The Generator

April 1

Hamburg

Today is real "tour" day.  I've been woken up way before I would naturally wake, forced to shower in an extremely small shower and offered some stale cereal with warm milk. All this before 9am...not exactly ideal circumstances, but they are the current circumstances and so I have no choice to deal with them. First world problems, I know, don't worry I'm not that upset.  Normally if I were to wake up and be feeling this tired I wouldn't eat anything, but when it's free and I don't really know when or what the next meal will be, I choose to fill up. Take every chance you can get, right?

This is our second time in Hamburg, second time performing at the Nochtspreicher and second time staying at the Generator Hostel. We spent less than 24 hours in this city this time before departing this morning. Just enough time to reminisce about the Reeperbahn Festival last fall. Reeperbahn is the name of the music festival, but also the name of the main downtown area in Hamburg. This area is swarming with tourists, German "currywurst" sausage stands, doner shops, bars, t-shirts with Hamburg written on them and it's also close to Europe's second largest Red Light District (...uhhh non merci)

Nothing really crazy happened this time in Hamburg.

The most exciting thing happened on the way to Hamburg when we got pulled over on the side of the highway. A highway patrol officer suspected we had too much weight in the van, seeing as how the back axle was really low. True. We're six guys with suitcases and a boatload of gear.  The patrol man took a quick look in the back of the van, all the while Henry explaining that we are a Canadian band and that we travel to Europe a few times a year and that this amount of gear is perfectly normal. After a few minutes of questions, the officer smiled and we were all off on our way. Good thing we got Henry! Il est bon le gros Belge!

LOADED

As I mentioned earlier, I think the Generator Hostel has THE smallest shower and bathroom I've ever seen. I felt like I was in an airplane...hilarious! I couldn't even get my head under the shelf to spit in the sink while brushing my teeth. I mean who got the design contract on this one...?

airplane showers....

Otherwise, we were well received in Hamburg. We were offered a delicious burrito dinner next to the Nochtspreicher venue before the show.  It's a cool little Mexican joint called Kombüse. The staff and crew at Nochtspreicher are really nice and had a whole pile of tasty beverages and snacks backstage, gros merci!! All they need next time is a smoke machine, tsé!

Final Rant:
We had a short, but sweet visit this time in Hamburg. It's a cool city with a happening nightlife, lots of great bars and as I mentioned, a Red Light District if you're into that kind of thing. Check out the Reeperbahn Festival in September if you're in Europe. It's quite the scene. Cheers, we're off to Berlin!

Hamburg To-Do's:
Food:
Burrito joint
KOMBÜSE, Bernhard-Nocht-Straße 51, 20359 Hamburg, Germany

Eat some Currywurst

Live Music:
Reeperbahn Festival
https://www.reeperbahnfestival.com/en/

Nochtspreicher
Venue
Bernhard-Nocht-Straße 69a, 20359 Hamburg

Cheap Accomodation:
Generator Hostel
(conveniently located next to the main train station in Hamburg)
They got pretty good coffee, free breakfast and decent WIFI
https://generatorhostels.com/en/destinations/hamburg/?gclid=CJaxnfyw7csCFWoz0wodlC8ICg

Oh and here's a video of Foo Fighters' "The Generator":
https://youtu.be/GQDbr_3di7s