From: Derek Timbrell, dmtimbrell@touchstone.freeserve.co.uk
Subject: Belgium 9 March / Holland 10 March (longish)
Date: 3/11/2002 1:29:54 PM
To: seance@lists.no-fi.com


A short tale entitled "Something In The Air...."   :-)

Or alternatively a quick rundown of the last three days, 750 miles, 1800
cigarettes, 2 ferry journeys and the same number of Church gigs (that's 2,
not 1800).

Saturday morning 8th March : Dover. The ferry leaves merrie olde England at
9.30am, 15 minutes late but who cares. The sun is shining, the sky is clear,
it's warm (for March in England!), the English Channel is as flat as you
could hope for if you're a poor sailor and all is well in the world. Ok, so
all isn't really well *everywhere* in the world, but this morning, in my
little corner of the world, it's a happy time. I'm heading off to mainland
Europe with a car full of supplies to re-stock the dwindling Church merch
empire. Europe's big, and Europe's been buying t-shirts. So more t-shirts
they shall get.

Never having driven in mainland Europe it's a relief to find that the
motorway starts at Calais, France and 200 miles later drops me off on the
outskirts of Liege in Belgium. Now Liege turns out to be a bigger place than
I expected, and I've no streetmap. But I strike lucky, and after driving
round for 10 minutes without once going the wrong way at a roundabout
(remember in the UK I'm used to driving on the left, unlike just about
everywhere else in the world where the right rules) I stumble across the
hotel. Pretty much the same thing happens tomorrow in Tilburg, Holland, but
that's a story for another day.

Two hours after hitting Liege and I'm at the venue setting up the merch. The
band are there and in good spirits, and Tranquility echoes out from the hall
upstairs as they start the soundcheck. So it's true - there *is* an extra
song in the set since London two weeks ago. :-)

Time passes and the doors open. People troop past and check out the CDs and
t-shirts on sale. A few stop and chat. (If you were one of them, then "Hello
again".)  A few even buy something. Some say they'll be back later - I've
heard that one before, sometimes it's true and sometimes it's not. Tonight
most of them do return after the gig.

Ah, the gig. You want to know about the gig, right ?

As the band's intro tape starts to play in the hall I grab the money and
head up the stairs. Opening the doors, the previously empty hall is now
comfortably full but not sold out - about 160 people. The walls are painted
black, the lights are low - it's dark. This place has atmosphere. And
something else. There is Something In The Air. Pot, to be precise. Lots of
pot. Lots and lots of pot. There's no need to buy your own - if you're that
way inclined just take a deep breath and inhale a bit of your next door
neighbours.

The only way to the stage is a set of steps from the floor of the hall, so
the band make their way through the crowd and up onto the stage. With the
addition of Tranquility the setlist is the one I saw at London two weeks
back, but here the opener Radiance is given extra weight by a lighting
engineer who obviously knows the song - subtle lighting and shadow turn it
into the beautiful highlight of the night for me. That's not to say the rest
of the set is lacking in any way - the performance is on a par with the
Saturday night at Camden, but the crowd are more receptive (well, they would
be, I guess) and the lighting gives the whole thing a kick to lift it past
the Camden Experience.

Now, a quick word on MWP's String, for the String Followers amongst us.
Remember - the string on his 12-string from one of his New York shows ?
The string that's really the shoulder strap ? Partway into Buffalo the
unthinkable happens. The string breaks. A quick bit of improvisational
playing-while-supporting-guitar-on-leg and a little help from the roadie,
and we have.... a new string-strap. And all carries on as before. Phew.

The encores aren't quite normal encores. There's no way off the stage -
except back through the crowd - so SK tells them they're getting "a cheap
encore - you didn't have to clap for it" as the band stay on stage and
Magician follows Metropolis without the usual break. After that MWP explains
that "this is the second encore", just so everyone knows where they are.
Hotel Womb and Constant In Opal - a longer version that at the UK gigs, I'm
pretty sure, as the five musicians get carried away at the end - close the
show.

And so to Sunday. 200 miles up the road and it's another country. And
another gig in a venue with walls painted black. Strange coincidence or
sinister European plot ? Who knows. The venue is small, but has a larger
hall adjacent and tonight they're having a Thrash Metal Festival. Or
something like that. Lots of people there, but only 120 to see The Church.
Overall the night doesn't have the same spark as the previous one, but these
are the best versions of Chromium and Night Friends of the gigs I've been
to. The audience seems a little subdued and they don't buy many CDs. :-(

And so to Monday morning - 800km to Denmark for The Church, 200 miles back
to Calais and another ferry for me, then back to work on Tuesday. Ah well,
it was a fun trip while it lasted....

Here's the b&w poster for the Holland gig:
http://www.touchstone.freeserve.co.uk/church/church_20020310.jpg

Derek

PS. those 1800 cigarettes I mentioned at the top - I bought them on the
ferry for some folks at work, they're nothing to do with the rest of the
story at all :-)