European/Korean Tour 2011
Batucada Sound Machine's second consecutive tour to Europe, the UK and Korea saw the band perform in eight countries, travel 46,225km (but who's counting), sample 64 beer brands, eat over 1200 filled rolls, play 27 shows and suffer 1 on-stage urination (name withheld).
It was a noticeable step up from the 2010 tour, both in quality of venue and general day-to-day organisation. The ultimate highlight was opening Friday's Pop/Rock Mainstage at Hungary's Zsiget Festival (Prince opened on Wednesday night after Amy Winehouse's unfortunate passing) and later on, in a cognac/wine-fuelled stupor, standing side-of-stage with Dizzee Rascall while watching the Prodigy perform - I'm pretty sure that happened.
Anyway, it was a 'let's abuse it while we're here boys cause it may never happen again' scenario. Blinder innit! Other favouites were sell-out shows in the German cities of Jena and Karlsruhe to crowds of 1000 and 700 respectively, plus a square full of people in Nuremberg, a castle in Singen and a fortress in Koblenz.
Of course it wasn't all a bath full of monkeys. There were the usual moans and groans, a post-show dust-up, some incomprehensible GPS decisions, a sprained wrist and a roaming flu germ, but when you come back to NZ and have time to reflect, these memories seem to fade the quickest and let's face it, travelling the world playing music is definitely all it's cracked up to be.
We'll see our European friends next year no doubt and please look out for the band in NZ over summer with new album Don't Keep Silent under our arms.
Here are a few snaps to wet your whistle. Choice.
