The amazing Montserrat mountain
It feels a bit absurd: flying to Spain for just one concert. But then again: the Fira Mediterrania is a nice and wellknown festival, and besides, it is a good opportunity to meet other festivals specialized in mediterranean music.
What IS absurd, however, is the policy of Vueling airlines against musicians. First we have to put our instruments in some kind of container. For every instrument that has parts sticking out (and believe me: there are quite some parts sticking out when you put a guitar or saz in such a small box) you are supposed to pay 45 euros, and hand it over at the gate to the be put in the baggage department. Our saz and guitar easily fit in every plane, and besides there are rows empty behind our seats, but ‘rules are rules’. We pay 90 euros to let the guitar and saz suffer from -40 degrees, bumps of being thrown in, bumps of being thrown out. This is just a deliberate attempt to annoy musicians. With succes.
The bus driver who picks us up from Barcelona airport has a nice smile, but though he answers ‘yes’ and ‘no’ on every question, we more and more get the feeling that he does not understand any word of what we are saying. And that is: ‘Can we have lunch somewhere along the route to Manresa, since Vueling airlines does not provide…??’ (Don’t travel with Vueling airlines!) Instead of taking the risk, we buy some expensive tasteless sandwiches at the airport and get going. We pass by the famous Montserrat mountain with the monastery, a really peculiar sight, and have a beautiful trip through the hills. Our hotel-complex is in the middle of some mountains 20 km from Manresa, with splendid views on a medieval castle.
We leave for Manresa after lunch. There we see a rather boring concert and have a walk over the mediterranean market. I stumble upon a CD of Wolfgang Muthspiel with on it my friend drummer Andreas Pichler, and next I see a poster of a new CD of my friend singer Carles Denia. The world is really a small place sometimes. We have some coffee and ‘flan’ (Meinrad and I have a developed small addiction to caramelized desserts during our last tour in Turkey).
The venue is really very nice. But after our soundcheck, just before 24.00 when we are going to play, there is absolutely nobody…. Weird atmosphere. Luckily, in five minutes before we start, the place completely fills with people. Phew… if the place would have stayed empty…. The audience likes it, and funny enough, Josine gets immediately an offer to play at a festival in…. Holland… 🙂
After the show I do something that I haven’t done since many years: dance in the disco! The venue is related to a disco next door, so we leave our stuff, and dive into the Manresian night life. The music is very nice, the people are happy, and we drink some beer and dance.
Next afternoon we pay 90 euros again… Did I mention already that – if you are a musician – you should avoid Vueling airlines at all times?
Our concert in Manresa, in a nice venue called Sielu
In the disco afterwards!