Havenhuis, Antwerp
Maja and I are back in Valencia after our recent run of shows in beautiful Belgium! It was a whirlwind! 2 rehearsals, 4 shows, 6 days, 450km all over Flanders, Belgium and man we had a blast! We played 3 shows with two very talented young gents from Ghent; one in Ghent, another in Herselt, and our final show in Bruges.
We booked the Friday night show in Antwerp as a duo. It was a total shot in the dark. A rad little cafe called Papa Jos’ (Facebook) offered us the spot to play but it was a “pass the hat” show. Basically that means playing for tips and a (delicious) meal. We had no idea if we could draw any folks but we wanted to see Antwerp and get our music foot in the door there so we took the shot.
That night we took the bus from our hotel to the gig because parking (and driving) in Antwerp is an expensive way to put your life in mortal peril. So, imagine me and Maja getting on a moderately crowded bus with: a suitcase full of merch, my giant guitar pedal board, 2 guitars, an alto sax, a small keyboard, and a backpack full of cables and gear. We were quite a sight. And the driver had a lead foot, so it was pretty hilarious trying to keep all that gear from sliding around or tipping over when he hit the gas or the brakes. Ten minutes into the bus ride Maja scares me to death when she suddenly gasps upon realizing we forgot another piece of gear in the trunk of our rental car! So she gets off the bus to high tail it back to the hotel - thank God I remembered to give her the car keys so she could get in the trunk. I head on to the venue with everything but her sax and backpack, pack mule style, to load in and sound check. Just dandy.
As I walk in and introduce myself, the bright eyed young lady behind the counter looks at me and the gear and says, “Oh! You ARE playing here tonight? Two guys from the Netherlands came in and asked about the show but we couldn’t find you on the agenda. They said they will come back.” Apparently, the owner was out on vacation so communication was a little...something. So, based on my experience as an Austin musician, who’s played to my share of loud disinterested coffeehouse hipsters or crowds of 1s of people, I was starting to have the feeling that it was gonna be a rough night. But, I managed to get set up and sound check whilst fighting those 1000 little voices in my head asking me why I chose this profession? Lugging heavy music gear all over the world? And who even gives a crap about music anymore? Maybe I should have stayed in school and gotten a real job? Why did we bring so much dadgum gear, anyway? Would Springsteen have kept at it this long without a record deal? …I’ve gotten better at coping with those feelings over the years. Maybe.
Meanwhile, I struck up a convo with an interesting looking couple who were at a table near the front. The dude told me they had come “all the way from Leipzig, Germany for the show!” Well I didn’t believe that for a second and eventually they said they were actually in Antwerp on holiday but had heard about the show and looked me up. So that was cool.
About that time, Maja finally made it back from her chilly mad dash back to the hotel. She always makes things better. We set up her gear and as we were finishing sound check the room started filling up and my faith in humanity and the power of music got a nice little second wind. The atmosphere of the joint helped as well. I love little intimate shows like that. No green room, no artificial separation of the “talent” from the public. So I enjoyed raising a glass and chatting with folks before the show. Europe is so dope, y’all. We had people from Belgium, Germany, Poland, the US, Spain, France, and the 2 guys from Netherlands even came back for the music!
When we started our set the room was full and I was back to feeling good about my life choices. Man, what a great crowd! Responsive, attentive, and fun to banter with between tunes. By the time we finished it was just plain crowded, the “hat” had a healthy little family of euros snuggling in it, and we sold a decent amount of merch. Purdy nice.
It was an early show and people ended up hanging around to enjoy the bar and atmosphere. So we grabbed a couple chairs at a table with a group of locals our age who I had spoken to briefly before the show. We ate while they drank and hipped us to the local lore and their take on the music scene and nightlife in Antwerp. At some point our new German friends joined us as well and we spent the rest of the night discussing Austin, the Alamo, Belgian beer, American IPAs, music, the fact that Belgians take a week long holiday to celebrate Day of the Dead, and politics.
Not a bad night after all! Truth is, any night we get to play music turns out to be pretty great. Every time.
Papa Jos, Antwerp