Cornered and Ironclad tour – Arnhem to Warburg

Day 2, Arnhem to Warburg. Drips, van problems, swimming and youth centres.

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First thing that happened is thankfully Nick and Pabs turning up in a taxi. Nick had had his shirts cut off, and got through two drips in the night at the A&E. Good man. Turned out that Nick’s stuff had been left in the venue the night before, so we couldn’t head to Warburg to begin with. Bad man. Myself and Niels made a half hearted attempt to clean out the van, and then we finally got on the way to Warburg.

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Headed out of Arnhem, and towards the motorway. All together, tour properly on the way, passing a petrol station. That’s the point at which the van decides not to go into first gear. Pull over, a bit of a look under the bonnet fails to reveal anything immediately obvious being broken (obvious to people who don’t really understand engines). Get back under way, and I decide it’s going to be best to not stop if possible, and get into fifth as quick as possible. This works well till we actually get to Warburg, and have to head down some little side streets to get to the venue. Trying to get a 9 seat van up a steep, cobbled, single lane hill without first gear is not easy. Stalling it on the hill, and trying to rev it in second is also difficult and smelly. Got there in the end, so it worked out, if a little bit later than we wanted to originally.

Obviously, the right thing to do in this situation is to say hello, not load in, and insist that we go swimming. I have no idea if Germany in general is amazing for this, or if it’s just Warburg, but there’s a great outdoor swimming pool/Nordic walking park. Slide, diving boards, large pool, etc, all for €2.50 in. Spend a couple of hours bombing, diving, sliding, and Pablo getting asked to get out because he was wearing a t-shirt. Might be worth explaining at this point that we spent most of the tour playing two games – Birdman and Buffalo. Buffalo’s nice and easy to explain – if anyone catches you with a drink in your writing hand, they shout “Buffalo!” and you have to down it. Birdman’s a bit more difficult, if someone makes this sign and catches your eye:

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Then you’ve got to get down on the floor. On your back, on your front, doesn’t matter which. You can block it if you do that sign with one hand though. Fucking infuriating at times.

When we got back to the venue, turned out there was some damn good food. Pasta salad, roasted veg, bread, and about six or seven crates of beer perfect for playing Buffalo. Gig’s good, World Peace and Gone To Waste are the two German bands playing, and it’s Gone To Waste’s tape release show (they’re also involved in putting the gig on). The venue’s a German youth centre, where they hire a practice room (as far as I understood it). It’s an old building which was nice and cool inside. Pictures from gig follow. Nick got a nosebleed.

World Peace

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Band Room

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Ironclad

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Gone To Waste

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Cornered

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After the gig the rest went out, I just got some sleep at the venue. Thank fuck for not having to move the van.

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