Waving goodbye to Hamburg and the misfortune of a badly organised gig (and weather!), we set sail on our flu ridden tour bus and headed south to Cologne. Spirits were not too low though as the day-off in Hamburg served a desire for the stage that night. The journey to Blue Shell, Cologne was a blur, as the grey clouds seemed to hang over the tour bus. We arrived just on time and were greeted warmly by the local support band ‘I see lights’ on another damn cold evening. Tour in summer people!! Having sound checked and drunk the usual first beers of the night with our fellow musicians , it was time to seek our accomodation; which was looking kind of dubious as the owner of Blue Shell club made a few calls to confirm the band apartment, after our arrival?! These uncomfortable moments, standing out in the cold, the organiser about to drive to the airport to fly on a  sun-holiday will always remain! Anyway  directions were given to us (5 minute walk, very close, around the corner) and we set off on our way on foot and trolley.
After 15 minutes of an endless walking marathon, we finally found our sleeping bunks for the night! But time was against us, which meant skipping food and racing back to the club to catch the guys from ‘I see lights’ perform. And very well they did too, including attracting a fair sized crowd of local fans.

We went on stage at around 21h30 before a semi-packed club and played for over an hour, enjoying every minute of it. Strangely enough, colds and coughs caught in Hamburg disappeared and the show went down among the crowd very well indeed. Check out the mini-clip of ‘Let’s Go’ which was posted by a fan.

With guitars and drums aside, we visited two local clubs near Blue Shell (one called Rose Club ) and soaked up the party atmosphere of a Monday night in Cologne, which could easily match a weekend night in Berlin! After a burger feast on the street outside McDonalds under grey wet morning skies and gathering bodies, the night was coming to a close…but……
Why does it always rain on me, Travis? And how could we lose the key for the band apartment, later recovered in the early morning light. Soaked to the bones and miles away from home, huddled over a hot coffee in a turkish café thinking murder  and posing the question ‘is this rock and roll?’…hell yeah!
Good mornin’ Cologne…please turn off the bright light in the sky!

24/03/09

Tags: blue shell, cologne, eyes to the road, köln, photos, tour

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