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DAY ELEVEN
(I checked!)
It's very exciting to go to a place
for the first time and this is true for all of us here. The bus
was parked right outside the club (GOLEM) so when I woke up it was
time for a shower and a bunch of radio and print interviews (N-Radio/Radio
AZ etc…). This is a cool venue and the back stage area has
several small rooms some of which have bunk beds in them.
Needless to say this led to a lot of speculation about what the
place actually was when there were no shows but I won't go into
that here. This is a "family" diary!!!
Once again I sensed that people here have a very close attachment
to the songs and the lyrics more than to the superficial aspects
of music and bands and I like that. The questions that I was asked
were much more interesting than usual simply because we talked a
lot about the music itself.
Of course, the inevitable questions about me joining Heep or Deep
came up because of the rumours but apart from that the interviews
went smoothly. I was asked if I liked The Czech Republic and Zlin
but that was hard to answer since I had only seen the bus and the
venue which were about 5 metres apart!
The crew were hard at work. Ade has to deal with a different sound
system every night but he always does a great job and that's one
of the reasons we like working with him. On a tour like this everyone
has to be very flexible (different stages etc…) so, once again,
I found myself thankful for the team we have out here. And the staff
and crew at the venue were very helpful too so there was a good
atmosphere all afternoon during set up and sound check. We were
all hoping (praying in my case!) for a good crowd so we could really
leave a strong message in this our first (and last at least for
this tour) visit to Czech.
I had caught a bit of a cold in Vienna (I forgot to mention that
the weather was horrible while we were there) but I seem to be surviving
it and there are no more signs of the mysterious tummy bug that
hit some of the band and crew earlier. I sort of sense that we have
"turned a corner" and are set on a very positive forward
path now.
The bass player in the opening act (a blues band with three horns
that really copied Gary Moore very well) was particularly happy
to meet Andy and to show him how hard he had worked to learn his
bass parts. He also owned a local hotel which is where we went for
an excellent meal after sound check.
And so to the gig… the place was packed and really heaving!
This always make a show a little bit extra special and they rocked
and clapped and sang… it was really a great show. We played
for almost two hours (as usual) but they wanted more and more (we
may have to learn a couple more songs I think!). And then it was
a zoo getting to the merchandise area and signing stuff. I was pretty
tired and really just wanted to sit down for a minute but this is
what we're here for and everyone left with something they didn't
have when they arrived. A lot of happy faces leaves us all with
a good feeling! So… time to load the bus with supplies and
people and hit the road back to Germany. I will sleep through the
Czech border crossing and most likely wake up as we cross into Germany
from Austria. I am tired and my bunk bed looks especially good tonight!!
Next day...
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