Exquisite in Bremen

We arrived here...

... at half past twelve to a blue sky and perfect spring weather.

Vegesack is a district of Bremen, located 20 km (12 miles) north of the centre of the city at the mouth of the river Lesum, beside the river Weser.

It was established long before the 14th century, the name "Vegesack" was first used in 1453. The source and the meaning of the name is unknown but might be derived from the pub "Thom Fegesacke". In its long history Vegesack often changed hands. In 1648 it became Swedish, 1712 Danish, 1802 Bremish and 1810 French. In 1850 Vegesack received town privileges and in 1939 it became again part of the city of Bremen.
(source Wikipedia )

It's one of these typical small, picturesque places with darling old houses, small alleys and cobblestone pavement. For the first time on this tour we actually felt like being on a holiday.

Our stay for the night was Pension Weserblick, a cute little hotel located directly at the waterfront. Attached to it is the restaurant Goden Wind with a maritime feel and menu (that will not only make fish lovers happy though [note from Stefie: and fish haters...ahem...]).

The only slight little problem with that place is: they don't have an elevator. We had to haul up our bags to the 2nd (3rd, for all you American readers LOL) floor, using a narrow wooden stairwell .

Not sure if we had made it, if the super friendly hotel guy hadn't helped us with the heavy stuff. A huge thanks to him!!

Before exploring the sights of Vegesack, we checked out the venue for tonight, Cafè Erlesenes ("erlesen" = exquisite) and it tuned out to be a Cafè Exqusit later on indeed. This is what it looked like before the stage was set up:

A bit like Granny's living room, right? In the most positive meaning of the word. Sarah from PA later mentioned their delicious Frankfurter Kranz cake and we made a mental note to come back tomorrow and check it out.

Typical sight in Vegesack: little cute individual shops like this one, that carried antiques.

Taking a relaxing stroll along the river Weser

But they also have a full blown shopping mile. Totally unexpected for us. When we saw the sign "shopping mile" for the first time, we both thought it would consist of 5 shops at the most. Yeah. It did not. With the result that Stefie spent some serious bucks (and me a few) in a clothes shop ;-) (Note from Stefie: thanks to Mr. N. Othold, for being an excellent advisor.)

Doors of the café opened at 6:45pm and we found a good spot close to the tiny stage, right next to Jennifer, whom we've met through one of Lee's shows last year, and her hubby. If you're reading this: it was nice to see you there! ;-)

It was a sold out show and many people were obviously not only first time visitors of the cafè but also first-timers when it comes to Lee and Paper Aeroplane shows. And surely left as new fans ;-)

The owner of the café welcomed us all and introduced PA and Lee before they came out to play which added a very personal touch to the whole event. Before the show and during the breaks there was table service, even little snacks could be ordered. (Their warm prezels are wonderful!!)

Lee came out 2nd again that evening... and I'm sure no one realized that he had a serious cold (just like Rich from PA). There was no way to tell from his performance, which was - with the help of two big cups of hot tea with lots of honey, provided by the friendly café people - as flawless and entertaining as ever.

Set opener was Hindsight for a change, followed by

Joanna
London In The Summer
All The Wrong Places
This Is My Story
Star Hotel
You're Not Her
Clint Eastwood/Prince of Bel Air/Rock me Amadeus/MfG/Billie Jean mashup
Stay
Falling In Love For The Last Time
Smile

The usual question, if there are any Muttis in the house, was anwered by Jen who said she had two kids, Lee said "three?!", Jen corrected "TWO!" and Lee apologized, saying "her husband just wondered how that happened".

For the following unplugged session he was weaving carefully along the tables in the café, walking to every back corner of the room.

There was the usual big applause for him after the last song. Hasn't been any different anywhere.

When PA came out for the last two songs, it got a wee bit crowded on the tiny stage with the three of them, but somehow it all worked out. But due to limited space they didn't come down to perform Newport Beach unplugged.

This was surely a very unique concert location but a one of a kind experience at the same time. Can't get any more up close & personal than that. We loved it!

Brunswick (German: Braunschweig, pronunciation: [ˈbʁaʊ̯nʃvaɪ̯k])

After a short drive to Braunschweig we checked into Hotel Lessinghof and we felt like the only guests in the house. No problem with that. Means: no fighting couples in the next room or late drunk and loud homecomers (except ourselves). (Kidding.)

Our friend Uta had tickets to the show too and we met up in the afternoon. We hadn't seen each other for a good while and we were all looking forward to a nice long chat. And no good chat that a pizza and some wine can't even make better. 

Recommendation goes out to Guido's Pizzeria. Very cozy little restaurant, friendly service, great food.

Time flew by and before we knew it, we were in front of the stage at Hansa Kultur Club. 

Lee opened up the evening and continued to be his awesome and funny self. 

Stay (one of my personal faves) was added to the setlist, and he kept This Is My Story as his unplugged choice (YAY!)

After Lee had finished his set, a guy behind us said that "... this was the best live act I've seen in a long time..." Dude! Tell us something we don't know ;-)

Nothing new to report about the rest of the evening. Set of PA after Lee's, followed by the two songs of the trio. Newport Beach was again performed unplugged in the middle of the room, people forming a circle around them. Very special, very beautiful!

Photos:

Thanks guys for another wonderful evening!!! Looking forward to Bremen!

The Late Magdeburg Update

Wednesday, March 26, 2014

Aaaand another day off. On one hand, these off days are nice to adjust the logistics, sleep in, do some sightseeing... on the other hand, an off day means: no show. And do we like days without a show? No.

Didn't help. At least we were convinced that Lee would use his off day wisely: practising an encore song or two, and producing some new, desperately needed DNA guitar string bracelets. (Those who don't get the joke weren't at one of the shows. What's your excuse??? It's about time to get your ticket!)

So on Wednesday we didn't do much more than driving from Mannheim to Magdeburg (a good 5 hrs incl. a coffee break and speeding up on the Autobahn with 212 km/h - that's 130 mph - for the first time with the new car. (only for a minute or two or five, but it was fun :-D) (Note from Stefie: I hate cars in front of me or those who change to the left side and drive in low motion!) then checking in into our hotel in Magdeburg, checking out the show venue (with the help of a staff member who was a tad bit more friendly than that guy in Munich a week ago). (A week ago. One week over already? God... time flies!) ... searching for a mailbox (Welcome Packages for new Street Team members need to be sent out, as well as postcards and birthday cards (Note from Stefie: Happy Birthday Mom!) ... and looking for a bite to eat. We ended up at Flinke Pfanne (translates to Speedy Pan), a typical 'cheap Chinese'. We both ordered crispy duck with veggies and curry sauce. It did the job of stopping the hunger, but thats it. No reason to brag about it otherwise.


Back at the hotel we did the usual: working ;-)


Speaking of hotels: there was no reason to bitch this time. We stayied at the Plaza Hotel Magdeburg which has decently sized (bath-)rooms, their own (free of charge!) parking lot, friendly staff and a really great breakfast buffet.

I ended the day sometime past midnight with the upload of the blog.

The next day, Thursday 27th, it was time to explore Magdeburg. While we have been to a whole lot of places in this country before, this city was still unknown territory. We took the streetcar that takes around 15 minutes to get downtown.

Magdeburg is the capitol city of the state of Saxony-Anhalt and has a population of ca. 230,000 citizens. It's located at the river Elbe. Here are some impressions.

Cheese stand on the market. Picture was added for no certain reason, really...

Cathedral

Info courtesy of Wikipedia:

The Protestant Cathedral of Magdeburg (German: Magdeburger Dom), officially called the Cathedral of Saints Catherine and Maurice (German: Dom zu Magdeburg St. Mauritius und Katharina), is, along with the Liebfrauenkirche of Trier, the oldest Gothic cathedral in Germany. One of its steeples is 99.25 m (325 ft 7 in) tall, and the other is 100.98 m (331 ft 4 in), making it one of the tallest cathedrals in eastern Germany.

From there we went over to the The Green Citadel of Magdeburg (Die grüne Zitadelle), a large, pink building of a modern architectural style designed by Friedensreich Hundertwasser (1928-2000) and completed in 2005. At one of the worldwide latest and greatest masterpieces of architecture by the Austrian artist, golden globes shine atop its towers, "tree tenants" look out of "dancing windows", scents waft from the wildflower meadows on the roofs, and "feet’s melodies" carry people through the courtyards. It's Hundertwasser’s "…greatest and most beautiful building…"
(source: http://www.gruene-zitadelle.de/)

I personally love Hundertwasser's art anyway, and I love the style of the buildings he has created. Wish we've had more time. Among shops and restaurants, it's also home of the Art Hotel. We made a plan to come back and stay here one fine day. (Note from Stefie: and take more pics)

The Artist

There are a lot more beautiful sights in Magdeburg, but you only have so much time on a show day, so after some quick Indian food (Lemon Chicken... sooooooo good!!!) ...

... it was time to go back to the hotel and get ready for the evening.

Random sight at the train stop: It's Jon Snow, you guys!! (Anyone else here obsessed with Game Of Thrones??)

The venue, Feuerwache, was located only a cat's leap from the hotel. Inside there are three different event rooms. The show would take place in the largest one, which was filled pretty good at showstart.

It was Paper Aeroplane's turn tonight to begin which was of course good news for us (PA and their fans may forgive us LOL).

As for Lee's set... what can I say that hasn't been said already. He's just amazing and it's obvious at every show that we've been to, that also the PA fans who weren't familiar with him before, totally love his performance.

Somehow multitasking (taking photos, recording videos, punching the setlist into the iPhone and actually catching the show) failed me that evening. But fear not, I could get hold of the original setlist after the show ;-)

For those paying attention to the setlists, you'll notice that All The Right Places was back on, which is always a good thing! #6 says both She and Story. Guess he was still undecided when writing the list. I'm very happy to report though, that it was This Is My Story that was chosen for the unplugged song this evening.

Don't get me wrong. I LOVE She. Very much so. But - if I'm allowed to point that out - I personally think that Story is the better song for that purpose. If I had a wish, it was that he stayed with that song when "going for his little walk". Also... "any Mutti's in the house?"... is just too cute to miss ;-) (Note from Stefie: I totally agree!)

I love She, but for getting 'gemütlich', the other one is better suited. I've heard people in the crowd whisper things like "oh he's comming down!" and "oh wow that's cool" and they loved the song.

As usual, the show ended with Smile. But it's always good to know that the last song of his set doesn't mean it is the last time we saw him on stage. Thank God we never have to wait long until he's back together with Sarah & Rich for the final two songs.

But just like at the past couple shows, the audience couldn't get enough and they all came out for an encore again. Looked like they had all indeed used the day wisely to practise another song together. It was Tales From Britain, one of the new songs on Lee's EP that is available at the shows. What a treat to hear it played live!! (Note from Stefie: YEAH) It was followed by another PA song which name escapes me though, sorry.

What more can you ask for:
- Lee came outafter PA
- You're Not Her was on the setlist
- This Is My Story made a well received comeback as unplugged song
- They all had indeed practised another encore song together... and
- ... it was one from the new EP.

HAPPY!!!

(Note from Stefie, who didn't get her DNA: Happy but a little bit sad, because I'm still waiting for the bracelets ;-)

So as we walked back to the hotel after the show, we're sure, "the band" was already "on their way to the next tour stop in their 'Nightliner' " (source: the friendly Feuerwache staff member, who obviously had all the insider details LOL)

Time to share some photos:

5 o'clock tea on stage at 9 o'clock. Or... what the Germans call tea...
(Note from Stefie: Lee to a staff guy: "Do you have milk?" Staff guy brings two small packs of coffee cream. Very clever. No tea culture in Germany.)

Mesmerized in Mannheim

So it was back to show-day business on Tuesday. A day off is nice, but not what we're here for, right?

But before I continue, there's something I would like to talk about, and it's going to be a shameless act of self-promotion. As you all know, we're members of Lee's Street Team. Shortly before we went on tour, the founder of Lee's German Street Team page on Facebook, handed over the site to us (thanks, you know who you are :-)). It had been inactive for a while for different reasons. We're now doing our best with bringing it back to life and and after 5 days on tour we're proud to say that we have signed four new members already. If you're all reading - Nicole, Thomas, Rabea and Laura - welcome again! Looking forward to seeing you all soon at upcoming shows. Great to have you on board! Your Welcome Package is on the way ;-)

If anyone else feels like buying a CD or a concert ticket isn't enough and wants to get involved with promoting Lee, drop us a line at streetteam@leemacdougallmusic.com (headquarter in the USA) or streetteamleemacdougallgermany@web.de and get more information. Thanks.

And now back to the report of the day.

It was already 11am when we had packed up our stuff and realized, it was now too late to have breakfast at the hotel. Speaking of which: we stayed at the Ibis Hotel Köln City. Not an ideal choice for two reasons: their rooms are incredibly tiny, while their bathrooms are teeny tiny. It was clean, it was the usual Ibis standard, everything else was alright, but really... unless you travel with light luggage and don't want to stay longer than one night, that place isn't for you.

So we had again a late breakfast/early lunch at a service station restaurant on the Autobahn on the way to Mannheim, that consisted of a very small cup of coffee and a tomato/mozarella panini.They used dried tomatoes for it. :-/ Do we normally use dried tomatoes in paninis? I hate dried tomatoes. Stefie thought it tasted good.

Arrived in Mannheim at close to 2pm

and found out that our hotel didn't have it's own parking garage but that we had to use a public one... you guess it,,,, nearby.

Seems to be an ongoing situation on this tour: the difficult parking business, I mean.

And from the outside it looked as if we'd also have a suboptimal hotel situation. Turned out though that things looked much better inside than outside. Whew. After the check-in and some ST work, we took a quick walk into town to get something to eat. Took some pics along the way:

Former Town Hall and Church St. Sebastian

Monument on Market Square

River Neckar

The show took place at the Capitol Casino, which is a small venue with pub atmosphere. Very nice and intimate.

It was Lee again who opened up the evening. And just like all the times before, he had the audience's attention from the start and never let them off the hook anymore. It's not only his songs that the people love, but also the incredibly charming and witty way he's interacting with an audience. He's not only a very talented singer/songwriter but a brilliant entertainer!

Full setlist:

Joanna
Hindsight
London In The Summer
Don't Ask Me (played for the first time on this tour)
Star Hotel
She (unplugged)
You're Not Her (so beautiful!!)
Clint Eastwood/Prince of Bel Air/Rock me Amadeus/MfG/Billie Jean mashup (NEVER fails to amaze!)
Falling In Love For The Last Time (scroll down for the video)
Smile


Good news for all fans who can't get enough, or those who don't have a chance to see him on this tour, or those who came to see PA in the first place and fell in love with his performance... he has announced that his debut album will come out later this year (most likely in autumn) and that he will be back then for more shows. YAY!!! We might be financially ruined by the end of the year when - when, not if ;-) - we attend another tour, but... who cares ;-D.

So here's now the video for Falling In Love For The Last Time, which is the current single, also out on radio stations in Germany now. Make sure you watch 'til the end, because there's a little surprise.

See? Now you are surprised that the end is missing, aren't you? Wanna know how that song ends? Easy! Order your copy from iTunes (click the link on the top of the right side bar), or get it from Amazon by clicking here.

 

And the reason why we're posting a video where the end of the song is missing, is totally NOT because there was no memory space left on the damn iPhone. Not at all. This is just a case of super professional promotion, you know.

No seriously... there's no excuse if you don't own that single yet. And if you prefer a real CD: Lee's 5-track EP that also includes the song (along with 4 new and not to be missed tracks) is available at his shows.

Alright. Next up it was Paper Aeroplane's turn with an hour full of their beauttiful songs. While we're on this tour because of Lee, we still enjoy their set very much.

Sarah Howells

Richard Llewllyn

At the end of their set, Lee came out for the usual two songs that the three perform together: Girl In New York (Lee's song) and Newport Beach (PA's song).

At the last show in Cologne, they had played the latter unplugged right in the middle of the audience because of technical problems. That had worked so well, that they decided to do it again (or so I assume LOL). And just like in Cologne everyone loved it. Neither Lee nor Sarah need a mic to make their incredible voices heard.

Of course no one wanted to accept that this had been the last song and we all kept cheering... until Sarah & Rich came out one more time. Sadly - for us - without Lee. Rich said, they hadn't really practised another song for an encore.

:-/

Alright, Lee. As you have seen several times now: people want encores! And people love the three of you together. There's really no excuse to not practise another song (or two, just in case... ;-) ). That's what off days are for, non?

End of show #5. 11 more to come.

Another day off on Wednesday. See you in Magdeburg on Thursday.

Thanks for reading. Now please check out some photos of lovely Lee. The light inside of the Casino was brilliant, by the way. At last for pohotographers :)