9 November 2015
Brilliant gig in Gdansk last night! One of the best venues I’ve played in Poland. the Stary Manez club is beautifully designed with great acoustics and unlike the arena in Szczecin the crowd were on display on the floor and a surrounding balcony making the contact so much easier than the dark bowels of a sports hall.
‘Lazuli’ again delivered a powerful show and we have to keep our game up to follow them.We hit the stage in a high gear and ‘Pipeline’ got the place bouncing before a rampant ‘Feast’. Sound and lights were great and we reveled onstage playing a stand out show to a very receptive audience.
Robin chilling in Gdansk
Although I cannot speak Polish slow careful deliveries of introductions seemed to hit the mark and ‘Perception’ in particular was a bit inspired. I recounted some old history with the city from 87 and took the opportunity to take cameras off the photographers in the pit and turn the tables handing them the mike so they could pose while I took shots of them.
As always everyone was waiting on ‘Misplaced’ and we didn’t disappoint.It’s just so inspiring to play and the entire album just glides effortlessly along a wonderful curve.It goes by so fast I sometimes wonder if we have played a short set and I’ve sometimes checked my watch as I walk off after ‘Feather’ to make sure. By the time we delivered an energised ‘Market Square’ and a rousing ‘Company it was 2 hours on stage last night as I took the opportunity of having a full communion with an attentive crowd to explore the intros more than I normally would do.
I genuinely wish I could speak the lingo and admit it’s frustrating but I just can’t get my head round the language. I just try to find the balance in the intros, keeping them simple and short enough and employing a few bits of visual comedy like the camera turnaround to get over the language barrier. It seems to work and the music speaks for itself.
Tara with her new Hush Puppies
The hot shower after show was exquisite. It’s far removed from our early forays in Poland where venues were quite dismal and lacking in the basics. I can remember having cold showers for 3 straight days in what seemed to be abandoned factories and eating the infamous ‘donkey dick in breadcrumbs’ with 5 colours of cabbage from a polystyrene box. The dinner pre show in a local hotel added to the components of a fine day.
I walked back from dinner on my own to the venue through a magical landscaped area that had been created by the developer who had financed the new purpose built venue from the shell of what had been an indoor training area for cavalry horses. All the derelict army barracks around the venue were being renovated and turned into student accommodation and I was mightily impressed and pleased that this historical area was being brought back to life and not just demolished and turned into modern flats. I shot some footage on the phone for Angus and I to include in the back screen projections we are building on tour as we go along. It’s our little project on days off now.
After show the pizza arrived and we splashed a few glasses of wine together before heading to the bus signing autographs with happy fans on the way out. Best gig in Poland so far and if Warsaw tonight is as good we will all be happy campers.
I’m sure we won’t be disappointed