen it happen and as bottles were banned they told security to throw the guy out or he’d be arrested.He’d brought it as a small gift not for consumption and ended up getting shafted and missed the gig. The guy told Tara of his predicament after the show and she brought him back. I felt really bad for him and would have intervened from stage if I’d known. In the end he was brought to the dressing room where we shared a glass of ‘Old Kruipnik’ together, had a natter and he got his photo taken. Not exactly full recompense but something.
‘Stary Manez’, the venue in Gdansk
‘Misplaced’ received the reaction we have come to expect and we made a lot of people smile. The place bounced on ‘Market Square’ and some impressive ballet dancing followed in the ‘Company. Altogether a result on our first Polish show. Happy bears.