The Beggars European Tour 2008

On Australia Day January 2008 right after the Tamworth festival I jumped on a plane to Europe for the Beggars first overseas tour. I was travelling on my own because I hoped to do some business for the band in France in the days before the tour started. While I was sitting on that plane the enormity of what I was getting us into struck me. Questions were running through my mind. Had people even heard of the Beggars in Europe? Would they come to the gigs?

Were the agents and promoters I had organised the tour with real? What was the road manager like? Had I thought of everything or would this all go wrong?

My first port of call on the trip was the Midem Music Market in Cannes, it’Äôs at the same venue they use for the film festival in the South of France. Midem is the world’Äôs largest music market it was my first time there and it was quite an experience, attended by up to 10000 music companies it runs a bit like speed dating for music business. Meetings would often only be 20 minutes. I signed a European distribution deal for Beggars, started negotiating an Asian release for the band and made some great contacts.

So after Midem I caught a flight to meet the rest of the band in Zurich. Next morning our road manager and driver Big Herbert arrived with Renee and Craig in the van. Stuart and I piled in and the five of us were off to the first gig.

Our road manager Big Herbert is a huge guy with a full beard and a long ponytail. He is form the Ulm area in southern Germany and he tours, road manages and does sound for acoustic bands in Europe. Herbert supplied the transport, local knowledge and language and a good old double bass called 'Erna'. So Herbert was really everything we needed from a practical view point to make the tour happen. The first day was a big drive. Herbert, Craig and Renee had already been in the car for 3 hours before they picked Stuart and me up for the 5 hour drive from Zurich to Naters through the Alps and mountain passes to the gig. But it's all good, Herbert finds the 17th Century Linder hall and the PA is already set and ready to check. Everyone's instruments look like they have survived the trip and now we can do what we do best. The audience are mostly already there having dinner. I was surprised to see most folks were wearing Akubra’Äôs and dry as a bone’Äôs, eating barbecue and drinking Aussie wine and beer. I had no idea it was an Australian theme gig.

The next night is at a long established music venue Little Nashville in Basel. It gets off to a great start with spontaneous applause erupting after Stuart’Äôs first guitar solo and folks listening so hard that I hear them hushing others not to talk over the band. We do the sound at little Nashville ourselves this usually means we get it how we like it. The gig goes off and the folks really like our songs and sound.

The next night Sunday, is the Sheepfarm Concert outside of Lucerne. The promoter is a bit nervous because the show is so early in the season and there is still snow on the ground. But a good crowd come. People are calling out for our song ’ÄúPreacher I Have Sinned’Äù so I guess they must have heard it on the radio. Out of 10 Beggars score a 9.6 from the crowd. Yes they actually have score cards to fill out.

The hospitality at the Swiss gigs is fantastic. Usually we get drinks and something to eat when we arrive then a restaurant meal before the show, a snack after the show and then breakfast at the hotel in the morning. If I asked for this in Australia promoters would laugh at me.

We go into Lucerne and see the carnival which goes on for a week and climaxes in a big colour full community parade and a lot of drinking.

On Tuesday we travel to Germany and to Illerberg to play on radio free fm and on Wednesday night at Herbert's club. This is a small room maybe 70 persons can pack in. Its full and we have decided to play completely acoustically which turns out to be a great idea because it is such a good listening audience. The gig has been well recorded and the whole night is available as a flac file at http://bt.etree.org/details.php?id=512972  Ulrich who recorded the gig and gave me a CD version of the recording and I think the sound is pretty good.

Thursday we drove up to Hildeshiem near Hanover to play the Bisfchofsmule which is a funky little club it is a great night with many people asking us to come back again.

Then on Friday we travel to Berlin for the Country Music Messe. This is a fans and bands fair and the largest in Europe. We played two showcases, met lots of people, sold some CDs and I think made a few fans. I was surprised to see we were on the cover of Germanys biggest Country Music Magazine ’ÄúWestern Mail’Äù.

The Country Music Messe Berlin is like a small German version of Tamworth with extra cheese. Held in an old government building called the postbahnhof its on the east side of the wall. A section of the wall is still there next to the postbahnhof so we could get our tourist fix right there.

Many of the folks at the messe are in elaborate western costume I guess they have a romanticised image of country music. Before the wall came down the East had no country music, Rock n' Roll and pop came over the radio stations from the west. But the Country music stations were not so easy to hear. So when the wall came down in 1989 the East Berliners could finally put on their cowboy hats shout yahoo and start line dancing. The outlaw, free spirit of country music strikes a chord here and our Australian brand was extremely well received. The audience at our second showcase were so keen that there were cheers and rounds of applause as the sound engineer checked each instrument and got it running through the PA. The set and encore went down extremely well and I think we made some fans in Berlin.

Next we drove down south to Freiburg and then Langenau for our last gigs in Germany. Both gigs are really good. Freiburg is an ancient pub in the Munsterplatz facing Freiburg's gothic cathedral. And the Langenau gig is in the Pfleghofsaal which is a beautiful old building renovated into a small theatre and a great end to a great little tour.

So my questions were answered, people did come to our gigs in Europe and some of them had heard of the Beggars and everything did not go wrong, wow I wonder if we can do it again in 2009.

Cheers
Quinton Dunne
Beggars bass player and manager