Day 16 - Andernach

You know those days when nothing feels right and you're irritated about pretty much everything and everybody? Well, today was exactly like that. The day was off to a bad start anyway after a painful night in the van with very little sleep. Juffi and Ari were partying harder than usual, making A LOT of noise and being obnoxious in every possible way, while me and Valde were trying to sleep in the same small space. Those two fuckers have no idea how close they came to an ass whoopin'...

In the club, our way-too-tiny dressing room had been transformed into the official room for everyone to hang up their still wet laundry from yesterday, which a) made sitting down or leaning anywhere impossible b) made the room tropical and c) got the whole place stink so badly of washing powder it was impossible to breath. Nice! Just to maximize the misery, the stage was really damn small and we were left with about 2 minutes to do our soundcheck. Add to this the sore throats many of us have at the moment (hinting about the upcoming, inevitable flu), and the lack of an ever-crucial WLAN, the vibe backstage was anything but friday night, party night-ish.

I know all of the above is nothing but unnessessary bitching an whining about small stuff, but I think it's important to document also these kinda feelings and thoughts that EVERYONE on tour goes through every now and then, and not just the upsides. Especially since we try our hardest to not complain to each other, as it does no good whatsoever and only brings others down too. So we might as well get this shit off our chests on you, our beloved diary readers, haha...

But anyway, there were a couple of really cool things about today. The dinner was top notch, just delicious. We were spoiled with steaks, creamy potatoes and a quality salad. The cheese crust on the potatoes was fantastic. The orange juice was rich in pulp, just like we like it. The complexion of the dessert vanilla mousse was perfect. You get the point. A nice dinner all around!

But what really made this a killer day after all was the show itself. Friday night and a club packed with peeps ready to rock. Thats a recipe for a good fucking time, right there. We get up there at 8pm sharp, and start pounding into Gave Up Easy. The crowd is immediately with us, and only gets wilder as the show goes on. We try out Vivid again, which is fun to play. The stage is the hottest one on this tour so far, everyone's sweating their asses off. Good thing we have those fans blowing in our faces full blast! And to think some people actually claim we only have those for the looks... Definitely one of the best shows for us during these last couple of weeks. It was worth getting up today after all!

Sitting in the van now, on our way to the next town. Juffi, Pexi and JoJo went stright to sleep in the back, Valde and Ari watched Back to the Future for a while but are now passed out. I'm just about done too. Deep Insight's brilliant new CD is playing in my ears as I'm writing this, while the combination of the Sprinter's wheels and German highway provide the low end hum. Living the life baby!