Here’s the link to the first gig of the tour at the Handmade Music Hall in Chur, Switzerland.
Andy Reich runs a superb venue, and his team, including his son Fabrizio, do a fantastic job. It was the perfect start for us.
So, just about two weeks ago, I was packing the car for a holiday in Scotland. My old friend Krissy Matthews called and said an artist had pulled out of a tour at the last minute and could I step in?
He’d booked a band and a lot of venues. He wanted to keep the tour alive and, especially, keep the musicians in work.
So now – after a great holiday in Scotland – I’m here with three musicians I’ve never met and who have never played together as a band, with twelve dates to fill in Switzerland, Austria, Slovakia and Germany.
No rehearal. Just a quick run-through at sound check. You can do that with great musicians.
But it still might not work. You have to understand each other as people and to find your way into music you’ve never heard before.
Greg Black, guitar, Slavi Tucakov, bass, and Lorenzo Liberale, drums, took my songs and made them our own. It’s the Raiders, but as not we knew it. And, by the way, we had to learn some of Greg’s set too. He loves the Allman Brothers, so it was a chance to dig into some tasty Hammond. Many thanks to Greg’s pal Matic Leščanec for the loan of the keyboard.
So the first gig is ragged but, we thought, pretty glorious. Not bad for a band who, 24 hours earlier, had never seen each other before.
Today, we head to Chabah in Kandern. But first I need coffee. I bet it won’t be as good as the espresso that Lorenzo conjured for me yesterday. Never tour without an Italian.