German blog part 2

31 st March

Berlin to Wiesbaden care of Deutsh Bahn.

A fairly inauspicious entrance to an architecturally jaw dropping place (Wiesbaden is like Brugges without the canals) as we missed the connection en route ‘so ist das leben’.

‘The Wakker’ Wiesbaden what can I say fantastic! It is a former bakery called the Wakker taken over by a bunch of art /music enthusiasts who invite people to come and perform. Basically a very intelligent warm and funny group of friends doing a first class job in creating a social scene once a week .

I’d like to name check Klaus Jobst, Nadia ,Barney who run ‘The Wakker’.

Thanks so much . If you are in Wiesbaden get to the Wakker .

April 1

Werner an der Lippe Floz K

Another great surprise. A small town not far from Dortmund.

A warm, friendly audience and a really great venue, sound fab .

We played with a fascinating second group ‘Radar Post’ from Denmark .

Esben,Sebastian ,Esben ,Jon.

A talented band with a great story. They are essentially an indie band with strong songs and superb musicianship. The story being that they were the majority of the band who were Denmark’s entry in the 2011 Eurovision song contest. Their transformation is nothing short of miraculous.

A lot learnt: Denmark has a population of 5 million and Danish s fundamentally a Nordic language allied to Norwegian not Sweden. There seems to be a friendly rivalry between Denmark and Sweden.

Back to England! Roll on the Hansa song festival!

April 23 Hansa Song Festival Halle

Die Lampe , Bill Pritchard,John Bramwell (I am Kloot)

This was the line-up for our part of the festival . The venue was Halle’s museum. Intimate ,warm and after 2 sets each a real bond between all concerned.

Stand out moments . John Bramwell ( a very funny man and great raconteur )taking a taxi from Einhoven in Holland to Halle North Germany because he had missed the train and wanted to hold true to his edict ‘I never miss a gig’ . By the way in my humble opinion he is one of the best song writers in Britain.

Die Lampe . A last minute replacement this was one lad who was like a modern day German version of John Otway ! loved it!

I managed to catch Bernd Bergeman who I believe is from Hamburg and very popular in Germany. Top entertainment and a great way to end a thoroughly enjoyable day!