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Posts Tagged ‘France’
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Le Tour Blog #4
Right so, here’s the last of the foreign tour blogs.
On the boat at the moment heading home from France. I told you the last time that we’d be doing some recording when we got to Cergy. Pacific Rock was the location of the recording session and also the venue for Saturday’s show. We knew that 4 days isn’t a very long time when it comes to recording music, so, we’ve been fairly flat out in the studio since Tuesday working on new songs. The end product of this recording will be, hopefully, a new EP.
Saturday was the night of the show. When we booked the show a few months ago, we were offered the opportunity for the show to be filmed, because the venue used to be an old film studio and has all the facilities needed right there. We agreed. Preparations for filming began early on the Saturday. There were more camera crew, lighting and sound technicians there than there are usually audience members at our shows. Anyway, the support act that night was Alcohsonic, a fantastic rock band from Paris and good friends of ours. They warmed up the crowd splendidly. By the end of their set, the venue was just about bulging. Back stage, before going on stage, we conducted an interview that that was filmed and broadcast out into the venue for the audience to see and listen to. Pretty surreal. Then went out on stage. Played our songs, blah blah blah, the usual. So far as vibe goes, it was one of the best gigs we have ever played. Was gonna say that musically and performance wise it was one of the best performances ever, but I realise that the gig might end up somewhere very public so I’m gonna cover my tracks and say that we played fairly ok. Another little interview afterwards, then a few beers and a little jam on stage when most had gone home, put the finishing touches to a truly memorable night. A big “merci” to the main man Olivier and everyone else in Pacific Rock for a fantastic few days.
This tour has been the most strenuous and arduous of any that we’ve done. With illnesses and infections, being stuck in a van for long distances, sometimes sleeping rough and lots of other obstacles, we battled through it and we hope that we have won over a few people on our travels.
Next up – comfy bed, Lyons tea and beautiful Bundoran next Sunday night with some Dutch folk in attendance.
Talk t’ya.
Damo – JS
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Wednesday, September 23, 2009
El/Le Tour Blog #3
Right, where was I?
Valencia was the next city and the venue was Durango Club. Another great venue with fantastic artwork and facilities. It was a Friday night but when the weekend comes in Spain, people don’t believe in starting off their nights until it’s the early morning. We didn’t quite get into the swing of the whole siesta thing so we were pretty wrecked by the time we went on stage. The energy of the crowd got us through the show though, helped by a few Kalimotxo’s (Red wine, Cola, ice and lime) introduced to us from a German couple who drove 150km to see us. Kalimotxo’s became the drink of choice for the remainder of the tour. Gig went grand.
By the next morning the tour was beginning to take its toll. On the way to the next place, finding a pharmacy was top priority. Luckily the nearest pharmacy was just beside the Valencia sea side. Popped into the Med for a quick paddle and with ear, throat and head medicine purchased, we were off to Barcelona. Rocksound was the venue. More crazy Irish were at the gig. The Diamond Rings made their voices heard and a few others from Dublin helped contribute to another fantastic night. And Barcelona beat Athletico Madrid in La Liga that evening so everybody went home happy.
Only an hour journey to the next place on the Sunday, so we had a few hours to spend doing whatever we pleased in Barcelona that morning. Some hit the beach and some wandered around the city gawking at Gaudi’s astonishing architecture. Departed for Salt/Giorona after our dose of sun and culture. The venue was La Mirona. Another venue that couldn’t really rely on passing trade, kind of in the middle of nowhere. But a good crowd showed up and our final Spanish show went swimmingly, and that’s taking into account John’s mid-gig stomach exhumation.
Said goodbye to Spain on the Monday morning and made our way towards Cergy, on the outskirts of Paris, France. We spread the journey over 2 days. Gonna be doing a bit of recording in the venue from Tuesday to Friday before our show on Saturday night, a possible new EP in the pipe line. I’ll let you know how we get on.
Talk t’ya then.
Damo – JS
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