URBAN TRIBE German Tour 2006
A few days have passed since we returned
from Germany now but we are still high on the buzz we got from the exceptional
reception we received from everyone in Germany. We certainly have made friends
for life! For 5 of the shows we had the good fortune of travelling with
Sheriff's Soundpatrol consisting of four absolutely great guys; Sheriff, Daniel,
Trixa and Junior Banton. Also travelling with us was Holger Rohda (aka HoRo) who
took time out from his dayjob to take care of us. Holger was among many other
things responsible for recording the shows and he has earned a special place in
our hearts for sure!
TUESDAY 11.4, Osnabrück (Rosenhof)
Me and Charlotte travelled down to Germany in a car filled to the brim with our backline...our poor Ford Mondeo felt like a pregnant hippopotomus as we buckled down the autobahn. We arrived safely nonetheless. Anders and Bamma were already in Germany (Anders did two gigs with Club Killers in Berlin a few days earlier and Bamma had been down in Munich to visit his kids down there) and the rest of the band landed at Lübeck Airport at 4.15 in the afternoon. We could only hope that they would have a better car ride than me and Charlotte did (we got stuck in a bumper to bumper version of hell north of Bremen (for two hours) so they would make it to the show in time. Which they did, mostly thanks to the fact that Petter, who did the driving, used to drive a taxi and no one would protest if his last name had been Schumacher...
Anyway, about an hour before showtime the whole Tribe was present at the Rosenhof, which is a pretty big club housing about 1000 people when packed. Which it wasn't this Tuesday night - I think Sheriff deserves great credit and acclaim for having the balls to book a not so well known Swedish roots band at a venue like this on a Tuesday night during Easter holiday...anyway, the show went really well and it felt really good to get the tour started. The backstage area at the Rosenhof was beautiful, and the catering and drink service flawless. We did, however, run into some problems finding the hostel in the middle of the night - Osnabrück seemed all of a sudden to be a maze of one-way streets and the numbers on the streets seemed to defy logic. So it took us about an hour to find the hostel which was located about 5 - 6 blocks from the venue...
Pictures from Rosenhof:
WEDNESDAY
12.4, Halle (Objekt 5)
We
had quite a long drive to Halle the next day and we were on our own since
this gig was booked by Agents4Music and not Sheriff which meant that
Sheriff Soundpatrol took the day off. After some confusion we arrived at
Seebner Str. 5 in Halle, home to Objekt 5. Me and Charlotte got there first
and our jaws totally dropped as we entered the club - I can honestly say
that Objekt 5 is by far the coolest club we have ever seen! Simply a beautiful
place, check out the pictures and see for yourself. The staff were very
friendly and the catering was simply great. Once again we felt like a red
carpet had been rolled out for us. My good friend and compadre Mikael Nordmark
and his bride to be Julia travelled up from Frankfurt to see us and Mikael
thus drew the short straw and was made chief photographer for the evening.
He took the task really seriously and took 365 pictures of the show...
Finally we did and at about 2.30 in the morning we checked in. We had the penthouse floor all to ourselves and much merryment followed. The floors were extremely slippery and Frank took quite a fall while doing an impression of John Cleese from Fawlty Towers. Of which scene, you ask? Well let's just say it was from the episode called "The Germans"...
Pictures from Objekt 5:
THURSDAY
13.4, Berlin (Yaam)
We were all grateful that the following drive to Berlin was a short one (only about 180 km). It was a little tricky finding the venue in Berlin (I mean if we had problems in a small town like Halle you could imagine what it was like in Berlin...) but we finally found it. Yaam is like no other place we have ever seen - it's mostly an outdoor venue with a basketball court and a huge beach (yes, you read correctly, they actually have a huge sandy beach in the middle of the city) and apparently they use the surrounding buildings as a filmscreen and show films there in the summer. Fantastic! The indoors, where we played, had camouflage net in the ceiling - perfect for militant roots songs like "Revolution" and "Babylon"! The backstage area was heated by a furnace so we had to take turns putting more wood on the fire. In Berlin we were in the capable hands of Lena Hess from Agents4Music who took excellent care of us - this time we didn't have to risk bursting small blood vessles in our brains trying to find the hostel in the middle of the night. The show was simply great - at the end we were lucky enough to have Junior Banton and local artists KlarBauTerMann and Black Dillinger join us on stage to do a 15 minute jam on the "Soul Rebel"-riddim - check the soundfiles, great stuff! After the show we were treated to fantastic African food. Some of the band decided to make it a relatively early night while some stayed on til the wee hours of the morning.
Frank
and Anders parked by the bar downing surprising amounts of Tequila-shots
until the barman announced "the bar is closed" while it remained
open... Frank
and Anders started paying for their shots after this... Present at the gig in
Berlin was also Frank Helfer from Agents4Music (who booked the Halle-gig)
Sound clips from Yaam:
Bad Man ○ Blaze Fire Blaze ○ Bump Dem ○ Soul Rebel ○ Soul Rebel Riddim
Pictures from Yaam:
FRIDAY
14.4, Hannover (UJZ Korn)
When we arrived at Yaam the following morning the car gates were closed and when we went inside on foot we heard dogs barking. Someone cried out "Dobermann!" and we scambled out the door in a state of panic. The "Dobermanns" turned out to be quite friendly,though. While packing our stuff we played a CD of our show in Osnabrück that Holger gave us on the Ford's sound system. In the process we emptied the battery so the friendly Yaam-crew had to help us get the car started by pushing it. Before we left we met up with Sheriff who, sadly, had to leave the tour due to some emergency at his day job. Luckily Daniel, Holger and the others were still going to be around to help us poor Swedes out. Leaving Berlin proved to be much like entering it - I had printed out directions from Map24.com that we followed to the letter. Item number 19 on the list read "You are now leaving Berlin"...
The drive to Hannover was uneventful except for the fact that me and Charlotte were almost hit by a huge Mercedes that changed lanes without bother looking in the rear-view mirror. Close shave. The venue in Hannover was called UJZ Korn and is a political youth club with special privileges - the police actually need to have a court order to even enter the premises. In Hannover the band was joined by Christian who missed the three first shows due to the fact that he had to work. I'll always have extremely fond memories of the show we did at UJZ Korn - the gig and the crowd were fantastic but what will stay fresh in my mind til my dying day is the party that followed after the show. Sheriff Soundpatrol had a great aftershow party downstairs with Junior Banton and special guest Bruno Ranks keeping the fire blazing all night long. Bamma also joined in and everyone had a fantastic time. It's amazing when a group of so many people (us 11 and all of our German friends) hit a perfect, natural high at the same time - simply fantastic! Truly a celebration of life, much like the one described in "Chant the down".
Video and sound clips from UJZ Korn:
Backstage (mov format) ○ Setting up (mov format) ○ We Say No (mp3)
Pictures from UJZ Korn:
SATURDAY
15.4, Bersenbrück (Bolero)
Most
of the band decided to stay the night at UJZ Korn but a few of us spent the night
at a hostel that had a very special feature - when you wanted to check out you
went into the stairwell and hit a gong very hard to attract the attention of
the owner.
When Holger told me this I couldn't believe it but it was really true - there actually
was a big gong there! Strange. When the show that we were supposed to do originally
this Saturday (Sinkkasten in Frankfurt) was cancelled I said to Sheriff that
we'd play anywhere at all; we'd rather play than not play. As it was the
gig he got us at a local disco in Bersenbrück called Bolero turned out to be
really, really good! In Bersenbrück we were in the capable hands of Sheriff's wife
who cooked us a fantastic meal in their home. German hospitality at its best!
We
played in a room adjascent to a big disco and the door inbetween was never closed
so we had to compete with the soundsystem next door - and I think we won. After
the show we broke a new world record in difficulty in finding the hostel...the
taxi we hired especially to guide us to the right location left us at the wrong
adress and left us confused in the rain. After searching the house he left us
at for an open door that wasn't there we discovered that it was a private
residence...
Pictures from Bolero:
SUNDAY
16.4, Cologne (Underground)
The
night before we discovered that Steve had left his bag in Hannover and that we
also had left some merchandise behind. Our good friend from Soundpatrol, Daniel,
decided to take Steve and Bamma in his car and drive the very long detour via
Hannover on the way to Cologne. I mention this especially because I think this is
a good example of the fantastic hospitality and love we were met with while in Germany
- instead of the 2 1/2 hour drive we all had to Cologne, Daniel ended up driving
for 6 hours, not reaching the venue in Cologne until 9 PM. Simply amazing!
In Hannover he overheard Frank and Linda talking about how they were both wine afficionados and promptly asked if we wanted any special wines ready for us backstage in Cologne - how about that! The backstage and catering arrangements in Cologne left us in awe. The caterer had actually gone online to get translations to make labels for the different food dishes in swedish, complete with swedish flags and all! We felt like royalty. The show in Cologne went great and Junior Banton was gracious enough to put the icing on the cake by appearing once again with us onstage where he led the crowd in a sing-along of "Soul Rebel" (check the soundfile!). The party afterwards was a little bitter-sweet since we all knew we had to leave our German friends the day after and head for home. We all can't wait to return in August!
Sound clips from Underground:
Revolution ○ Soul Rebel Riddim (Junior Banton)
Pictures from Underground:
