Friday 26 June 2009

ASIWYFA: Clutch Tour Diary Part Six

The drive from Luxembourg to Cologne should have been quite an easy journey but alas our beloved van decided to throw a little temper tantrum and produce more problems, namely being for a while we could not travel faster than 30mph. Finally the problem appeared to fix itself (for now anyway) and we were back to full speed and arrived in beautiful sunny Cologne only a little later than planned. Another incredibly attentive audience and again the band were flooded with praise after the show. As with most places in the world, an appreciative audience usually means drinks being thrust into your hands from all directions. Luckily the venue had given us accomodation for the night and so we could indulge, some of us perhaps a little too much, in a few beers and mingling with the locals and I am certain we made quite a few new fans / friends.

After quite a restless night we hit the road again on our way to Hamberg. Despite getting decent sleep after the Luxembourg show, general tour fatigue had begun to kick in by now.

We love touring. It is a lot of fun and when things go right it can be massively fulfilling for everyone involved. But it can also be very hard work. Long hours, little sleep, the being away from family, friends and partners and various other factors can sometimes build up and leave people, even if only for a few hours, mentally and physically fatigued. A few more van problems, a navagation issue and several other small issues left us all a little irritable by the time we hit Hamburg. This was a dip in the tour. Their was no massive argument but everyone just got a little quiet and the fun and camaraderie disappeared for a few hours. But, for every dip, their must be a peak.

The peak was the show. The band played possibly the best performance of the tour, blasting through their set with more agression than ever before. This was exactly what was needed. After the gig everyone was back to hugging each other with smiles on our faces. Happiness had been restored and we headed out into the warm Hamburg night for a few beers to celebrate surviving another day on tour.










Images by the amazing Graham Smith

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