I have not sung so many encore songs in one night since 2005. I guess we didn’t want the tour to end and this was the best way to keep going. YES we love it! (in case you are wondering if your lighters lit while we sing is worth anything!)
Toni, you toured us through one of the most visited cities in Germany. I can’t believe that this is my first concert in Bamberg! We will be back.
Tonight Sam crossed his arms around his back and then played the drums with opposite hands. We had visitors and new fans from along the way come to see us AGAIN! Thank you for the flowers and the big ass blown up versions of Mel.
Some Information about the Smokebeer in english (Compliments of Toni Rösch):
http://www.schlenkerla.de/schlenkerla/ausschank/schlenkerlae.html
WHAT!!?? Another holiday! Father’s day. Okay, that explains the late night crowd LAST NIGHT! Alongside a technical training base this Memphis bar had a bit of a biker draw and a few American and Canadian flags waving about. Holey wide range of audience! By chance we found the best family run restaurant in Germany (besides Einstein’s in ULM), the Chia tea was like an incredible oasis. We got to hang out with a few special fans and said goodbye to one tour helper, Gaby. I sang an Ani Difranco tune, that was a cool change. The hotel key pops out of a lock box when you press a reservation code - good thing everything else on this trip is more personal.
This very small funny shaped place worked out just fine-inspite of the initial “uh oh!”. The menu was outrageous! I had crocodile for dinner and Sam ate Ostrich. Load-in was through the front cobble stone pedestrian area which is not meant for cars - except those cars that HAVE to drive in (we have learned that the cobble stones are called “cats heads”.) We have noticed that the smaller venues collect curious nick-nacks and tend to hang them from the ceiling.
Everything took a long time today from waking up (we are weary) to traffic on the autobahn to checking into a hotel with a schizophrenic front desk clerk who was so up and down that it took us an hour to check in. We thought the club would be bigger BUT it had a great vibe. Bonn is a big ‘walking’ city where there most of the parking is underground. If you HAVE to drive, like we did at first, take note that the train track crossings are closed more often that they are open, as trains are crossing all the time. It can make up to a 30 minute wait! Lots of university students and shops here. The Beethoven house and all its stories, memorabilia was awesome. His hearing aids looked like 14 inch trumpets!
You wouldn’t have known it was a Sunday night. Absolute polite madness. Jurgen you sure know how to spread the word. Bit of a drive but our day off following was sweet. Casual tourist walking around and uphill castle strolls, complete with Dinner with Dad & Charmaine Dekker which included a special white Asparagus soup (this time of year is asparagus season and they are almost the size of a corn!) As for the full band photo here…we ALL visited Werdohl last week on the unexpected day off so Jurgen got extra hugs from the band. Download Werdohl-Article.pdf
Beautiful, simply elegant, sold out, and beautiful. Melanie was presented with a necklace that has red stones from the local area set in a gold and silver delicate chain! Yes it really is a MUSEUM! (with mostly mining and religious artifacts). That night was so pretty, we took our time getting back to Pilsen (for one week now our home base). Sam hung out with Ferdinand the helper/driver/hotel clerk that was a fantastic friend to us all week, and the next morning we met an old US army vet named Earl who was on the cover of the newspaper ( a real Soldier!) who was in Pilsen to be part of the May 6 – 9 celebration, as liberation for all began and the war ended here for him in 1945. What a great night and perfect morning send off. Goodbye CZ.
We toured the famous Pilsner Urquell Brewery! Where all good masters (in 1850) of beer came together to make the world’s best and original pilsner is being made. We tried unfiltered BEER made in wooden barrels-awesome! They make 60,000 bottles of beer an hour! AND 45,000 cans of beer an hour. During lunch we have noticed a trend, you are charged a ‘cutlery’ fee (about 1 dollar per person). The food in Pilsen was great! Great quality here in CZ for a small price (gotta love that!). We had a driver AND a translator arranged for the 1.5 hour trip to the club. Ahh nice! It was crowded and small and nobody smoked during the performance (apparently an American artist protested the smokers by threatening to stop her performance last year, so they didn’t want that to happen again). It was the smallest drum set up Sam has had yet on this tour and it sure makes his snare player uber creative! The inhouse PA looked like a stereo from 1970 so we used the one that travels with us for back up.
This is the most historic hotel we could ever imagine staying in-it truly sent us back ½ a century in time. Georg Danjecuk you are an amazing man running this place from Florida -having restored it to its glory in with your family heritage intact (the paintings and couches seem surreal!). This club is filled with photos of famous musicians that have played and stayed here. A 1930’s vibe to the venue. Our day in Prague was very cool and though we certainly don’t NEED to drive more, it was a mere hours drive. Prague is rough around the edges but is overlooked by the most GORGEOUS castle I have seen-huge! (the cathedral in the castle took 600 years to build-fires and lack of money stalled the building process!) There are lots of shops, tourists, classical music, some unfriendly people and many medieval buildings…oh don’t miss the Jewish old city if you go (and its 14 layer deep cemetery!-due to lack of space). The CZ presidential flag-standard reads: The Truth always wins.
This was a country bar without a square dance floor. There’s a sign that says soldiers only on the outside and on route we noticed a lot of American flags. The USA liberated Pilsen in the first week of May 1945 so there was loads of US Army memorabilia everywhere in the city-especially this week!. Army pants here are worn by at least half of the population it seems! During our performance the girl behind the bar was practicing her gun slinging! There was a historic mini museum under the bar (in the cellar!)with all sorts of war memorabilia as well. The cellar is attached to the 5ft 7inches tall and three feet wide underground sandstone dug tunnels (we took a tour earlier in the day) which run in TWO layers under the entire city of Pilsen. People tied their cellars together and this created the tunnels, then the 2nd layer was created for the businesses. OH! Everybody used to be able to make their own beer but the quality began to suffer, beer makers then came together to create Pilsner - a HUGE export to the entire world. Thank you ACW! I was gifted a gorgeous clay wine jug!
Dresden is one of the most romantic cities I have been too. This is my fourth time touring here and I know I will be back again, though it’s time to bump up the venue to a bigger ticket concert. People danced and moved to everything. Happy birthday Holger. Kevin Thomson, our driver and lover of the music and tour manager, must go home to Vancouver tomorrow to continue planning his special crazy events. But not before we got him on stage!!! (yes, Kevin, we have photos!). He sat beside Sam and played the drums WITH Sam, and he was a mad man- also turning the large crash cymbal into a make belief steering wheel. David spoke LOTS of German on the mic tonight! See! High school does pay off! Julie, our new help and lover of Sam has arrived from Poland and two Dekkers (Larry and Charmaine) got curious enough about the whole ‘touring thing that our daughter does” that they have also flown in (from mexico!) and joined the tour -in their own support vehicle. Dekker trainJ get on, get up and get in!
This venue looks like a creepy abandoned railway stop/warehouse from the outside and on the inside it’s an awesome concert hall. Andreas (sound and owner) you are such a lovely man. Memorable moments: Our dinners were kept warm on the water/wall heater in the back room. I added a “superstar” sticker to the mirror of stickers and noticed my “just because” from 2005. David quoted BEAT IT by Michael Jackson on his bass solo of the night, and for the first night in a long time, I didn’t recognize one fan! Perhaps they were all new. I was on the cover of the Kesselhauslauger’s monthly entertainment booklet. ;-) Fun!
Stefan Kissel, it sure is good to see you again. Thanks for doing sound, the best we’ve had on this tour. A smooth night. And fans brought a huge BC flag and a Canadian Girls kick ass t-shirt! Large Jager gifts and finally a chance to really sit and visit with the fans. He laughed when he heard we wanted breakfast at 9 am, “In all my life of working with bands this will be the first early morning breakfast.” Places to go and things to see! Big drive to the east ahead! BTW I love the Melanie Dekker postcards and stamps that were made for this gig! Thanks! xo
No show tonight, Sorry, unexplainable.
We were served the biggest pork steaks ever by the family, children included, who ran this venue. It was Local Pig from this area. Idar-Oberstein is also filled with epic amounts of jewels and precious stone and jewelers and stone cutters. I held my hands behind my back while gazing into the sparkling windows of the shops. If I had gone inside the shops there wouldn’t even be money left for gas for the bus! (I wanted to go nuts!) Almost every audience guest bought a CD. Kevin and I hiked up to the church imbedded in a rock face and then to the top of the hill to the castle. I love being outside, fresh and close to nature and in this case history too.
In the middle of “Soul Back” David Marion burst out into a QUEEN song. Before this tour David did not sing. Now he not only backs Mel up on most songs with incredible range and precision but he burst out into a lead QUEEN vocal! It was literally a show stopper as Mel and Sam gasped in disbelief. Awesome. It was a quiet night in numbers as we had expected it to be jammed; guess you never know on a holiday- May 1 is a national holiday here. Liverpool and Chelsea were also having a tense soccer match on this evening. Thanks to Einstein’s, and ULM for the radio promo and newspaper press. I love this town. Oh! We ate excellent sushi, something we were all craving and got wireless internet outside for our three hungry laptops.
This was my second concert here at the Rainbow in the Black Forest. Some people drove for over 250 kms to get here! (So did we). A ‘local’ band opened the night and we went on stage much later than usual: (usual is 20:30 and tonight it was 23:00). It was hot as there was standing room only. David was on fire. Perhaps the much needed hours of napping for all of us gave us a fresh and pumped vibe. The backroom-old decaying bus on the premises has lost some of its charm but the audience sure hasn’t! I changed my shirt on stage to the in-house Rainbow tank top and David and Sam did a WILD acid rock JAM while I re-tuned my guitar after almost dropping it (do they make locking strap clips for acoustic guitars yet?!). The audience sang along to a lot of Mel Dekker tunes. That always thrills me. Kevin and I watched ‘Long way ‘round’ Taped TV series from my laptop after the show. If you want to see a motorbike trip around the WORLD-this is the series to watch-incredible. It makes our trips seem like a piece of cake.
A unique aspect of this show was that the audience can walk past and behind the stage to get to the toilets, allowing them to see and hear the band from all angles. I love red wine and tonight I drank a few glasses and what a treat I chose a French Cab Sav, along with David. The songs the fans are talking about the most are Little Miracle, Stare at the Rain, Kissed you yet and Soul back. At least so far! Tonight I didn’t perform “Stare at the rain”. Every now and then it is good to give a song a break. Thanks to this audience for not smoking during the performance.
YEAH! A rock show and stage with Bruce Springsteen and Bruce Cockburn decorating the walls! A triumphant reuniting with Stefan Rapp and Jagermeister. The HI FI SHOP rocks for selling tickets and for coffees and lunch. I decided to sing “stare at the rain” with an blue umbrella –I LOVED IT! and the stage sound was crispy and clear. We had tasty fish(no Pork added!) for the first time in three weeks AND it was very special as it came from the owners own kitchen –Mike and Milana- we love you. And thanks for the tennis match. (click here for more photos of this show)
It was hot. The audience was hot! Ah feels good to be hot again. A long drive from Vienna but it was well worth it!
Sam had a gallery and entourage of ladies sit around him while he performed. Mel broke her first string and got a gift from fan Wolfgang-Markus THE BIGGEST BEER glass in the world, and David did his first solo this tour on the new song SOUL BACK (we asked WOW< WHY tonight?!). He says “It was a good night, and I was just feeling it”. He simply must do it every show now! As it was epic and made people crazy! Lots of photos taken! Please send them to us. Happy Birthday Gaby! Thanks to Thomas PF for bringing his stories, his hellos from Canada and his postings on his myspace: www.myspace.com/thomaspf ! Thanks to Gleis 3 for the lifetime VIP passes. Sweet!
Have you ever played in a High school gymnasium that was attached to a bar filled with smoke, gaming machines, and serving bbq’d pork with pork meatballs and pork spread on bread for dinner? WE HAVE! Thank you Mario. The windows were covered, and I mean completely covered with the USA Melanie Dekker press and magazine covers that I’ve been in (blown up versions!) and the audience ranged from new wave 25 year old DJ’s to farmers. Strangely, tonight DAVID needed a bouncer and there was one! A few fans asked if we used ‘playback’?! Now that I know what that means the answer is ‘no’ with a smile. That means, am I really singing? Are we really playing? Are we faking it and using trax?! Thanks for the complimentsJ. While David was bravely plunging the “douch” so the rest of us could function, multiple heaters were kicking ass in each room and Kevin was living his first night on tour with us. Then Melanie then went to charge one of her batteries and that was one too many things plugged in at this hotel! As we then survived a very funny and cold blackout:). Berlin on a Sunday is a little mellow though Sam spiced it up by having a scientology stress test taken by the side of the road. Turns out: He’s okay! Haha.
We were very pleased to play Vienna AND to have our day off here. Mozart, Strauss and … Melanie Dekker, Sam Cartwright and David MarionJ ... UBC professeur of rocket science Jaymie heard about the tour and this fellow Vancouverite had us exploring the menu of a HUGE beer garten which seated about 500 or more. He and is bud shared a large piece of pork by passing it back and forth down a long table about 6 times, until only the bones were left. We made our way home by walking through a year round Fair Ground with the biggest craziest rides including a Giant rocking bell! Vienna is rich, historical and musical and home of the BEST coffee. There’s a big buzz everywhere and we all had the desire to keep walking and walking. Around every corner there was yet another site to take your breath away. We stayed in a 4 bedroom flat that really made me feel like we are family though the elevator was perhaps the scariest solo ride I had been on in a while. Romy Schnieder, Arnold Schnarzenegger, Mozart, Empress Elizabeth you are wonderful examples of the strength, detail and personality of this city and country. We are in awe and oh so grateful for the energy of this city and it showed up in our performance as we were gitty, sassy and talkative. What did it look like on the webcam? ("Tunnel Vision" sketch below by Katrien Kolenberg)
Yikes! The temperature dropped! We leaned on the wall heaters after our setup and sound-check and we dressed in what layers we could find. Now I wish I had a Canadian toque. I found chicken soup in a Chinese restaurant (yah!). We were the only ones in the restaurant at 6pm. It’s quiet here with an incredible attention to detail and cleanliness. In The East the people seem more reserved almost like they are carrying a Secret! I am very intrigued by this. Fans, Thomas & his Family (also fans of guitarist from our last tour: Jason Nett) brought us photos from our concerts in 2005 (fun!) and Tina and her friends were a very cool surprise! Tina bit Sam…?! His arm still has proof of her teeth marks. Hmm. We stayed overnight split apart into different ‘houses’. “You can feel the history in the walls”, says David-indeed there’s a time warp like 50’s style to everything. Also noted: In Every place we go the washrooms are modern and new, regardless of the rest of the building. Also Thomas answers his phone “Bauer” and it reminds me of Jack Bauer in 24. I love that show.
Our first long drive. David watched Charlie Chaplin & the Simpsons on his computer so I don’t think he noticed this drive like the switch-back narrow drive in Switzerland. I am reading The Secret. We are all practicing its revelations. We could write a novel about this night! Try and picture this: A cellar below a sports shoe store that used to be a bomb shelter turned into a high end studio which includes live DVD recording, a rehearsal space, chairs that are connected to vibrate to the bass, AND a CLUB with pillows on the stage, sweet lighting, and every detail taken care of. It was a packed house and for a change there were lots of girls in the house –yeah! Angie Schroeder (otherwise known as TroubleAngie), our angel translator, sat in the front row with her awesome Just Because t-shirt. Sam and I sat on the stage couch for “I LIE” where his mouth drums moved the song into a place it had not been before. Everything was so smooth (Thanks Uli and Andreas!) that we couldn’t resist Jammin’ with a house full of musicians in the Studio BELOW the cellar bar until the wee hours. I liked the red wine and the red velvet couch in my room. Thanks Marc Hubben for your CD full of awesome photos.
One man danced all night long. Like a dervish, the legendary Gyro from Karlsruhe moved to the music. We brought a man to the stage who had the best seat in the house already but we brought him even closer; yes, with his table chair cigarette and drink. This pleased man named KD sat beside the drums and Sam for the first half of the show. Nice. This performance was a little more animated and we threw in “Time after Time” at David’s request. Fortune Records took extra care things went smoothly-in person! A big CD night and we have sold out of Revealed! (It can be ordered on line). Oh we have a TomTom now, an electronic navigator. More time to play and see things as this could mean less time travelling and searching! Thank you to the audience for not smoking until the break!
Cancelled show, sorry. We will be back on May 1st, 2007
Stephan has gone home to Fulda. He will join the band again next week.
The bus parked in the “HARLEY Parking only” spot. German guitarist, Stefan Rapp, made our detailed arrangements in German which included fresh grapes, tea, thick German yogurt and a Pilsner for Sam. Stefan rolled a cigarette. It was going to be a loud night. The PA was at its loudest ever. It felt like a dream the boys say. When Sam sings he says he channels Patt Meldrum (from last tour! Thanks Patt!) Stefan did the most moving and incredible long solos on this night. Not something that you can get on the record! It was brilliant. Though the show was shortened by my cold. A tear came out as I apologized. Two doctors came to the Merchandise table with prescriptions. NICE! A lot of Acoustic RIDE CDs with the Harley shots went out the door.
The roads were like switch backs. David didn't look down. Oh so worth it. Our backdrop is the Swiss Alps. Friendly goats and all. We squeezed in a hike ... up and up and up the steeps. Stef's soloing was uber impressive in EVERY song! Currency and voltage of the Swiss style (note for if you go there.)
Fierce drinking crowd. Thirsty for music as well. A 19 year old hottie had his birthday there at midnight. How did he get in at 18 years old?! (Oh, Sam has noted there were 15 year olds in there too!) Something so quaint and sweet about the whole place. Giessmass discovery: Coca cola + Cherry liquor + dark beer + Congac in litre glass. Sorry to cut night short, Mel & Sam caught an airplane cold!
I will be off touring Europe in April and May! ... Here is a link to the list of the venues and cities I will be visiting :
