Dalliance with the Danube

28 July 2007

Let me take you back to 22nd June – our second day in Vienna and the day of the concert. We took the underground to the Donauinsel, crossed the bridge over the river – hello Danube! So, you’re the one all the fuss is about? We looked at our map, looked at our instructions, spotted a few landmarks and set off to find Hubert’s ship. In the wrong direction. We were sure we’d gone the right way, but we’d been walking more than the 7 minutes I’d been told it would take … and there wasn’t a damn boat in sight, let alone a musician. Suzy asked a bloke in swimming trunks where in the name of all that was good and holy we were. Our map was brandished, bridges were pointed at and the general consensus was that we were not where we needed to be. No shit, Sherlock.

Back we went and found that, yes, had we turned the opposite direction when we came down from the bridge, we would have been in among the festival grounds in just a few metres. The ship was still a 7 minute walk away and I was getting antsy. Which does at least bring an advantage to others in that I walk faster. We came to the (big) ship and after a quick bit of phoning (seems a bit excessive to have used satellite technology to speak to someone I could see) Hubert’s manager, Hage, came across with the dinghy to fetch us.

Hubert’s convoy that’s taking him down the Danube consists of a barge that houses a large stage, a kitchen, sleeping quarters for guests and a communal area with a huge wooden table, the Dorfplatz and a barracks ship for the band is coupled to the side of this. The two vessels are pushed by a tugboat. A pretty big affair, but as it has to be home for 20+ people for 10 weeks, it’s not surprising. It’s a pretty cool place to be. Except at the moment, it’s a pretty damn hot place to be, thanks to the heatwave that has hit southeast Europe.

It was a sunny and warm day on the 22nd, a bit of cloud here and there and enough breeze to give us Boat Hair. We slapped on a bit of sun cream, but it wasn’t until we got under cover that we realised we were already burned to buggery. It was just that it was so bright outside we looked our normal pasty selves rather than the pink shiny things we had actually become.

A soundcheck took place and Suzy and I watched from the side of the stage, making sure not to take a wrong step and fall into the river. I photographed the proceedings, enjoying being unusually close the musicians as they worked and gradually plucked up the courage to venture further onto the stage out of the corner I’d tucked myself into. Some photos are in the Flickr set, the full soundcheck set can be found here.

That afternoon clouds that had been gathering in the distance made their way towards us. The awnings over the Dorfplatz were taken down and Jonas, the tour manager, told us to go to the mess if rain came – and that is indeed where we were when the storm hit. Rain was smacking against the little windows, but I really didn’t realise what was happening outside until David, the keyboardist, arrived in the mess carrying a keyboard in a soggy box, absolutely soaked to the skin. The rest of the guys began to appear, all drenched – Hage’s lederhosen shorts dripping brown onto the linoleum. Everything that had been set out on stage had been soaked by the rain/hail storm and the guys had been doing what they could to cover and rescue the equipment and instruments.

A while later Hubert appeared in the mess, dry as a bone. It was only later when I translated his logbook for the site that I discovered he’d been asleep in his cabin while the storm had been wreaking havoc. After some discussion with the various powers that be, the concert was postponed until the Sunday night – when Suzy and I would be back in the UK. Bugger.

We were not completely denied music that day though. Suzy and I headed back to ~~dry~~ slightly soggy land with Marlene and Maria from the band to watch Toni Porto’s gig. Toni’s a bass player from Brazil, who played in Hubert’s band for a few years and it was one fantastic coincidence that he was scheduled to play at the same festival on the same day as Hubert.

While we enjoyed Toni’s music and danced about and cheered him on various drunken delights swayed in front of the stage, or wherever their legs happened to stagger. Beer was sloshed, glassy-eyed attempts were made to focus and all the while I wondered how people could do this in public. Maybe I’m too prim and proper (ha!) but the certainty that these people weren’t going to be embarrassed by their behaviour the next day bothered me. The leaflet distributor who tried six different times to give us his advert also bothered me a little too. Toni, on the other hand, was great.

Suzy and I went back to the boat for a while before taking our very tired leave and heading home. We were utterly exhausted and desperately wanted a taxi to take us back to the hotel. It took a while to get out of the festival grounds and then we seemed faced with only a main road. We ended up at a club set up and away from the road where the staff ordered us a taxi. While we waited we (by which I mean Suzy) talked to the Bulgarian bouncer about languages. I was falling asleep on the concrete step until finally an invasion of ants the size of my head sent us packing. The taxi was evidently not going to arrive and Mr Bulgaria showed us how to get down to the main road.

Dragging ourselves along the road an empty taxi finally came along on the right side of the road for us to hail it. We were at last on our way back to the hotel and used the journey to practise our German with the chatty taxi driver. It turned out that taxi-driving was actually only the driver’s “hobby”. His main employment was as driver for the Israeli ambassador. Rather disappointingly though, he had no classified secrets to share with us.

Click for the set

Posted in: friends, photos, travels, work

Comments

3 Responses to “Dalliance with the Danube”

dreamdust » Bratislava
12th September 2007 @ 2:38 pm

[...] I went to Bratislava at the end of August, for more of the music man and his boat. An attempt to see whether I could get near the boat without bringing down a huge hailstorm upon it like last time. [...]
dreamdust » Considering myself tagged
10th February 2009 @ 12:09 pm

[...] He was tour manager for Hubert’s 2007 tour down to the Black Sea and back. I met him in Vienna and Bratislava. We’re friends on [...]
dreamdust » Linz Europe Harbour Festival, Day 3
4th August 2009 @ 6:54 pm

[...] of German words with someone, but didn’t get to see him perform as that was the time when a storm ripped through the stage, causing the concert to be postponed to the day after Suzy and I had returned [...]