February 28 - Touring Holland with BETH HART - chapter 2

This lovely photo of me is on a train from Amsterdam, post photo shoot with world renowned Govert de Roos, to Rotterdam where my first show opening for Beth was taking place. I was STARVING and managed to put together a bit of "emergency" sustenance to get me through to the show (because once we reached Rotterdam it would be check into the hotel and off to sound check at the venue). Just in case you are curious, my "wrap" consisted of a wheat free, gluten free tortilla, a slice of Nori (seaweed), and baby carrots and almonds wrapped up inside....oh, and a beef jerky-like stick that was made of ostrich. Yum. Lol.....

When we arrived at the venue, the people there could not have been nicer, they showed us to our HUGE dressing room, complete with snacks and beer and wine. :)

Next,it was off to sound check. Wow. This was a big stage with a big sound board. We walked in while Beth's band was still sound checking and it was fun to catch up with Scott and the boys...it made me feel like I was at home. We had a nice, long, indulgent sound check (ah, now I knew we were not in the US of A....) and we went back upstairs to hang out in the dressing room before we went on.

More sound check photos.....


Sound Check.....

























.......then it was SHOWTIME! As Dave and I waited off stage behind the enormous metal doors, I took a deep breath and looked at him..."we are about to play in front of over 1,500 people...you ready?" We took the stage with wild abandon and begun the set with the take-no-prisioners political Dylan-esque song, "Spare Change". People quieted down. They were listening. Then they clapped. Huh. I think they liked us. Our quick 7 song set flew by and before I knew it, we were leaving the stage with a lot of cheering behind us. I ran right into to Scott, upon exiting the stage who told me that Beth was standing there watching half my set and that she wanted to say hello. We ended up chatting for the next 30 minutes before her set. It was great to catch up with her and it felt so good to hear how supportive she was of having me on tour as the support act.
(Below: a clip from the show - "Spare Change")

After Beth's show, (which was phenomenal, as per usual!) I experienced something I had never experienced before....mad amounts of people at my merch table wanting to buy cds, posters, t-shirts AND have them autographed by me....it was nuts. People wanted photographs with me too. This was a whole new world to me. Normally, in the US, I can handle the buying/selling/signing at the merch table all by myself, but this time, I needed the help of 4 other pairs of hands (thank God I had them!). It was truly humbling and utterly amazing.

So, that concludes chapter 2....I hope to get chapter 3 up very soon...so stay tuned! The next leg of the trip includes a packed solo show for me at a pub in Rotterdam as well as the next show with Beth in Nijmegen in a gorgeous soft seat theatre. Cheers til then!!

~Julie