Wednesday 30 March 2016

Raise the Capacity, Raise the Roof - German Tour Blog



Right, Right, Right ... where have I been ?

Oldenburg on Easter Monday, you were Beautiful ! Der food ist wunderbar, I ate soooo much pasta it may have caused me to break a little sweat mid show, or I'm verging ever closer to being well and truly 'unfit' ... I think pretty soon you could stamp it on my forehead.

And lovely to return to Bassen and see friends at the Dohm-Eck, one of the greatest things in the world maybe the accent of a German lady married to a man from Darlington now living in York visiting her family at home for Easter ... the Yorkshire Tea is strong in this one !

Tonight I take on the first of three bigger capacity shows, danke schon PS promotion and Christian Steiffen, what an absolute gentleman !!!!

Stay Beautiful folks, I'll see you on the other side x

Monday 28 March 2016

Another Week, 2 Nights in Osnabruck - German Tour Blog

Hola mi amigos, or hallo meine freunden,

This week included 2 nights at the fabulously named Big Buttinsky in Osnabruck. Just one of the fabulous places I have played and visited this tour.

And England only went and beat Germany on Saturday night !! I was playing in Osnabruck when this was happening. I wasn't going to mention it on stage, partly out of fear, but before I played my encore, I had to ask what score it was, someone told me from their phone it was 2-2. Pleased with that, and thinking "I hope Vardy scored ..."

Then off stage in the process of shifting some vinyl a kid comes running up - "England just scored ! In the last minute !! Erik somebody !!!" - haha ! Great night ... and then I went to watch the highlights with a real life German celebrity ... more on that next time ...

Last night at the Katakomben in Achim, great to see some old faces, and get requests for some Small Faces. It'a a bit like the Cavern down there, or more like under London Bridge, but trying it's best to be like Paris.

Loads of Love to all and everyone out there, I hope life is treating you well, you're all staying safe and Beautiful.

I'll Be Back, Over & Out, MHx

PS. Matt Henshaw from the USA had a good one, not as good as Matt Henshaw (UK) though ...

Tuesday 22 March 2016

History, Seaside, Ice Cream and Candles - German Tour Blog

Has anyone in England ever said to you that it's "Baltic outside" ? Well, I went over to East Germany and saw the sunshine and had a lovely day at the beach. Mak Show, Great Show !

This last week has been a busy one, sorry for the lack of updates. I've played Kühlungsborn - pictured below - Münster, Hamburg, Harsefeld and Leer.

Great setting by the old court house in Münster and the old Tollhouse bordering Germany and the Netherlands in Leer.

We went to see Hamburg get spanked 3-1 by Hoffenheim, the youngest coach in world football seized the day. I got myself a mug and a scarf, obligatory to me watching football on the road.

The show in Harsefeld earned a free ice cream and drinks after hours in the Italian Gelato place down the road.

And Monday, on my day off, we took in the Concentration Camp at Bergen-Belsen, astounding to take in such dark recent history and really put some perspective on the life we all take for granted. Nice work British Army, you did good.

Osnabruck tonight for the first of my two shows at the fabulously named Big Buttinsky. England play Germany this weekend ... and Sheffield Wednesday did quite well against Charlton didn't we. I celebrated accordingly with ice cream.

Tuesday 15 March 2016

Stage Lights & Shakespeare - German Tour Blog

Two more nights down in Deutschland ...

The BuS in Huchting was a beautiful setting - pictured below - a place to play some delicate tunes and great to see some familiar faces down the front. Easier E-Easier they sang and they clapped. Freiden, Leibe und Tee is alive and well.

The Falstaff Shakespeare Theatre, another lovely setting for some music, I attempted a lot of pidgin German, and slipped into Spanish part way through, the audience - no hablan espanol !

Today I head to a TV station on the Weser river and tonight it's a casino show, you never know your luck in a raffle ...

Sunday 13 March 2016

Deutschland Veggie Special ! German Tour Blog

Glauben ist alles meine freunden !

How's it goin' ? I'm very well, thank you. Couple of nights down in Germany, let's see how we did.

It was fantastic to return to Zeven, great to see a couple down for soundcheck in their Peace, Love & Tea-shirts, and a bunch of local press for some interviews and photos, good to feel welcome in the north west of Germany before I'd even played a note. You Beautiful Souls !

So we had to wait for Hertha Berlin vs. Schalke 04 to finish on the big screen before I could play my show, first of the Glaben Ist Alles tour, and 'Belief Is All' went down extremely well, much much much singing along and a great mix of people.

On the political front, most folks were in agreement that Britain would be better off "out" of the EU, and one chap told me that, in as many words, "he may not have done everything right, but Adolf Hitler did build great stadiums!" ... I have little to no opinion on these things, just thought it would be humorous to bring to your attention ! It reminds you of the joke "you f*ck one goat!!?!!" ...

Anyways, top times, the staff remembered my preference for tea with "the cow's milk" in abundance, and I enjoyed a mind blowing veggie pizza, broccoli, sweetcorn, fresh tomato and fresh made pizza dough, Ja ! So, onto Cuxhaven, by the seaside in the very north of the country, as in the North Seas, as in, the same one we have in Skeg and Grimsby ...

It was nice to climb a dune and see the sea, hit some top speeds on the autobahn, Fatboy Slim, Derek & The Dominoes, Deep Purple, Fleetwood Mac and The Rolling Stones really work well flying down there, and one you might want to Google search Reverend Cleatus' 'The Slip' ... thank me later !

The show itself was great, lovely seaside folks, an encore that turned into a 45 minute soulmuzik session ! 'Play The Game' provided a particularly enjoyable sing-a-along.

The night's veggie option - pictured below - an extremely weak perfumed tea mitt milch (cafe cream) a small bowl of peanuts, and a glass of bread sticks, apologies I didn't try the local beer and wurst Janja, I'm sure they're both fabulous.

Transmission End. Live Long. Thanks for reading ...

PS. Sheffield Wednesday 3 (THREE) - Nottingham Forest 0 (NIL) WUNDERBAR !!

Thursday 10 March 2016

Hello Germany ! Hallo Deutschland !!

Good Evening Brothers & Sisters,

I've arrived in Germany after 15 hours travel Leiceester to Dover, across the channel to Dunkirk, through France, Belgium and the Netherlands, a quick stop for a tinkle in Duisberg, and 70 cents for the pleasure, then a quick nap at the ausfahrt for Münsterland services and onto Bremen.

First show in Zeven tomorrow night, but I'll save that for then, tonight I have upheld my values as a true Englishman, I found some milch, as in milk, as soon as I could, located a kettle, made a brew and now I'm sat watching Liverpool try and put one over on Man United, can't believe these two have never met in Europe, and let's honest, they're not exactly at the height of their powers ... oh well !

And Dortmund showed Spurs a thing or two about how to host a European affair, fingers crossed I get to see some football whilst I'm out here, looking forward to the night England are out here in Berlin and I'm entertaining the good people at the Big Buttinsky in Osnabruck.

Anyway, back to the tea, and I think I've packed some biscuits somewhere ...

#BeliefIsAll

Over & Out, MHx