27 November 2015
Great gig in Saarbrucken last night and 30 years to the day when I played a venue only 10 klicks away in Volklingen on the original ‘Misplaced’ tour.
That gig is a haze in a maze in a fuzzy memory bank and I ached up the stairs to the dressing rooms to park myself in a room in a another city I wouldn’t discover until the night dropped like a stage curtain. Holed up in another shared space biding my time.
I wasn’t feeling particularly confident pre show as my voice was a bit ragged at the top end and despite a lengthy warm up it took 3 numbers for it to settle down and become flexible. The onstage sound wasn’t helping as the huge dome above us created all sorts of issues which thankfully weren’t a problem out front as Alastair had it under control. The 1300 people who filled the venue soaked up the reverb that had made for an awkward soundcheck and greeted us on stage with a mighty roar that immediately lifted me.
‘Pipeline’ saw a raft of hands in the air and I knew we were going to have a good night despite my initial anxiety about the voice. It was an energetic and appreciative crowd who were more than willing to participate any chance that came along.
There were quite a few mini mistakes and fluffs on stage but the energy was good and covered the traces as only rock music can when delivered with spirit.
‘Feast’ and ‘Family business’ both hit the spot and it was obvious this audience were no strangers to the solo catalogue. The intro to ‘Perception’ was well received and the song delivered with strong emotions that resonated with the crowd.
Needless to say the intro to ‘Misplaced’ was met with a massive cheer and we soared into the album with everyone out front lifting us ever higher through the sections. By the time we hit ‘Childhood’s End’ we were peaking and I don’t think there was anyone out in front of us who didn’t have their hands in the air. It was an awesome sight. At the end of ‘Feather’ and on the final rally the roar was immense and a wall of energy hit us detonating huge smiles all round.
A deep breath behind the stage and then ‘Market Square’ picked everyone back up again for another ride. A weary descent down the rickety stairs and the wine was opened before the final push. ‘The Company’ was the perfect send off with good ballet dancing skills included. A really great result that I hadn’t quite expected earlier.
It was Dominic’s last gig with us and the perfect farewell for him. Despite his dartboard tour routing that had ‘G’ our driver shaking his head at times he did a great job standing in for Yatta and at the end of the night he dutifully handed over the official Mag-light torch that is the staff of command to Vince.
We had an hour to wait on bus driver’s hours to kick in and diddly bopped to an Irish Bar a few minutes away for some welcome pints of Guiness with the Lazuli boys who’ve been putting in some serious hours following us in their camper van. Dominic bought the round and we all had a group photo taken before we sauntered back to the bus and a tipple in the downstairs lounge after big farewell hugs with our ever smiling German tour rep.
I flipped the bunk relatively early and racked up 6 hours of Zeds before waking just as we entered Dutch air space. Day off in Groningen and 2 nights in a decent hotel are more than welcome and much needed.The ‘Do Not Disturb’ sign is on the door.