The Vogelwald Tour – Bodensee Germany 16/17 July 2010.This was the first mini-tour with Lizzie in tow as Mark was otherwise detained but not by HMP Service.
Now the first thing to say is that Bodensee, the lake which marks the border between Germany, Austria and Switzerland is a long fukin way away. That Lizzie had this as an introduction is all credit to her – being cooped up in a van with 3 stinky blokes for over 1,000 miles when you’re a ‘lady’ you know is no mean feat. Respect.
Jeez this driving lark is boring!Note the not ‘posed’ picture outside a German motorway toilet….is that George Michael I see in the background. And stop it with those rock poses boys ‘n’ girls…it is sooooooooooooo 80’s….oh yup forgot, that’s where the Tories and their Lib-dem poodles are taking us.
Now where is George?
More eighties posing!In one comedy moment Lizzie did ask however why all roads lead to a town called ‘ausfahrt’ yes it is THE most popular town in Germany. It may not be Rome or Darlington (-: but all roads lead there ha ha….Irony!
Vogelwald is a crackin’ festie by the lake except in summer it’s very hot (when it don’t rain) and is plagued by mosquitos! Needless to say we wuz bitt’n all ova with Gaz suffering more than most as his blood must be very tasty.
The gig was a fine affair with lubberly crowd dancing the night away and despite some electrical mishaps at the start, bloody non-earthed euro electrics, we played a stormin 2 hour set. Go look for ‘rock im vogelwald’ and discover if there are any pics out there.
Vogelwald rocks outAfter the gig, it was time to eat cake – yes I did say cake as after 24 hours in a van, no sleep, no food and being hungry for sugar, cake IS the order of the day in this part of the world. Only trouble is, being tired, Gel totally missed the cake when he had a knife in his hand and sliced the top off his thumb, oh dear Thumbelina. Still, it added to the taste of the cake as it was Gaz’s slice of cake he was cutting and that attracted even more mozzies to him. Nice.
Where's the first aider gone?We have to say we were very well looked after by Michael and his crew at Vogelwald, we made some new friends and had a ball! So Cheers!
I just want to say something about the B&B we stayed at in Vogelwald – great scenery. In fact this is the area that ‘The Great Escape’ looks like it could have been made in with the rolling hills and borderland back-drop. I decided to take a pic from the balcony and just after my camera went click a guy went past on a really old motorcycle, missed it….was that the ghost of Steve McQueen? Shit! Shame the real film was actually meant to be in Poland…Switzerland is a long way from Poland in wartime on a motorcycle…that’s Hollywood license eh?
Just missed Steve McQueenNow then, Saturday was a totally different affair…………………we were told in advance that if it’s wet we play indoors and if its hot then it's outdoors. It was bucketing with rain and yet they decided still outdoors…now even Germans aren’t that mad are they? Outside? In fat rain? Yup…………………who is going stand outside in fat rain watching a band when they can sit indoors getting pissed looking outside….exactly…..it was a washout but we managed to convince them we should do an unplugged version indoors in the café-bar, which after their vast expense on stage and PA, they were clearly not keen on….but as no-one wanted to stand outside watching an otherwise excellent covers support band (boneshaker) they got our message. The site was a swimming pool…lido to you and me and as it was pissing down, youths were swimming in the lido in the dark…totally mental eh?
No sunshine hereSo we did an indoors unplugged set with minimal equipment, treated it like a busking session and were a great hit, especially as we threw in some face to face street theatre antics ha ha. I even fell over ending up with my whole left side bruised and a chunk out of my beloved thinline telecaster, now that hurts! But job done!
Some new friends escaping the rainAnd then for the journey home after 3 hours sleep. A bit of ferry shopping looking for the new band image inspired by Lizzie….what dya think? Will it work?
New image Gel eh?
Not sure this is gonna work?
Still not sure this is gonna work!All in all a very tidy weekend and everyone came home happy - even us. Gel has seen the funny side to his sliced finger dilemma – a smiley face on his bandage which he promises to give to Gaz when it comes off. Where ya gonna put that then Gaz?
Cheers - Foxie
Smile Thumbelina
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