I had every intention of writing a lengthy piece about the European tour but I still don’t have the energy so this will have to do. First talked about in 2019 the European tour supporting Levellers finally came about this month, three years later. I won’t bother touching on the Brexit side of things because I find it so incredibly depressing to even think about. What I will say however, is that once we were on the mainland everything was as beautiful as it was in the beforetimes.
I won’t list all the good bits about each venue and city as it would take way too long and be way too boring to read. However I am incredibly grateful to all the promoters and the staff at Paradiso, Vera, Effenaar, Gloria, De Roma, Depot, Casino, Fabrik, Lucerna Music Bar, Columbia Theatre and CC Zwanberg for being so friendly and welcoming and making the long tour so pleasant for us all.
I want to thank Levellers’ crew (present and absent), Mark, Matt, Jez, Dan, Jon, Charlie, Simon, Pabs, Helena, Rob, Rich, Alex, Gaz, Kaleb, Bri, Steve, Phil, Libby, Fi, Dave and Laura for again being so welcoming and not once making us feel like we shouldn’t be there.
Thank you also to Anita van Lieshout and Bernard van der Berg for putting us up, and feeding us, for the first half of the tour, saving us a fortune on hotels!
Massive thank to Darren, who started out as ‘drive’ but within a couple of hours became the perfect roadie, always ready with the open duds to receive our instruments after the show.
Thanks also to Jo who joined us for a few of the gigs in the middle, helping out on the merch stand and sucking wax out of everyone’s ears (honest).
Penultimate thanks goes to my band mates Brad, John, Tom, Ben and Shane. Consummate professionals from start to finish and a joy to be on the road with for two weeks.
Lastly, thank you so much to those who came to the gigs, bought merch and generally made this all worthwhile. It really means a lot that after a few difficult years, you are still all going out to support live music. Hopefully see you again soon!
Cheers Nick