As this is all new to me this blogging, I will take it slowly.
I am a session drummer who is currently on tour with a singer/songwriter known as Jim Kroft (www.jimkroft.com). We are performing around Europe as a support band for Finnish act, Sunrise Avenue. I’ve been on the road for almost 2 weeks now and as I always treat whatever gigs I do like my diary and write about them afterwards plus upload photos from them via facebook, I got told and recommended that Tumblr would also work great for that and so, here I am!
I’ve been a drummer for 16 years now and I have experienced some unforgettable times however since the start of this tour, I believe that feeling has reached a new concept! I have had the priveladge of walking around a 7,000 capacity venue knowing it will be full and then seeing that sold out crowd clap to my beating bass drum…
I’ve seen some wonderful sights in such places as Leipzig, Hamburg, Utrecht…
and Luxembourg…
I’ve had the thrill of doing my first gig in Paris followed by performing on my cajon in front of the Eiffel Tower…
I have had the pleasure in meeting wonderful people at the gigs, posing with them for pictures and sigining autographs for them.
We had a beautiful time in Switzerland with our first stop being Bern. There we walked around a stunning town with amazing weather, had views of the Alps and some beers in the Altstadt (old town). After performing at the 970 capacity Bierhübeli venue, we moved onto Pratteln. Here we performed what felt like a phenominal gig with an amazing atmosphere all on the eve of my 31st Birthday! We finished off the evening with a spontaneous aftershow party with Sunrise Avenue on our tour bus! After calling it a night around 5.30 am, I was awoken around 3 hours later by my Wife who had travelled all the way from Berlin to surprise me on my big day! Thankfully she was able to join us for the remainder of the tour!
So we left Switzerland, stopped and conquered Austria for one evening, then headed towards Eastern Europe where I payed my first visits (and gigs!) to Hungary, Slovakia and Czech Republic in the cultural cities of Hungary, Bratislava and Prague!
(Budapest)
(Prague)
Afterwards, it was back to Germany and the huge arenas. I walked into our penultimate venue of the tour and gasped as it’s size!
Frankfurt Jahrhunderthalle
Seeing this size of a capacity (around 5,000 - sold out! Woohoo!) and then discovering a plaque at the entrance of the venue that displays sold out shows the venue has held over the past 40 years (The Beach Boys, Tina Turner, Genesis, Dave Matthews Band, Phil Collins, The Doors) made my heart stop. What a thrill, a joy and an honour to be sharing this same stage with all these legendary names!
After a thrilling gig, the tour came to a stomping conclusion in Münster.
Sunrise Avenue thanked Jim Kroft and his band during their set and suddenly got us to join them on stage for their final bow to the crowd! Wow!
An unforgettable experience and an unforgettable band to support. Thanks to Jim Kroft and Sunrise Avenue for those amazing two weeks!
