Continuing the Steve Wilson 2013 Tour blog written by saxophonist Theo Travis as the band perform their brilliant new album 'The Raven That Refused To Sing (and other stories)'.
Album available from > SteveWilsonHQ
Paris - Cologne
The venue in Paris, called Le Trianon, was familiar as we played there last year. It is a rather grand music hall type theatre, situated in Montmartre by the Sacre-Coeur. The onstage sound was good and in the soundcheck we had a pretty good jam as well as checking the things that needed checking. The gig itself felt good with no technical glitches and a relaxed vibe. Everyone played well and Steven seemed to have a good time. The audience was the first standing audience of the tour and I think that probably contributed to the excited and upbeat atmosphere. The crowd was really enthusiastic and we all appreciated that.
Afterwards, had a good chat with some of Steven's Scottish fans who are very nice and who I have met several times. They had come over specially for the gig and made a weekend of it. Then back onto the tour bus and we rolled out of Paris and off to Cologne in Germany. Adrian, our splendid merchandise man and fellow Brummie had brought the DVDs of the recent Sherlock Holmes BBC series with Benedict Cumberbatch so we watched one of those (though I could barely keep awake!) which was very good. Then to bed and I woke up in Cologne where the bus had pulled up by our hotel which was situated next to the staggeringly impressive cathedral. We checked in and the rest of the day was off duty, so I took it pretty easy as was feeling a little rough. Grabbed a coffee, managed to catch up on some e mails and had a bit of a rest to the soundtrack of 'Man' by Francis Dunnery, 'Nine Lives' by Steve Winwood and 'On Land' by Brian Eno. All great albums. I did have a wander round the centre of Cologne later and went to look inside the cathedral too. What an amazing building. There was a plan for everyone to go for a Japanese meal that evening, but the restaurant that some of the guys knew of was full. So I ended up going for a Thai meal with Adam which was most tasty.
Gig tonight. Amsterdam tomorrow.
Theo Travis