What better place to play for us in Middleburg, Zeeland than Bar American? Ha ha.

Middleburg is on the southern coast of the Netherlands on a peninsula that sticks out into the Atlantic. It's not far from Oostburg, a town we have played a couple times before. It is nice to be close to the sea and cross the scenic bridges, dams and dykes. It was a windy day, but the sun was out and we walked around the square after we set up our gear.

It seems everywhere we go there is stunning architecture. "Another old building- better take a picture" we would joke to ourselves. 
 This night's gig was arranged by Kaas ("Case"), the guy that hosted us at his bar, Penny Lane in Oostburg. He runs a blues society, and offered us a spot at his festival but we couldn't make that date. Bar American is a small grungy club with a portable stage that sets up on top of a pool table. Somehow it works... 
 We had an enthusiastic crowd that night, and one crazy fella made his way backstage with a peculiar way of showing his affection:
 Uhhh, I think he liked the show.

We stayed that night in a Hotel back across the water in Oostburg. Even though it was only 5 miles away, we had to backtrack to get there, so it was a 45 minute drive. Thank you Eric for driving- the rest of us were not legal behind the wheel at that point! Our innkeeper remembered us from last year (when we played Penny Lane), and gave us a fresh beer when we arrived.

After another breakfast of cold cuts and cheese, we drove east into Germany to a little town called Recklinghausen. We stayed in a teeny tiny hotel in a suite with a nice "shath" - a shower/bath. Ugh.
 The gig that night was in a small bar by the bus station called Rauber & Rebellen - "Robbers and Rebels." It was like any other club gig except they had huge black leather couches on the floor, so everyone was practically horizontal during the show. We were right next to the city center, and had a good time drinking coffee in cafés and walking around checking out the shops. One thing that is big there: kababs! You can find them all over the place- and they make a great late night snack...

After Recklinghausen we had three gigs scheduled with Stony Roses, a band from Germany lead by guitarist Udo Löw. Udo found out about our band from the Tonehunter website (thanks Ralf!), and asked us to headline the shows for them. I was curious to meet Udo- he looks like he might just kick everyone's ass! Haha, and his English was about as good as my German, so it made our Facebook messaging challenging. 
 
We rolled into Zweibrüken to a club called the Hobbit, so named because it looks like Bilbo Baggins' basement. I have to say, the stench when we walked in there was incredible! It was hard to breathe. I thought to myself this might be the first gig we cancel on account of stale air. 

Fortunately, they open the back door and turned on a huge exhaust fan. Whew. It was fun to have a band open for us- we would play only one long set and get to watch them play. They do a funky rock thing with an operatic female lead singer Daniela"The Voice" Rössler. Udo turned out to be a real sweetheart of a guy, and we all got along well. The place was small, so it looked really crowded when people showed up.
 
The next gig was in the neighboring town of Saarbrüken on the French boarder. This gig was one of the more memorable ones on the tour. We played a club called the Garage, and they had a nice big stage and pro sound system. The crowd was fantastic, and loved the show. In attendance that night was a guy named Dragan Nikitovik, a concert promoter who does HUGE shows like AC/DC in Moscow, Justin Bieber shows, Celine Dion, etc... But Dragan likes blues rock guitar, and he knew of me through a mutual friend at M.i.G. records (thanks Bernd Ramien!). He lives in Saarbrüken so it was easy for him to get to the show.

Afterwards we all hung out and had some food and beer at a place right down the street. Dragan vented to me a bit about working with another Blues Rock artist with whom he had great difficulty. He seemed to like what we were doing, and offered to help us find some bigger festivals for the summer of 2016. I am looking forward to working with him, so stay tuned!

The next morning we got a tour of historic Saarbrüken from one of the Thorny Roses entourage. More old buildings! So we took some pictures.
 
Our last show with Thorny Roses turned out to be uh, memorable as well. We played a tennis club in Dillengen, not too far away. I've never gigged at a tennis club before, so that was interesting. The staff there treated us well and the food was great. The turnout was just ok, but we all had fun. That night, however, was one for the history books. I'll let Eric Robert explain: