Poland

Poland
I got to Poznan and was picked up by the awesome Red Bull Gang aka Marek, Bartek, and Marcin. These guys were my guides , agents translators and body guards for the entire trip and I am in their debt for such a good time. We hopped into the tiny fiat uno and sped through the streets at high speed and reversed down a one way street to the venue. This convinced me that Irish and Polish people must have come from the same tribe. I played a cool show at a really nice little venue called Kisielice. I started with a PA but got rid of it and sang and played it all acoustically. The next mornin saw the four of us, plus my guitar and gear become sardines in the Fiat uno again and drive 6 hrs to Katowice. Fucking hilarious. They dropped me at a Five star hotel they had organised for me and I spent the evening pretending I was a fucking rock star, I almost even drank a bottle of water from the mini bar. Easy Deco easy…next it’s the TV out the window, drink , drugs and before I know it I’m Billy Idol putting out a xmas fucking album. Go to the venue which was a converted theatre wondering if anybody would show up. It was full and I was wondering who the fuck they were there to see and then the guys informed me the crowd was there for my show. Deadly! It was all due to the hard work and great promotion by the red bull gang. By now I had been given my Polish tour name “Roman Kurwa (fucking) Declanski”. I like it. The show was great after I got the insane Russian girl on too much drugs to shut up cackling like a mongoose after eating a cobra laced with PCP.
Once again everyone was really nice and appreciative. I will be back! The next day the poor old Fiat Uno died so we caught a train to the awesome city that is Krakow. We played in a the old Jewish quarter, which was amazing, in a underground basement venue called Bside. A small place but it was full with really nice people. I felt really realxed and I reached a cool place in my head that happens sometimes where you are not playing music but the music is just happening out of me if that makes any sense. It always feel really special when it happens but it is exhausting afterwards. I don’t know why. I sang one bedroom apartment as an encore and the entire crowd sang along with me. It was nice doing these shows just by myself. There was nothing to hide behind at all. I didn’t have time to visit Auschwitz but I will come back just for this, I have always wanted to see and experience it and I think it deserves the respect of a sole visit rather than a side trip.
Walked around the town and had a strange incident with a body guard to some government official. Marek bundled me away and said something to the guy in polish explaining. Although he doesn’t have a clue what happened either, safe to say I was a nanosecond away second from punching the guy as I didn’t know who he was and thought I was about to get jumped. Onwards. Headed for the airport and had a standoff with 3 armed soldiers doing security who wanted me to go back out and check in my guitar pedals. I told them I would miss my plane and we played about a minute of a really cool game called “ Go back outside and check these in, look I have a big gun and shaved head…No I will miss my plane” It’s pretty simple. You just repeat until one side arrests you or leaves you go. I won and made it to my plane with 30s seconds to spare. All in all I had a brilliant time in Poland and I can’t wait to get back here. Thank you so much to all the fantastic people I met there. I was an honour to play for you.