5am Tuesday 30th June morning and the alarm is not completely welcomed, but, then an important meeting in Dublin awaits Nick Taggart – our new promoter – and me.
We take off from Gatwick on the allotted hour and land in Dublin at 11am and are duly picked up by a potential future business contact. The meeting is a complete success, and we make our way back to the airport for our 7pm flight only to be told that our flight is delayed ‘til 9pm….DOH!
Bed beckons at midnight.
We take off from Gatwick on the allotted hour and land in Dublin at 11am and are duly picked up by a potential future business contact. The meeting is a complete success, and we make our way back to the airport for our 7pm flight only to be told that our flight is delayed ‘til 9pm….DOH!
Bed beckons at midnight.
5am Wednesday 1st July alarm goes off again and no I am not experiencing Ground Hog Day, but need to get to London City Airport to fly to Zurich. Jayne and myself intend to spend a couple of days embracing Switzerland….namely, Lucerne… before driving down to Fribourg to meet up with the band on Friday.
Well…..from taking a cable car up 8,000 feet to the top of Mt Pilatus to cruising Lake Lucerne, we enjoyed the area in around Lucerne immensely – Jayne even found a C&A….Double DOH!!!!
Well…..from taking a cable car up 8,000 feet to the top of Mt Pilatus to cruising Lake Lucerne, we enjoyed the area in around Lucerne immensely – Jayne even found a C&A….Double DOH!!!!
Friday 3rd July and we enjoy a leisurely drive through the Swiss countryside taking in Bern and Lake Neuchatel on the way down to Fribourg.
Strangeness abounds…weren’t they speaking German this morning in Lucerne? Then why are they speaking French here? Are we still in Switzerland? Well for the uninitiated – me! – Switzerland has 4 national languages – German, French, Italian & Rumantsch – Greedy & Confusing Lot!
I arrive and immediately start setting the stage and going through line and monitor checks in preparation for the arrival of the rest of CBB – due at 3pm.
Due to some unknowingly rare traffic jams, the guys arrive at 4pm and whizz through check in record time. Time for food…….
As we are headlining the night's shenanigans, the two support bands – The Charlie Morris Blues Band from the USA and local blues maestros, 5 Blind Boys From The Parish, arrive to embark on the epic sound checks. Blimey…each outfit must have played their whole set at least twice….and that was just for checks!
By the time we take to the stage – me donning the hat & glasses again as Jake – the somewhat raucous crowd has swelled to around 2,000 and are very ripe for the picking…..and we did not disappoint!
The set was thoroughly enjoyed on and off the stage and the highlight, for us anyway, was when Mike tried to over exert the stitching in his trousers during a particularly energetic ‘Shake a Tailfeather’ and he ended up exposing his rear end to a gaggle of teenage girls – who had chosen to join us on stage. It was fortuitous that he had not gone commando!!
The back slapping from all and sundry continued back stage for a while whilst sleep beckoned for a number of us….but Zurich was still 90 minutes away.
Strangeness abounds…weren’t they speaking German this morning in Lucerne? Then why are they speaking French here? Are we still in Switzerland? Well for the uninitiated – me! – Switzerland has 4 national languages – German, French, Italian & Rumantsch – Greedy & Confusing Lot!
I arrive and immediately start setting the stage and going through line and monitor checks in preparation for the arrival of the rest of CBB – due at 3pm.
Due to some unknowingly rare traffic jams, the guys arrive at 4pm and whizz through check in record time. Time for food…….
As we are headlining the night's shenanigans, the two support bands – The Charlie Morris Blues Band from the USA and local blues maestros, 5 Blind Boys From The Parish, arrive to embark on the epic sound checks. Blimey…each outfit must have played their whole set at least twice….and that was just for checks!
By the time we take to the stage – me donning the hat & glasses again as Jake – the somewhat raucous crowd has swelled to around 2,000 and are very ripe for the picking…..and we did not disappoint!
The set was thoroughly enjoyed on and off the stage and the highlight, for us anyway, was when Mike tried to over exert the stitching in his trousers during a particularly energetic ‘Shake a Tailfeather’ and he ended up exposing his rear end to a gaggle of teenage girls – who had chosen to join us on stage. It was fortuitous that he had not gone commando!!
The back slapping from all and sundry continued back stage for a while whilst sleep beckoned for a number of us….but Zurich was still 90 minutes away.
Saturday 4th July beckoned with Jayne waking me at 6.45am to tell me that we had overslept…..we did not need to be at the Airport until 9.30am!!
Another early day then… The flight home was graciously uneventful, onward and upward to London City Airport!
Early arrival at 11.30am, swift security checks, baggage through is record time, into the cars, flying down the road to join the M25 to Guildford, then wallop! The M25 south was a car park…stationary traffic as far as the eye could see.
As we had a bit of time – not needing to be at the gig ‘til 2pm – we decided to go North, the long way round. With Gay Pride happening in and around London, all routes were at best slow. We finally arrived at 3pm – just in time to sling the small PA up, change into ‘blacks’ as Dave, Leigh, Mike & me were to partake in some ‘reception’ music.
Next door in Marquee, Bondy was feverishly working his way through the late band arrivals, making sure they were line checked and ready for the main gig at 8.30pm.
The Jazz set was extremely well received and after a comforting chat with the powers to be, suitable refreshments and food were laid on prior to the ‘main’ event.
With Gibbo, Richard & Marc away on ‘other’ duties, Roger Cotton, Bev Miller & Steve Heynes more than covered all the required duties.
The gig went extremely well – it does surprise me how raucous a wedding crowd can get when incited by two lunatics in hats & glasses!
It must have been the quickest pack away in history…God I was looking to my sleep.
Another early day then… The flight home was graciously uneventful, onward and upward to London City Airport!
Early arrival at 11.30am, swift security checks, baggage through is record time, into the cars, flying down the road to join the M25 to Guildford, then wallop! The M25 south was a car park…stationary traffic as far as the eye could see.
As we had a bit of time – not needing to be at the gig ‘til 2pm – we decided to go North, the long way round. With Gay Pride happening in and around London, all routes were at best slow. We finally arrived at 3pm – just in time to sling the small PA up, change into ‘blacks’ as Dave, Leigh, Mike & me were to partake in some ‘reception’ music.
Next door in Marquee, Bondy was feverishly working his way through the late band arrivals, making sure they were line checked and ready for the main gig at 8.30pm.
The Jazz set was extremely well received and after a comforting chat with the powers to be, suitable refreshments and food were laid on prior to the ‘main’ event.
With Gibbo, Richard & Marc away on ‘other’ duties, Roger Cotton, Bev Miller & Steve Heynes more than covered all the required duties.
The gig went extremely well – it does surprise me how raucous a wedding crowd can get when incited by two lunatics in hats & glasses!
It must have been the quickest pack away in history…God I was looking to my sleep.
Just a quick note, I would like thank everyone involved in Fribourg and the Tech Boys at Guildford who made our lives so easy. These guys get so easily overlooked and I from one never forget that without them we wouldn’t be able to do what we do.
Onto the next adventure….
Cheers- Pete.
Photos show Pete with Ronnie from our Swiss agency Show Connection, and the stage in Fribourg at soundcheck time.
1 comment:
Hello,
thanks for your concert here in Fribourg! It was really AMAZING !!! haha yes when mike had his pants problem that was so funny ! =) I hope to see you soon back here !!
cheers!
p.s. Oh and sorry for my english =/
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