The second day Suzy and I woke up late - how did it get to 11am? - but fortunately life on the boat is geared to musicians who come awake at night and get up late, so we hadn’t missed breakfast or anything dreadful like that. The boat was already on its way to the next stop and Suzy and I watched pretty terraced hillsides pass by as we got dressed.

This was my first journey on the ship and I enjoyed the gentle movement along the Neckar, never really knowing quite where I was any more precisely than “somewhere between Heilbronn and Hirschhorn”. There were locks to pass through, people in other boats to wave at, photographs to take.

We arrived in Hirschhorn at lunchtime and the crew set to work readying the stage for a soundcheck. Rows and rows of chairs were being set up on land for the audience. Compared to the day before the proximity to the stage was fantastic; the ship was right up against the shore. Well, almost. There was just enough of a gap to jump across to give you something to worry about. That something being: oh my God, what if I fall down between the big iron ship and the big concrete wall into the big deep river?

That evening the arena filled up suddenly without us realising - dinner on the boat is served roughly when the gates open, which is tricky if you’re on the boat, hungry, but also wanting a first row seat. However, with a fantastic bit of luck a couple of people I knew were in the front row. I went to say hello to them as we’d never met and it turned out that the single seats either side of them were empty, so they budged up a seat and - bam! - front row after all. Perfect.

The concert was absolutely brilliant and I had the time of my life. I was on such a high afterwards. Being so close to the stage meant I was able to take some great photos too, a real treat having been quite far from the stage the day before. The whole audience was taken with the show and swarmed forward to the barrier for the encore. Even after that song we didn’t want to let Hubert go and our applause brought him back on stage with just his guitar to sing a folk song with which he used to end his concerts a few years ago.

Getting back on board we hung out with the band on the deck for a while before eventually heading to our bunks. We said our goodbyes then too as we were planning to leave the ship in Heidelberg the next morning - probably before all the artists would be awake.

Click for the photo for the set