Poland tour diary

The tour in Poland last week was a really incredible experience. Nick and I flew out last Monday to Gdansk. We were met at the airport by Tomek and Magda who looked after us so well during our stay there. Our first day was spent in Gdansk, in the old town, we walked around, looking at the place like tourists, except we were tourists who hadn’t slept for something like 30 hours, due to the time we had to leave Poole to drive to London etc…etc. So we ended up in a few bars, before returning to Tom and Magda’s apartment. They cooked for us, took us out into Gdansk, we had a great time.

Tuesday was our first gig, we spent the daytime in Gdansk again before getting the train the few stops to Café Delfin. This was to be the venue for the first ever 230 Divisadero concert. Everything was perfect, we played the whole set and a really long encore, too long possibly but this was our first gig and we were enjoying ourselves! The gig had a live video of us performing on a screen behind us, which was also filmed. After the gig we were talking to people and drinking, we met some amazing people, especially, Ania and Natalia who I spent most of the evening talking too, as well as Nick, Tom, Magda and Piotr.

The next gig was in Sopot, so after another afternoon in Gdansk we got the train to meet Tom on the station in Sopot. This gig was a tex la homa gig, I was also joined on four songs by Old Time Radio who did an amazing job with only the soundcheck to rehearse. I think this was one of the most enjoyable tex la homa gigs I’ve ever done, so thank you to everyone that made it so special. Special thanks to Natalia for helping us get on the right train, to Olga for the flower and the cd, and to Ania for just being Ania, and showing me the bars and beautiful beach in Sopot!

On Thursday we travelled to Warsaw, it was a lomg train journey, followed by a taxi driver that I swear was determined to kill us, while ripping us off at the same time! At the venue we waited around before sound checking, then we waited for even longer for the promoter to turn up. In the end I played a tex la homa set followed by us playing a 230 Divisadero set. Thank you to all those who came along to listen. We ended our night in Warsaw in a hostel once we had managed to find a taxi to take us, it was pouring with rain, so any kind of cover was welcome!

Our train journey to Cracow on Friday was much better. On getting there we were tired and in need of somewhere comfortable, so we checked in to a hotel near to the station. We were joined by Ania, Adam and Iwona. The gig in Cracow was really amazing, a great audience, great sound, and really nice people. We did a 230 Divisadero set followed by a tex la homa set. It was a perfect stonewalled candle lit venue. After the gig we had drinks, watched crazy movies on tv, ate strange food and really didn’t sleep much at all!

Saturday we spent with Adam and Iwona looking around Cracow, and then we drove to Auschwitz.

I will never forget this terrible place.

Adam and Iwona kindly drove us to the airport in Cracow, where we flew home from. Before I drove us back from London to Poole.

Other than this, I really should mention Nick buying a Spiderman cap meant for a child, the woman didn’t want to sell it but he wasn’t going to give up. It caused quite a stir everywhere we went!
The other noteworthy addition to this whole story is the Robot. Our third member in the 230 Divisadero live shows, The Robot got Nick stopped at each airport by security but did add a nice little something to the live shows. Look out for the Robot at future 230 Divisadero gigs!
Also, if you are very, very, very good you might get a special version of “How I keep myself energized” and a hug or maybe even a kiss from Nick……but you need to be very, very, very good!