"The traveller sees what he sees. The tourist sees what he has come to see." ~G.K. Chesterton
Once again I'm writing this blog on a train. It's said that life is a journey - my life certainly feels like one and I love it. I'm not sure if I've written a blog since I left England. But a lot has happened and I'm not sure what is really a matter of interest. Anyway, after two weeks in Spain we directly went into the band rehearsals for our headliner show at the St.Gallerfest. We played there last year, too, and it has been one of the best experiences we've had so far. High expectations for this year... We were supposed to be on stage for 4 hours, so we put a lot of old songs back in the setlist. The day of the gig I felt rather tired, but alright. We arrived, had a good soundcheck and we were looking forward to our show. Some of you might have read on Facebook that I was sorry for being in a bad mood. When we started the show I couldn't hear anything clearly on stage. I raised my hand up and down to indicate which instrument must be louder or lower on my monitor. I saw the soundman leaving his tent, listening, getting angry. Some people of the audience came to me saying they wouldn't hear my voice, so I told my band to stop the show until the sound is alright. In the break we had a talk with the technicians, it wasn't their fault!! I tried to explain it on stage afterwards and thanked the technicians for their effort. The reason for the bad sound were little recorder that had the task to check the volume. In Switzerland there is a rule that you're not allowed to turn the sound louder than 93db. Those recorder were either broken or wrongly installed by the town people - I don't know. After 20mins we went back on stage, I saw some people having fun, but for some weird reason I was only checking the watch to see how long we would still have to play. Those of you who have seen "normal" shows know that I usually talk a lot to the audience, sing with them etc. - there, I had no idea what to say, I didn't know myself anymore. Fortunately only a few people recognised my mood. One week later - last Saturday - we played in Wattwil. We didn't have big expectations. I spent the night before in Germany, took a train at 2am back to Switzerland - it was hot and sticky in there, I couldn't sleep. When I changed to the Swiss train in Basel I started to freeze as it was do cold inside and I felt my throat getting rough (I had been fighting against a bug for a few days). I took a nap when I arrived home and didn't hear the clock. Fortunately my brother woke me up. I felt dizzy in the car to Wattwil. After having had a good dinner and a tea I felt better, took a very short power nap backstage. We were standing outside the stage door listening to the band playing before us and I heard how the audience was singing with them and suddenly I felt hungry for the stage again! It was the complete difference of the St.Gallerfest show: The whole band was in a fantastic mood, I told stories, jokes and built a bridge to the audience. To me that's the most important thing. Even if we play a concert without mistakes, musically perfect, but there's no connection to the audience, I'm not happy with the show, the audience could as well listen to a CD. But in Wattwil we were extremely happy with everything - that's how a GSLP show should be! Orlando, our guitarrist, once said that we should never have high expectations of how a show should be. After what happened in St.Gallen and Wattwil I completely believe in what he said. It's not easy for me - and so is it for a lot of people - not to get used to something. I did some workshops with Shya and Ariel Kane, about living the moment. We always want a certain moment to be the way it was last time - at least if it was a good one. We always tend to compare the present to the past, the future to the present. Even though every new moment is a new experience. Where would we be if every moment was the same? I recently read a quote by Dalai Lama: "In life there are only two days you can't do anything: yesterday and tomorrow." I started this blog with a quote about a traveller and I see myself. Thanks to the music I get to see many places and I get to meet people that start as "business relations" and end up as great friends. Since I did my tours I can't be at the same place anymore for a long time. So let's make a circle out of this blog and end with the beginning: ... and that's the reason why I'm writing this blog again on a train. I hope you're all well. It's always good to hear from you. Cheers, Gion x
Comments