Germany Netherlands November 06

Got of the plane…Jesus, after flying Ryanair for so long aer lingus felt like a 5 star treatment. They even give you seat numbers. There was no one on the plane so I had a whole row to meself as did my wonderful cellist and touring compadre Mary Barnecutt aka MC Snorepunch. So we slept. Little things like that are gold on tour. You seek out pockets of sleep wherever you can and fresh vegetables or anything that isn’t deep fried is shangrila. Anyway , Marion picked us up and we hotfooted it to the beautiful City of Nurenberg, I should have slept when i got to the hotel or worked or practiced but I was in Nurenberg so I hit the pavement. Checked out the national German museum, saw a Rembrandt and a few Durer’s. Didn’t have time to see Durer’s house though or the stadium where Adolf had a few friends round for tea and a pep talk. The venue was insane, it is in a giant shopping centre in a huge restaurant that they convert at night for shows. The show was billed as Africa meets Ireland (we did and it was great fun) People were seated and were of all ages and walks of life. It felt strange seeing people sit at tables. I felt like Elvis in Las Vegas ( al little bit thinner…a little bit).
I played first and it was great, you could hear a pin drop. I got talking to Magou from Senegal and he played my guitar. It was great hearing it played by a maestro. Me and Mary watched both, Magou and Maciré Sylla sextet play. It was weird they were giving it socks but there were only two people dancing. So I danced for a good while and felt great, there is no life without dancing, good food, good sex, good surf, and good music.

The next day me and Mary got on a train to the Netherlands and Played in the awesome 013 club in Tilburg. We played support to Woost a local band so there was a very big crowd. As usual there were a few clann zú fans there too. I was told before hand that Dutch crowds always talk and turn their back to you when you play and not to take it personally. After the first song everybody was silent for the whole show. Really good people. I dedicated a song to Willy Van der Meer whom had wanted to book clann zú and was booking myself earlier in the year. A unique and cool individual I only ever spoke to on the phone and never got to meet as he passed away earlier in the year. Hope the music is good where ever you are Willy. The next day Erik from Woost drove us to Nimijen where we stayed on his and his brothers houseboat. Jesus you have to pinch yourself sometimes!. What a cool city. Again it is another city with tall beautiful women riding around on bikes…a repeat motif for the tour. We had a night off so me and Mary cut class and watched the bond flick which was surprisingly ok. The next day we got to the venue called “the underpants” which is a basement squat venue under a building that used to make pants. It is now a collective café and venue run by activist volunteers. What a cool bunch of people. We ate the best vegan lasagne and salad I have ever tasted in my life. Thanks Tessa! (look at her wonderful tatoos). We played for about an hour and it was probably my favourite night so far. A good connection between meself and the crowd. We slept at another squat which was typical for Europe ie 5 star squat and a million times nicer than my hole of a flat in Dublin. Thanks to all for taking care of us and for the great breakfast and company. Mc Knickers aka Mary and I got the train again for Dortmund where we crashed at André’s place who runs Decoder records my German Label. The next morning we got up and headed to Essen where I played songs acoustic in an amazing church. Fuck that was really nice. And I didn’t swear..thanks be to fuck!