Well, we made it!! It’s the middle of the weekend, and this afternoon we’re headed over to Tent 2 to soundcheck for tonight’s performance. Last night is still ringing in our ears, as the performer’s lounge was directly behind our dressing room, we had no trouble finding a long after hours party to hobnob at til the wee hours. Since it’s a few minutes before our ride, there’s time for a recap of the trip thus far...
Our first day was by any measures long! We left LAX on Wednesday evening; after arriving in London the next afternoon, there was a 3 hour layover til our flight to Hamburg, Germany; after landing and clearing customs, the first roadblock presented itself. To get from baggage collection to the curb and our ride, the agent at the baggage carousel suggested we get a porter. Great! We do that all the time back home, and tip generously, always. What she failed to tell us was the charge to porter our cases a few hundred feet outside would be over 50 Euro (about $90!) Ah, being a foreigner has it’s challenges.
At least our ride was prompt, and 2.5 hours later, we arrived at the festival grounds in Tonder, DK. The Saw Doctors had just finished their set, and the place was swarming; dozens of tents with music and attractions; and every pub in town was jamming. We checked into our hotel a few blocks away and, at 1AM, after a 28 hour travel day, were greeted by the sight and sound of a live music tent and adjacent beer garden - right outside of our rooms!! When Dave asked whether he could move his room to a further side of the building, the clerk told him the hotel was indeed booked up, and suggested that he “drink beer.” Gotta love it.
We headlined the main tent yesterday. Our day began at 3PM, with a soundcheck in the cavernous main tent. After soundcheck was finished, we bumped into Eileen Ivers and Immigrant Soul, as they soundchecked next. They played their set just before us that night, and watching them tear it up gave us a huge helping of inspiration!! If you ever get a chance to see them, they’re a fantastic, high energy world music act, with top notch musicianship and entertaining personality.
The remainder of the evening we spent at the performers’ lounge, getting to know our musical neighbors, comparing road stories, and listening to circles of string players and strummers and singers keeping the music going into the early morning. Turns out, many of them are performing this afternoon as part of a birthday celebration for Pete Seeger, featuring the Guthrie family. They take the stage right before we arrive for soundcheck, we’d better get over there to catch some of it!!
More to come soon... Cheers!!
Bob, Dave, Chas, Brendan, and Keith