fun on a train track in germany…

 

We find ourselves in possibly the smallest room that Biffy have played in over the past few years…

I can’t possibly imagine how they’re going to fit 350 people in here… I imagine this is a similar size to Bono’s utility room.

 

Last night saw us in Hamburg, at a Coca-Cola sponsored show at the Docks… Coca-Cola sponsored show, I hear you ask? Nothing illicit, fear not… We had the option of doing a show in Hamburg at a small venue, in keeping with the nature of this tour (cram 400 – 600 people into sold out tiny rooms) but were then offered the chance to do a free show, in a larger venue… It seemed like a good opportunity to let people see the Biff, without having to pay for their tickets. There is a recession on, after all.

 

The lifetime supply of Coca Cola obviously helped.

 

I kid. We only got about 20 bottles. 

 

And notable mention goes to the clever chap who thought it’d be a good idea to hand out bright red coca cola glowsticks on the way into the venue… Most of which ended up on the fucking stage as the night progressed. Unfortunately when we noticed one of the people throwing them, it turned out to be, quite literally, the biggest fucking guy in the entire room. So I was a touch more reticent to go into the crowd and ask him to stop… They certainly make them big in Germany. 

 

After the show, our merch guy Ben (to avoid any confusion, we call this Ben ‘Big Ben’, as he’s a bit taller than Biffy Ben) and our drum tech Matthew, took to the VIP bar, to take advantage of the free drinks. I was also led to think that the company of the pretty girls that they were spotted with soon afterwards, was perhaps a driving reason for this… 

If you happen across the merchandise area tonight or tomorrow, keep your eyes open for a handsome bearded man answering to the name of Ben… If you’re a lady, we have it on authority he is both caring and affectionate, and drum tech Matthew assures me he’s a tender kisser. Its unlikely you will do better.. 

 

Fair play to them however, as the activity on the bus was far less glamorous / rock’n’roll… 

As Ben and James played Tiger Woods (shit place for a picnic) on the PS3, guitar tech Churd and Sound Engineer Justin kept them company with exceptional banter, as Simon and myself sat upstairs watching the latest episodes of Hells Kitchen USA, pondering whether or not it might be possible to blag our way into the HK restaurant when we get to Los Angeles in a few weeks… 

 

Hopefully…

 

So after Wiesbaden tonight, we only have one more show left… Cologne (or Koln if you prefer) tomorrow night… 

 

And then, that’s it… no more live Biffy performances, until they’ve recorded at least a good portion of the next album.

 

I believe the next scheduled show is coincidentally in Germany, at the Rock AM Ring / Rock IM Park festivals… That said, I’d be surprised if we didn’t have a small warmup show somewhere en route… stay tuned on that one.

 

We’ve also got Rock Ness… We’re currently trying to find out exactly where we are on the bill on that one… A strange thing, you may wonder… I think so too. If any of you happen to know, please feel free to let us know, as unfortunately none of our representatives seem to have the information to hand either. Perhaps we’re playing on an entirely different stage, in the middle of the loch itself… 

We heard that Frightened Rabbit will be playing, which is good news. We haven’t seen them since they played on the UK shows in December, so it’ll be great to catch up with them. 

 

Has anyone heard the Manchester Orchestra record then? I know its not officially out yet, but I also know that few of you possess the carefully stitched moral fabric required to abstain from grabbing things when they’re presented to you, so I suspect there’s a healthy handful of you who have this record nestled in your iTunes… its nestled between Malcolm Middleton and Maps on my iPod…

 

Its fucking amazing though. They’re last record was a very special album as well, so to actually surpass it with apparent ease is all the more impressive.

 

Its currently on the dressing room A List, and in constant rotation. My Morning Jacket’s Evil Urges, and Jay-Z’s Black Album are still up there, and Emmy The Great’s ‘First Love’ was played three times in a row today.

 

None of us have seen Watchmen yet, annoyingly. We completely missed it at the cinema, and apparently the IMAX in Glasgow decided to fuck it off pretty quickly after it was released. 

Simon and I were discussing the conundrum that is, going to see it in a small screen of a cinema (as it certainly isn’t going to be in Cineworld Glasgow Screen 3 by the time we get home) or waiting for the BluRay extravaganza when it comes out in a few months… Suggestions welcome.

 

Whilst the boys continue their epic Tiger Woods (scary place to walk at night) marathon on the PS3 this evening, I think Si, possibly Ben, and I, are going to watch Valkyrie upstairs…. We’ve been picking up quite a lot of German history on this trip actually, mostly thanks to our learned sound engineer, Justin, who was yesterday informing James of the various origins of the word Bismarck. Si and I figured we’d learn about it from another learned soul, mr Thomas Cruise Mapother IV. 

 

Anyway, enough about popular culture and media (aside from asking, did anyone see Obama’s car attempt a three-point turn in Downing Street? One of the best things we’ve seen on iPlayer in a fucking age…)

 

So there isn’t really a huge amount of gossip to fill you in on, from this leg of the tour…

Zurich turned out to be a really good show – I can’t remember if I’ve mentioned this in the blog before, but we’ve always had a constant struggle in Switzerland, because of the government enforced noise limit, which means that the noise levels at concerts have to be kept below 95dB, which is considerably less than the 105dB standard in other places… Simon’s amplifiers alone are basically louder than is legally permitted. So you can imagine it’s not the easiest place to play…

 

But it was a really great show this time around, the band had fun, and it looked like the crowd enjoyed it as well. Some familiar faces bopping around in front of Simon, and some admirable attempts to persuade them to play Now The Action… 

 

If you’ve been at the shows, you may have noticed the band have been playing a new track… its called That Golden Rule, and is a bit of a winner. Its particularly fun for those of us at the side of the stage to watch the audience around the two minute mark, when the band kick into, what I suspect will become known as ‘The Riff’… concentrated expressions are almost immediately lost to massive grins, and an inability to stand still… great fun to watch, and one of my favourite parts of the set. 

 

Convex Concave is still slotting in perfectly alongside the newer material, and I for one will miss it immensely if it falls by the wayside when the live shows come back around…

 

I’ll run for now, and maybe see some of you in Wiesbaden or Cologne.

 

tour manager neil.x