Text by Andrew Jezek
Fotos by Matthias Kronsteiner
4.7. Paris Jazz Festival - Parc Floral
The refresher rehearsal the day before our flight to Paris went faster and better than anyone had
expected. Our open end rehearsal flew by, despite Jurai’s music missing from the touring box, and
Mathias had to dash home before the run through. The Vienna taxi service is undoubtably grateful
for his patronage.
luggage in at Vienna International Airport for our 0710 flight to Paris. As it was impossible for
Michael to get a seat for his cello on the flights this tour, he had wisely decided to take his
second instrument to be checked into the hold. Upon inspection on arrival in Paris, he opened
the case to find his fingerboard had detached itself from the instrument. We left him to fight it
out with the friendly Air France staff and travelled straight to the beautiful venue at Parc Floral
inside the gardens of “Les bois du Vincennes”. The open air stage looks out beyond the seating
over a charming lake and endless trees. Michael arrived panting, and a €60 taxi trip later, just
in time for the soundcheck and to find Mathias had managed to organise a replacement cello
for the gig and the remainder of the tour. As reliable as a swiss watch.
The lonely & broken cello
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Lunch was provided by the promoter and we sat in a bamboo grove, huddled under an umbrella to escape the burning rays of the Parisian midday sun, and were served a simple but satisfying meal. The turn around at the hotel was only around an hour and before we knew it, we were travelling back to the venue for the gig. We arrived in time to listen to the last 15 minutes or so of Mederic Collignon who was playing before us. Quite a performer on the trumpet, he had the audience swaying to his antics while his rhythm section pumped out a funk groove.
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A nice drawing
Our 1630 gig was over before we knew it and although still suffering from the early morning start we were looking forward to a free evening in the city of love. Britney Spears was performing at the hall directly next to our hotel and a number of the band were seen settling down in an outdoor cafe with a good view of the teenies who where flocking to see her. Paris is known for it’s outragous prices, €9 for a coke at Le Dome in Montparnasse for example, but the area around our hotel seemed almost reasonable and after gorging on massive hamburgers, a night of red wine was the only possiblity left.
4.7. Vigo, Imaxina Sons - Teatro
Grateful for a free morning and a much more civilised early afternoon departure, most of the band were not seem until hunger drove them from their rooms in search of croissant, baguette and cafe au lait. Mathias was spotted with his obligatory Flan and Ingrid barely escaped a weird concoction creatively thought up by the waitress who misunderstood her order of a diet coke for syrup and an unknown alcoholic beverage ....... boozing already at lunchtime tsk, tsk, tsk!
The worlds smallest plane awaited us at the airport and much bargaining with the air hostess and pilot to be allowed to take our valuable instruments on board. The suit storage space at the front of the plane was stacked with the strings cases and Dominic suffered the flight with his trombone under his feet and his knees somewhere around his ears. The bus trip into the center of Vigo allowed us glimpse of the majestic harbour, the neighboring islands and a rather large cruise ship docked at the port. Of course the impending soundcheck allowed us only time for a shower in the hotel, the lack of water pressure due to everyone scrambling for the bathroom at the same time, followed by possibly the shortest bus trip to the venue. Two hundred meters from the hotel we disembarked into the very pretty and ornate Teatro/Sala de Conciertos. Martin was raving about the great sound system while we attacked the backstage catering with verve.
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Some kind of late night session
Mario, who had agreed to substitute for Ivana on this tour, played a fantastic cadenza and improvised solos in the second number. Much applause from the band and audience alike. The atmosphere in the hall was electric and due to the 2200 late start of the concert, typical for Spain and a jazz festival, it was around midnight before we left the venue looking for somewhere to still our hunger and thirst. The restaurant next to the hotel agreed to stay open a little longer when we told them of twenty plus hungry musicians. Little did they, or we for that matter, know that the knowledge of day off in Vigo was going to lead to utter debauchery. Wine led to spanish brandy which led to horrible cream liqueurs which led to many affirmations of love amongst same sex members of the band. The owner of the bar joined the fray and glasses were refilled without the knowledge of their owners and the waitresses fled for the safety of the upstairs area. This continued until the early hours of the morning...............
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Although we had been told of the wonderful beaches that Vigo has to offer, only a staunch few braved the morning air and extremely bright sun to attempt the ferry crossing. Most of the bands stomachs would not have survived the trip and so while a group set out despite the strong winds and undoubtably choppy waters, a smaller, headache suffering group of survivors of the previous nights adventures stumbled into the nearest cafe at around 1300. Conversing in monosyllabic sentences over countless cups of strong coffee and fresh orange juice it was decided to walk into the old part of the city. Each step a reminder of cheap brandy and exhausted by 1500, a pit stop at a tapas bar was ordered. At only €4 for a “burger with the lot” and with hair of the dog in mind, many missing carbohydrates and mineral salts were eagerly replenished. While some found the energy to shop at the sales others decided to recuperate for at least a couple of hours.
The evening activities were limited to more food and yet another assault on some livers. A local speciality know as “daggers”, a scallop like shellfish tubular in shape, turned out to be a real treat. The fried sardines and green mini peppers (only available this time of year) at the homely restaurant completed the meal. With a 0515 departure planned for the next morning many sought the sanctuary of their rooms around midnight.
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Vigo’s lovely beach, discovered by our woodwind trio
and the Boss seems to be happy
5.7. Melk - Donaurena
We all knew the transfer in Paris on our trip back to Vienna from Vigo would be tight. That was clear from the rider - arrive Charles de Gaulle at 0850, depart 0935 - but we hadn’t counted on needing to change terminals as well. The shuttle bus trip was intolerably long and we slowly drove past countless buildings before reaching our departure terminal. The security line from hell awaited us, and while some members sweet talked an employee of Air France to allow us to use the “crew only” line to jump the queue, Mathias had decided that a slow approach would actually give us a greater chance of our bags also making the flight. After negotiating turtle speed moving passengers in what must surely be the most badly designed gate area of any airport, beware American tourists laden with Parisian shopping bags, and with more than just a sweaty brow we were allowed onto the already 20 minute delayed flight to Vienna. This was just the beginning of a day to remember that had begun with a 0515 bus departure in Vigo.
Arriving in Vienna we were relieved to see the percussion boxes appear on the baggage belt, after a short wait however it became apparent that some bags had not made the connection in Paris. At least we had our instruments and music. White sports shoes would just have to do for some players instead of the regulatory leather shoes. We arrived in dribs and drabs in Melk for the soundcheck, some by car, others by local train, but the clouds had already taken on an ominous and threatening colour and humidity was high. The partially open air tent had a reminder of the flooding that had ravaged this part of Austria in the last weeks in the form of a brown blurred line on the tent wall at around 2.5 meters above the floor. With the temperature dropping and the soundcheck for the first set over, the rest of the band organised themselves, music and instruments for the final rehearsal.
It came unexpectedly. A sudden gust of wind that had the music flying off the stands, followed by a downpour of biblical proportions. Forced in by the gale force winds through the back of the open stage, the rain onslaught drenched the back-line, percussion and musicians alike. We dragged the instruments into relative safety and covered as best we could anything left in the open with plastic sheets. Wet and freezing, a discussion was held as how to rescue the evenings performance. More rain and gales were forecast and in the end it was decided to only play the second big band set and hope that the weather gods would allow a sufficiently long window of calm for us to play.
A "little" storm tried to cancel the show
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Our spirits were heightened by Flip’s rap devise shortly before the performance that incorporated a groove by Ingrid, improvised solos by Mario and a Village People “YMCA” reminiscent dance routine by Johanna, Joanna and Aneel. Brilliant!!
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Although it did rain through most of the performance, the wind had eased, and despite the near zero temperature (well at least it felt as though it was that cold), the band courageously battled through the numbers. The audience was well wrapped up in large blankets to avoid the cold breeze that blew under the tiered seating, unfortunately we had none of that comfort. When the last notes of the encore faded into the swell of the applause, it must have been a first for the Vienna Art Orchestra that most musicians were thinking of a hot cup of tea rather than a cold beer to conclude the day.
even the audience
