auf wiedersehen

This has been our home for the past week.  We’ve lived in the bit you can’t quite see, below ground level.  Our hosts, Kirsten and Andreas, have been warm and welcoming, sharing their home with us.  Yesterday morning they invited us to their typical Sunday breakfast, which, apart from food, also includes Prosecco.  It’s a tradition apparently.

Apart from our hosts, it’s been great fun spending time with Neil and Tim.  We played together for about 10 years in a band until I became ill and had to give it up.  I've really missed them.  We’ve rehearsed in the mornings, played in the evenings and then sat in the kitchen putting the world to rights till the early hours. 

Our final gig takes place in the function room of a bar.  It’s another venue that John has not played before - and it turns out that music is new for them too.  The owner greets us with “thank you for coming to play here”.  She’s thanking us.  In all the gigs I’ve played in the UK, I’ve never been greeted like that.  And this is part of what makes playing in Germany so different and so special.  People are just so pleased to see us.

Again we play to a full house; this time - as it’s our last gig - many local musicians are in the audience.  The room is quite large and tables and chairs have been arranged along the walls and there’s a large space in front of us.  We start with a few blues numbers from John and we’re joined by a wonderful local slide guitar player.  

Then it’s my turn. I just finish the first verse of ‘If I had wings like Noah’s Dove’ (Mumford and Sons) when we’re invaded by a gang - I can’t think of the collective noun, so that will have to do - a gang of line-dancers.  They’re a bit hesitant - just three to begin with - but as the song progresses more and more take the plunge - and by the end there are four lines of dancers in front of us.

We look at each other and as the dancers are just getting into their stride, throw in a few more instrumental breaks to keep them going and the song ends up nearly 10 minutes long.  And that sets a trend for the rest of the evening.

We finally retire to a local restaurant with a few friends for an end of tour celebration. We’re tired and happy.  After a few glasses, some of us a very happy.  

Eventually Neil, Tim and I are deposited back in our wooden house where we sit in the kitchen until the early hours - this time not putting the world to rights, because our little world has been pretty good for the past week. We all miss our families and sleeping in our own beds, but we’ve enjoyed this artificial reality for a few days - precisely because it is just for a few days. 

We talk instead about the people we’ve met; we’ve been ferried around to the various venues, fed and watered and generally looked after in a way we hadn’t really expected.  But most of all, we talk about how much they like the music. With small live music venues closing in the UK, lots of bands are once again crossing the North Sea to Germany.  Just like they did 50 years ago.