Awesome time in Tartu…and great crowd at Pühaste Brewery 😉
A GOOD night’s sleep in a comfy bed helps restore things…physically, anyway!
We need some milk so I take a walk to the supermarket and find some croissants, fruit and milk and get back to our funky old town apartment for breakfast.
Our pal Merli drops by to say hello as we pack our gear then Madis comes to pick us up and drive us too the bus station where we board the bus to Tallinn – a big coach with comfy sets, good wifi and personal entertainment screens on every seat back. Very swanky.
I deal with some online stuff and emails and sleep the rest of two-and-a-half hour bus ride to Tartu where Andres and Siim are waiting to meet us.
Siim drives us to the Hektor ‘hostel’ where we seem to have an entire suite booked for us by the good folks at Pühaste Brewery where I play tonight.
We have some grub in the cafe and rest up for a while before Andres and Raul collect us to go to the brewery which is right on the edge of town.
Ivo has a nie PA rig already set up in what is otherwise a huge, empty room…Jeez…hope we mange to get enough folks in here!
I just finish my soundcheck and the power goes down. Something’s tripped a fuse, but the folks here have no access to the part of the building where the main board is. A few phone calls, a little stress and an hour later, power’s back on…just in time for doors. Andres, Raul and the Sawmill Roots Orchestra manage a quick soundcheck then we’re all good to go.
The place fills up and by the time the Sawmill Roots Orchestra kicks off the place is pretty full 🙂 The band is great…Andres and Raul playing fantastic instrumentals supplemented with trumpet and clarinet to create a really unique, original and sophisticated sound.
There’s a break for changeover and I finish the evening with swell-received 80-minute set. Like last night, the crowd is great and there’s lots of photos and chat round the merch table after the show.
We load out and Siim drives us back to our place where we have a snack, beer and bed. Another brilliant night 🙂
Andres and his latest project – the Sawmill Roots Orchestra. Fantastic!
Great to get a wee tour of Tartu’s vinyl plant Keep on Spinning 🙂
THE alarm goes off at 6am…we need to be packed and ready to meet Martin outside the yacht club at 7am…he’s taking us to the dental place to have Margaret checked out.
We;re there by 7.30am, and first in the queue for when doors open at 8am. When we get in we get the grump receptionist…I’d go as far as to say she was a torn faced bitch who really didn’t want to help and couldn’t speak much English. Martin the interpreter to the rescue. Again 🙂
We don’t have too wait too long tho’, and the dentist Margaret sees is nice and speaks good English. All the smashed back teeth are given temporary fillings, the front checked out – I forgot to say in yesterday’s blog that Margaret had phoned her dentist pal Lorraine back home who suggested pushing the tooth with the root attached back into the hole in her gum, which she duly did while Martin and I squirmed.
Martin drives us to Tartu and drops us a the very nice hotel provided by the promoters of tonight’s show. We have a rest and I go to find some mouthwash and antiseptic cream for Margaret.
Andres arrives at 3.30pm to take me to the local vinyl pressing plant. Margaret’s resign up so we walk and chat, catching up on everything since we last saw each other then Erki gives us a tour of the Keep on Spinning facility. Andres has brought me a vinyl copy of his album – which features my vocals on a track – and is the first vinyl LP ever to be pressed in Estonia and was done here.
Back at the hotel Andres leaves me to look after Margaret for a while…I go and get some food that she’ll be able to ‘chew’ then we rest up until we need to leave for Edison for tonight’s show.
In between times, her top lip has swollen up, so she messaged Martin who, in turn, contacted the dentist in Parnu and managed to get a digital prescription for antibiotics. Ten minutes later he’s in the foyer with the medication Jeez, I dunno what we’d have done without pals like this.
Andres comes back to the hotel and helps us move all the gear and merch and when we get there booker Priit gives us a warm welcome. The PA is already set up in the back yard of the venue…a long narrow space surround by high walls.
After soundcheck we have a beer and people start arriving, including Martin and his wife Marilin, Andres wife Siret and their son Aleksander…and another hundred or so folks.
The place is rammed and the audience is fantastic…I have a blast and it seems this is the busiest live show they’ve ever had 🙂
Despite her discomfort, Margaret does her usual great job helping with sound and dealing with the merch.
There’s time for a few drinks, then we’re given a run back to the hotel where we have a snack, I pour a large dram…then collapse!
Margaret’s gonna be sore today 🙁
