19.01.10 Zurich
The last time I came this way, blogwise, was about four years ago. Element of Crime travelled then through the same snow, at the same time of year, in a bus driven by Driver Franklin and his beautiful wife Dani. At that time they were dressed as an emperor and his queen, in silk and satin, and we the band and crew lounged in our pyjamas around the bus’s many internet terminals, smoking hookahs and sipping Grand Marnier. We were on our way to Austria.
This time things are different. Franklin and Dani are dressed in oil-stained combat fatigues, circa Gulf War 92, and the charming three wheeled charabanc has been replaced by an armour plated 18 wheeled battlebus. The band and crew sit on hard benches running down each side of the bus, hands on knees, staring at the feet of the person opposite. There is no conversation, but some hold photographs of their wives and children.
‘Why, Franklin’, asks someone, ‘why must it be like this, when before life was so beatiful, and we were so young and full of hope?’
Franklin is chewing on the butt of an old cigar. ‘Because, my friend, the last time we drove south at the start of a tour, we were heading to Austria. This time we are going to…Switzerland.’
Someone at the back of the bus started to cry, but only for a moment. Manliness comes before fear at such moments. Micha, the soundman, makes a bold joke: ‘The Swiss have different plugs on their electrical equipment. None of our things will work.’ This doesn’t get get as many laughs as it would on a good day. ‘They have different money from us. We’ll be helpless at the Raststätte’, offers someone else. The mood is becoming lighter by the moment. It seems as if sharing this difficult moment makes it easier to deal with, as the psychotherapists had promised in the pre-tour counselling sessions.
Zurich is our destination, and later in the evening we must perform a full length concert of Element of Crime hits, old and new. How we manage this will be revealed in tomorrow’s edition of this thrillablog. Till then, wish us luck…
Am 16. Mai 2011 um 20:07 Uhr
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