Part 2: The German Bit Donner und blitzen! That’s German for kebab and mushrooms I think. Joke: (ish) Saddam Hussein has been given the death penalty. Only trouble is, Beckam’s taking it... What a twat, why didn’t he admit he’d had a bad Euro 2004, never mind, come on you Czechs! They’re playing the mighty Greeks, who have been fabulous, but I have a twenty quid bet with Toot on the Czechs, they have been yours truly’s tip since before the tournament, of course I’m patriotic, as are you Germans and French, but the English to seem to be the proverbial quarterfinalists, and if we’re out, at least you are! Now I can sit back and enjoy. It’s also so cool there was no English mong tossers creating trouble, we are nice people, really. Right, the German bit. Bielstein. What a drag, playing a brewery. However, cloud is back after self imposed exile, with a mighty vengeance, lots of rain, didn’t stop until we went on, must have had an off day, plentiful willhelm, and some of the best beer I have EVER tasted, a local brew, 3unft, at least that what it says on the shirt, I mean AWESOME! There was a tap (not Spinal) backstage, and we had a few freshly pulled pints after what was a storming (no pun intended due to the cloud ) show, don’t know why it is, we’ve been recording, which was not an easy time, a tad on the fraught side, come out on the road and played like martherfarkaers, another dartboard tour, as in throw a dart at the board, where it lands is where we go, still, chosen profession and all that... On to Teisnach, a sawmill and a tent, I tell you, Germans keep the neatest sawmills and timber yards ever, and I’ve been to a few in my time, having owned many and various money pits. I also got to tell you good folks, if you were there, you know it was one of the best Quo shows in living memory, why, it might even have been 50 per cent as good as a 1974 show, I’m joking of course. Fanf******tastic billy, we just were amazing, you can’t put your finger on it as to why it was so good, but it really really was. So off we went to Holland, we played a party for Richard Molinar, Dutch bloke of means, by the way, if you want us for a private party/wedding/bar mitzvah, we’re available for the princely sum of 75000000000000000000000000000000000 Turkish lire or 200 quid, which ever is the greater. Really enjoyable, he’s a top bloke. I stayed behind for a couple of hours, and travelled with the crew (see previous log for details). Day off, as reported, then Flensburg. Not that many billy, it was near Kiel, where we’d cancelled at very short notice on the last tour, hey, Francis was really shite. Apparently one of the local papers had run a piece saying we’d gone back to the hotel and got pissed after we’d blown it out, which was a bit surprising as we on the bus to the next gig. Nice of them that.. Wonder why there weren’t that many billy, however we were still the John Lewis. Hamburg. The cloud really vented its’ spleen on us during the day, I mean cloudbursts, thunder, sporadic showers, the full Monty. Won’t talk about the footy, even though England beat the hapless Swiss 3-0 Sssh, I’m in Switzerland as we speak, waiting to start the next leg of the tour. Sat behind Ian Paice’s (Deep Purple’s drummer) kit at sound check tonight, I am indeed a rock god... Yet again a brilliant gig, to 4000 brilliant billy, umbrellas (a Chinese invention ladiesandgentlemenboysandgirls) and all that, of course the rain stopped and then started during Rain, well it would, wouldn’t it? There was a great moment during this gig. I regularly point at someone during the medley before Rick starts Again and Again to get them to clap. I pointed at this kid, and he just got up and walked up onto the stage! What could I do? I just put my bass on him and let him throw a few shapes, hope someone has a photo of it, (they have, thanks Arne!) a magic moment, really. On to Lingen, an inferno, lots of Dutch, headbang animals etc, top totty, especially on my side, you make an old (ish I like to think) man very happy, I have a new stage top, environmentally kind of course, 93 per cent polyurethane and 7 per cent titanium, it just doesn’t let anything in or out, looks good though, IMHO of course. Not... Day off in Munich, the 856th anniversary of the city, never seen so much lederhosen and dead animals in one place, but it was brill. I love the respect that Germans, in fact anyone has for folk tradition, really. In England, we all take the piss, but I think we’re wrong. Gig in a tent, lots of loud billy and English there, shite sound, first one we haven’t really enjoyed, but my take on it is that is if y’all go home satisfied then that’s good enough for me. You’re bound to get some you don’t enjoy. Oh yeah, The Oriental at Teisnach was amazing, as in a rock classic, except in 1974 of course. ON to Heppenheim, where I availed myself of the wholesome savings available at Eduscho coffee shops (not that kind) and played a kind of State fair, there were so many dressing rooms backstage we each had our own, so you are all now mere mortals, a tent with a beer hall at the back, not backstage sadly... OK gig, 'Who’s That Girl' opening for us, we sadly had to say goodbye to Gary Hargreaves. He was good, but as the Reverend Rock Parfait pointed out, the promoter must have hit wrongsupport.com to book him. Shit! Greece have just knocked out the Czech Republic. What a travesty! What a turn up! What a carve up! What about my 20 quid! That’s it, I’ve copped, go home, The man in mourning (for his dough) Serious, Sunday, best team win and all that... OK Tassos, I’ll be a Greek fan, OK? Part 1  |   Part 3  |   Part 4  |   Part 5   |   Part 6 To Rhino's Tourlog Index Photos by Dave Salt, except 8 year old Marcel with Rhino's bass by Arne from Railroad.