Tour Diary, Friday, Sept 6, 2024
It’s been a weirdly relaxing start to this tour. I say “weirdly” because I usually hit the ground running. Land on a Thursday and gigging by that night or the next but this time I also know that Tracy is using her spare vacation days for this tour so I was trying to make it not just gig gig gig M-F. Matt is also with us and I know he’s getting anxious to do a show but I knew he’d dig seeing some of Europe before diving in. We had some off days at the beginning in Amsterdam and went to the Van Gogh museum.
If you’ve not been to the Van Gogh* museum I highly recommend it in Amsterdam. This was actually my third time visiting the VGM and I still love it and get more out of it every time. I didn’t even realize what a fan I was and I say “fan” but it’s not like I’m about to go out and start buying Van Gogh’s. His story seems to be patient zero for the troubled artist/starving artist trope. I mean, I’m probably wrong about that but there’s so much there - there. How he only sold one painting while he was alive, how his brother kept him in house and paint, how his psych doctor told him “above all else, paint” and how the world wouldn’t even know of him if it wasn’t for his sister in law, Jo Van Gogh-Bogner, making it her life’s work to make sure the world knew of Vincent - after both Vincent and Theo were both dead.
I return to the VGM hoping for that feeling, or to share that feeling of, or hoping that Tracy and Matt will both get the feeling that I had when I first saw the Sunflowers painting. My reaction was tears. I had no idea how impressive it was. Sure, I had seen it in magazines or in print but to see the detail, the brush strokes, the depth in that painting up close - it literally moved me to tears and an emotion that I fully didn’t anticipate. And it’s hard to go back to that moment but I was still seeking it out, if not for me than for Tracy and Matt at least.
We walked all around and ended up by the Anne Frank house. We didn’t feel like going through the heaviness of the house, you have to get tickets months ahead, but we did walk by it and you still feel the solemness just being on the street outside of it. For real, you look out at the canal and just think - Anne looked out at this canal. Damn.
Anyway.
Amsterdam is a beautiful city and we stayed in the not so beautiful city center where it was party central all around us. The hotel was inexpensive and had AC and was close to the train station.
The train ride from Amsterdam to Bremen is mostly uneventful aside from the AC not working for the first 30ish minutes of our ride - which sounds oh so very posh of me but no. It was hot on the train. Matt was not in a good space about this. They got the AC sorted and then when we got to Germany, the German train crew was not there to take over the train. Which meant waiting near 30 minutes at the station for them to show up and then having to run in Osnabrück to catch the next train, which thankfully was running 30 minutes late.
Again, I may be underplaying the stress we were feeling in the moment. I mean, I’m used to late, canceled trains and all but when traveling with Tracy and Matt and I was the one who booked these things - I want it to go easily for them. It’s one thing to be stuck by yourself, that’s easy. But stuck with a group, less easy.
From Bremen Hauptbahnhof it’s an easy 5 minute walk to our hotel and big comfy beds. Matt gets his room inexplicably upgraded to a suite that I’m low-key jealous of. For now we sleep well and start a new adventure tomorrow.
Picking up our rental car, the woman behind the counter remembers me from last year and also gives us a great doner recommendation here in Bremen - Siggys Gemüse Kebab and she is not wrong. It’s some of the best I’ve had.
Driving to Siggys we pass by where Mona lives and I message her we’re in her area and she suggests meeting up after for some gelato. As we’re eating the doner it starts to sprinkle some light rain and we huddle under an umbrella on the street. We’re enjoying the weather break when all of a sudden the clouds open up and it is a deluge. We run inside and get soaked on the 6 foot gap between umbrellas and front door.
We have a great gelato with Mona after the rain in an old style gelato place that makes fun of us for trying to take our ice cream off the counter. “This is not McDonald’s, we bring it to you.” I try to get up and get spoons. “I will bring them.” My American-ness shining through.
Then we go see Heike and pick up the PA that we need for our show. A few years ago I bought a small PA system that I leave behind at Heike’s place and I let other musicians that come through use it too. It’s great that she lets me store it there and I get a great feeling of helping other musicians that wouldn’t have this sort of thing sorted out. Getting a PA is a huge pain in the ass sometimes. Todd Patridge used the PA over the summer and he contributed a microphone and two speaker stands to the cause. It feels very communal and good.
I feel like I missed a day somewhere in there - we also went to Bremerhaven to the emigration museum and tried unsuccessfully to look up Matt’s genealogy. Then we also had lunch with Heiko from songs&whispers and we talked about a booking for 2026 at Sendersaal. Yes, 2026.
And then it’s Thursday night and we’re driving to Sparkasse. It’s a bank and a very community friendly bank. Heiko was telling us how when most banks have downsized their footprints to save money, Sparkasse has kind of done the opposite and made itself part of the communities where they exist and this one is no different. There’s a sitting area, tables and a few chairs as well as a large chalkboard filled with upcoming events - things for kids and adults. They have converted the reception area to a bar, selling water, beer and Fritz cola.
This is the 5th time (??) I’ve played a Sparkasse and the third time I’ve played this one. Anja is the manager and she and I have been messaging for the better part of a year setting this up. She is super supportive and even brings cinnamon for me to put on the raisin toast.
What? You think I don’t have a toaster here? I bought a toaster that I also leave with Heike at her garden house, since she didn’t have a toaster this works out well, and she brings it to the show for us.
It’s great seeing folks at the show, Petra, Michael, Norbert (sorry Barbara - feel better), Sonja and more.
The PA sets up easily and we have a pretty good sound going - setting it up so the speakers are sort of behind us a little and angled in so they are also our monitors. Matt wrestles with his new kick pedal and setting it up on Alina’s borrowed cajon. Tracy tunes up her Jaguar bass and amp that we leave here and our set up is cool and great for travel and we sound good.
Super short Guitar Geek Warning:
I leave behind a pedalboard here so I can do all my weird sounds when needed but on our PA head we only have 4 inputs (Tracy vocal, Bobbo vocal, Matt vocal and Acoustic guitar) so my second signal has nowhere to go but I noticed that the PA also has an “aux input”. There’s no volume control for this input at all so I just have to dial it in with the Sparkle Drive pedal that I have and use that as volume and tone control. Confused? I will take a picture next time and show you.
/end GGW
We have a good crowd tonight. It’s not as big as some other shows I’ve had here but it’s still a great crowd. Anja is telling me that the heat wave here is keeping a lot of folks away as she got a number of emails telling her so.
We take some requests (thank you Petra!) and Michael mans the toaster in between sets and is dubbed “Toastmaster”. He and I also do another patch swap and I get a great new patch from his Krane & Schwerlast-Logistik company.
Our show goes great. Anja had told me that they have the air conditioning on but now here, the option to keep the front door open and run the AC is better but it is still hot. I am sweating through my shirt and drinking my way through the water and Fritz orange bottles they keep giving me. By the end of the first set I start to feel a bit vocally fatigued. I did very little singing and strumming since we left California and two full sets is a lot tonight.
We end with some APB, a great sing along and then Angelia and our encore is Stronger than Steel.
Post show is more hanging out and chatting. We’re each gifted a bottle of wine and a new Sparkasse hat. We all make plans to met up again at Heike’s Garden show and we say goodnight. I ask Matt what it’s like to play his first show in Germany and he’s like “they all listen!” Yeah, it’s a thing to get used to, but a nice thing to get used to.
I get a message from Windy that he wants to swing by the hotel and buy cds. All my S&W friends remember Windy as the dude that would stop by the artist flat and bring us homemade jam. Windy can’t make the shows as he’s on the radio this week but wants to play our music on the radio. “They don’t have a Bobbo Byrnes listed as staying at this hotel.” He tells me. It’s odd but I go incognito just by using Robert.**
Today we have a little bit of a drive to get to Herdecke and Nathaniel at the Shakespeare Pub. He’s a Brit that’s lived here for 20+ years. He has already assured me he will have the kettle on when we get there.
Tschüss for now.
xo
~Bobbo
*As an American I mispronounced his name and I guess most people do. Van is pronounced just like a Chevy Van (of course) but Gogh is pronounced like cough with a G. Gough. Who knew? Well, apparently most folks but now when I refer to Van Gogh with the correct pronunciation I can silently hear myself saying “you poseur, you know nothing of art and here you are in the room where women come and go talking of Michelanglo.”
**Secrets out now.
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