We’d been booked to play Marias Ballroom in Hamburg, the venue owner was a tall, bearded punk rocker called Heimo who we quickly realised was probably the nicest man ever to walk this earth. Heimo walked around singing loudly and sharing stories and asking us about our trip before showing us to the backstage and helping us with our equipment unload from the car (which we’re getting pretty good at now.) Heimo helped us park up in a spare space in-front of his garage before disappearing off to make us some hot food, (he’d already provided us with a full cold snacks and drinks rider.)
We chilled out and ate and all too soon it was time for the show. We already knew that tonight’s show was potentially going to be a quiet one, we were a long way from the centre of Hamburg and no one was milling around in town. Two girls (Catiana and Ally) had come up to see our show off the recommendation of a band we know from back home and were waiting outside so we ate, set up quickly and went to introduce ourselves.
We probably played to about six people not including the bar staff etc. But that didn’t matter. Sometimes the best shows are like that. Intimacy in acoustic music can add a lot to an experience and we basically performed a private show for the fans that had travelled and a couple of Marias Ballroom regulars. The crowd was lovely and super polite, they listened to jokes, danced along to the music and respected the performances all the way through the night. I played a slightly shorter set than the first night; totally by accident, (I hadn’t written out a set list as I knew my normal one off by heart) but I must’ve flown through the tuning changes as I only did 40 minutes.
After the show we used our drinks tokens to buy members of the audience drinks and hung out with Catiana and Ally. Heimo closed up the bar and said if we all wanted to hangout in the backstage then that’s totally fine and we can pack our stuff down from the main bar tomorrow, Heimo said, winking at us. I’m in a happy relationship as is Brendan our photographer so Chris is the only singleton on this tour, so any luck with the ladies is down to him. We hung out for another few hours with our new friends and hit the hay around 2am which is becoming the norm on tour.
We woke up at 9.30 and hurriedly got our things together so we could get an early start to travel. Unfortunately a sleepy and apologetic Heimo came down the stairs to unlock the venue at around 11am which held us up a fair bit but we couldn’t blame him, he’s such a guardian angel. He asked us if the girls were still with us then went off to do some shopping . Today was a day off (of sorts) for the tour. Chris had a comedy gig booked in Berlin later on but aside from that we were gig free. I couldn’t face another breakfast of Oreos and car snacks so we took most of Heimo’s rider with us.
I decided as we were faced with 3 weeks of potentially pretty unhealthy eating that I’d give apples another go (something I just do not eat / may be mildly allergic, not sure?) but instantly regretted it as after five or so bites I was reduced to a coughing, wheezing mess with a swollen lip and a fiery throat for the next hour or so; pass me the Oreos.
We visited Schwerin on the way to Berlin which was a beautiful German palace on a lake. For a place I’ve never heard of, it was drop dead gorgeous. We went full traveller and took around 100 photos. Germany is so alien to me, I never went there as a kid but every time I go I can’t get over how truly beautiful it is. We wandered around and chatted shit for an hour or so before jumping back in the car and driving for another 3 hours to the big city. Berlin.
Upon arriving in Berlin we battled with traffic, emergency vehicles, parking regulations as our AirBnb DIDN’T have free street parking despite the ad saying it did (still mad about this) and eventually made it to Chris’ comedy set. Chris played well and the audience were extremely nice, they laughed at parts that weren’t even meant to be jokes and warmed nicely to his act. The other comedians were great. Sam Kissajukian from Australia was our highlight, we gave out a few flyers for our show on Sunday, congratulated the other acts, Chris collected his fee and we were on our way. After this we had a quick walk around the base of Berlin tower and sampled a CurryWurst before finding a free place to leave the car for the duration in Berlin and headed home for another 2am bed time.
Joel's Side Of The Story 
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