Savoy Grand Tourtagebuch: „Now back to the east!“

Day 12: Dresden – now back to the east! This town has always been good to savoy grand, thanks to Paul at the Scheune, and all the people who have come to our shows in the past. Just when you think it can’t get any better, we get to play a venue like this. A theatre of just the right size, and, as the lovely note from Ina the promoter waiting for us backstage says, it’s a „full house“. Throughout the gig the audience remain silent, except for the cheers and applause after each song. For some reason it is particularly nerve-racking playing to such an intense crowd, and halfway through I make the mistake of catching the eye of someone in the front row, which gives me the fear for a few minutes. But it subsides, and we finish the show in style, our sound engineer Mark, once again proving indispensible, creating a wall of delayed guitars and swirling feedback.

Day 13: Berlin – a detour to Potsdam and Park Sans Souci gives us time to relax and get a bit of exercise. We stroll and take in the impressive architecture of this historical place. We are apprehensive because Berlin shows are always difficult, with half the crowd being on the guestlist, and paying more attention to their beer than the show. But this time our fears are unfounded, and we are really surprised by the rapt audience who gather at the foot of the stage. We play an intense show, always on the edge of breaking down, exactly like the Magnet’s mixing desk… As Stuart says, it was „a proper gig“. Apparently we will be one of the last bands to play at Magnet in this building, we hope it was a fitting farewell.

Day 14: Karlsruhe – feels like we are on the final lap now, and we are all flagging slightly. Tired and emotional, we push ourselves forward. Helmut the chef helps with his homemade pretzels and some great lentil soup. Spirits restored, we play to a small but loving crowd. Unfortunately the virus that has been passing through the group, hits me tonight, and I feel dizzy and about to faint as we come off stage. I really feel like i am not actually there tonight, a bit detached from the world. But chatting to a few nice people after the show as we sell some CDs, reassures me that we have made people very happy. We retire to the swanky hotel on the edge of town.

Day 15: Stuttgart – The Laboratorium . The final show in Germany brings us to Stuttgart. Despite whatever clichés there are about touring, that it is a whirlwind of booze and/or drugs, groupies and an eternal adolescence, the reality is different, at least for us. We are not trying to sell any rock and roll myth, we are not part of some industrial machine, churning out t-shirts and tickets. We are not desperately trying to sell ourselves to the biggest audience. We are out here trying to play our music, have fun, and make some new friends. When it stops being fun, is probably when we will stop too. Tonight is fun. Despite some random technical problems that can only be cured by stamping in a certain spot on the stage, we play a revitalised set. Some songs are replaced with others that have not been rehearsed. We are pulled back for two encores, and I play Last Word Before Sleep (badly). I leave the stage thinking, „I could probably do a few more shows…“, but I know our real lives are now calling us back home.

Day 16: Luxembourg – is a strange place. Everyone there seems to be super rich. Only overpriced fashion accessories can be purchased after dark. We play our final show with duo Homelife from Manchester at the D-qliq. The non-descript building opposite is apparently the House of Commons. Between us we have so much gear that we take up the entire stage, and half of the venue. Homelife have an amazing collection of home built synths and effects, making our setup look like that of the house band for some cheesy TV chat show. They play a great set, and we follow. Competing with the Saturday night drinkers downstairs is tricky, but we do our best, playing as quietly as possible so as not to disturb them. Approaching the curfew we fall from the stage exhausted and relieved. The barman is very generous and opens a bottle of Lagavulin whisky. A nice way to toast a successful tour. And so we toast: Chris Baldwin who stepped in to learn piano, because Kieran couldn’t make the tour, Stuart from Darlington who’s van (Big Les) and bad jokes have carried us across Germany (twice) and back again, Mark Spivey, sound engineer, who’s creative genius and evil laughter, have protected us for so long. And all the others who would just be too embarrassed to be named here.

Home: a 12 hour journey via Boulogne, and a chip shop in Folkestone, sees us arrive back in Nottingham at midnight. Quietly we unload our gear, back into our seedy little studio. No one says much, we are exhausted. We say goodbye to Stuart and he continues on to home in Darlington. Many of us have to go back to work in a few hours. In a few weeks these will all be distant memories.

Hier gibt es Teil 1 und Teil 2.