Germany - Freiburg & Suttgart March 16th - 18th 2001
"All told and tonked"
The trip started off in it's usual fashion. Stop for a crate of beer, a bottle of liquor and one copy each of Razzle and Fiesta (purely for light reading on the long journey you understand). Crossing the ENGLISH Channel was the smoothest we've ever had. The loaders, on the other hand, were the most miserable, un-humourous bunch of fuck-wads I have ever met. 'Customer service' is yet to be introduced into the French language. As has 'thank you', 'excuse me' and 'deodorant'. That's the first bitch of the day. I'm sure there's more.
Calvin drove us to Jim's hotel, arriving at around 7.30 am Friday. Straight to bed for me, sharing a room with Terry, who has a most disconcerting way of waking you up in the morning. I'll let you all sleep with him to find out. Nothing naughty though…
Up and showered at 12.30. Walk about in a daze until dinner. Or was that walk about in my dinner in a daze? Everyone flopped about the hotel for two or three hours cleaning and re-stringing instruments before leaving for O'Dwyers in Freiburg. We intended to break Scott.
O'Dwyers, formerly the Kornhaus, has always been a good gig, but very hot, being underground and primarily wooden
After all the gear had been brought down we proceeded to start slinging it together. I think that I was running out my second lead when the manager Mike sauntered over. "Hi, how are you?" he said. Here it comes, I thought. "I remember last time you were here and it was a great night, but it was too loud, so could you watch the level during the sound check?". In the nicest possible way I turned away with a fixed grin, staring eyes and foaming mouth, and chewed through four microphone stands before calming down. Nothing was even switched on and it was too loud!! I'm bloody cursed….
Anyway, Mike did not have a thing to worry about as we knew from last time about the level, so everything was kept down.
With the pub filling up fairly early, we could see it was going to be a good one.
The crowd was hooked by the first set, and began dancing and joining in with those of the songs they knew. Everyone was rocking out. This was a good indication of what Biddy Early's would be like. Scott's drum solo went down a storm. He left a pile of wood chips three feet high and four deep as he smashed his way through to a thunderous round of applause. Tonight we would break him, yes, you'll see…..
No complaints about the levels so I started to bump them up as we went along. Not too much. Just enough to start perforating the ear drums and make your teeth bleed. Good reports back from Mike and others, and the crowd stayed packed in for the whole night, despite the last tram leaving.
At the end of the gig the boys received a great appreciation from the audience. It was now time to sit down and drink. Oh yes, we will break him….
Eventually all the gear was stored and loaded and we set off home to Lahr. We were pretty hungry and looked forward to the cold pizza waiting for us. Scott was very pissed and looked forward to a warm bed. We had broken him, don't listen to his excuses, we had won, yes, we had METALLED him out and carried him in. Broken at last. Jim wasn't too clever either, and when I looked at him I realised that both his eyes were on the same side of his nose, and he kept shouting "Yip, Yip". Isn't alcohol marvellous? Anyway, as usual I was the only one to handle the drink in a sensible fashion (bollox). Bed at 5 am and up at 11.30 am.
March 17th - St. Paddy's Day
Tonight was the big one. Up, showered, shaved and shat, spot of shopping, tonk, dinner at 1.30pm and then leave for Stuttgart (tonk en route).
Got to Biddy Early's at approx. 4.30 pm to find that it was fucking busy already! Brought down all the gear and began the highly technical process of moaning about the state of the leads and pointing out that after being with Euphoria for 5 years you realise that you would get less for manslaughter. And plugging things together.
Finished sound check, making sure that it was as loud as we could possibly go. The sound in Biddy Early's is strange, cutting off sharply halfway back from the stage. I wondered if the top end speakers would glow like the previous night. People were piling in so we made our way out for a bite to eat, and to sample some of the local traditions - booths of self-appreciation and satisfaction. As I recall, video 122 was especially good and 67 was downright filth. Thoroughly enjoyable. Tonk tonk….
Returning to the pub we had to wait to get in. People were queuing outside. We grabbed our bags, and Jer showed us up to his flat where we would be staying the night. A quick change and back downstairs before starting in half an hour.
(P.S. Thanks to whoever the dickhead was for denting our new van and then fucking off).
On the Euphoria set list, the first set is usually kept quite chill, so as not to put people off straight away. Ease them into it. Grow louder steadily. I don't know what happened tonight because from song 1 it was METAAAALLLLLLL!!!!! High energy rock end to end. Even the ballads were told to fuck off and given the treatment. The capacity tonight was around 1800-2000 people at one time. Their attention was certainly grabbed and held for the duration. Each song received an ovation as it started. The crowd went nuts. This must have been the best band they have seen in their lives. Basket Case was certainly the anthem of the night.
Looking out from the stage, the pub was just a sea of heads. Front to back and side to side, there was no room to move at all, but why did a certain prick (you know who you are) have to dance like a chicken possessed, waving his arms like a windmill into the one pint next to me on top of the speaker? Beer went fucking everywhere. If it happens again, the glass will be inserted in you. Followed by a mic stand. Open. Sideways. Plugged in.
This crowd wanted everything. The boys were not allowed off stage, and played for 4.5 hours. The drinking competition went well. A young slip of a girl (rugby player) necking her pint in 5 seconds, while the guy she was drinking against (huge) did 7 seconds. Very impressive.
Starting at 8.45 and finishing at 2.15 am was a long night. Terry and Russell's voices were going, and Calvin and Scott were exhausted. There was no way the crowd was leaving early, so we got some drinks in and waited for them to thin out before wrapping the gear up.
It eventually started to clear, so we got to it. Calvin was wankered and could not even walk straight. As the last box went in we set about getting a beer. And several Jaegermeisters. Yippee!! With just us and the bar staff inside, we drank until 6 am. That was the cue for Calvin and I to go and get a kebab. Only 2 minutes away, we were back in no time. 7.30 am came and we decided it was time for bed. Everyone was knackered.
Up at 11.30 am. Left at 1 pm.
I don't remember much of the journey back as I was asleep for most of it. But the ferry crossing was bloody awful! I think it was rocking more than Euphoria. Arrived back home at 2.15 am. Slept for England.
Quotes from the weekend:-
Thanks to everyone for their support, and also thanks to the hod carrier for putting in another appearance.
Spank your hairy crotch for tuning in. Now bugger off.
Love Stevie 