Fat Freddy's Drop: Fantastic Voyagers volume 2

Fat Freddy's Drop perform somewhere in Europe. Photo / Niels Kramer

In September, Fat Freddy’s Drop was back on the road, touring Europe, playing dates from the UK to Denmark and all points in between. Freddy’s saxophonist Scott "Chopper Reedz" Towers diarised their adventures in sound for Volume.

WEDNESDAY 7 SEPTEMBER - AUCKLAND, NEW ZEALAND
Back at the Air New Zealand check-in counter once again. We've only been home for six weeks and my bag remained virtually unpacked in the corner of the room the whole time. Did I actually pack any clean clothes?

FRIDAY 9 SEPTEMBER - LONDON, UNITED KINGDOM
Ugggh, what happened? It's 2.30am and I wake up fully dressed with the lights on. Oh that's right... sleeping pills on the plane. Watch some US Open - go Fed! Sleep eventually kicks in. Hit Flat White in Soho for decent coffee, Soul Jazz for decent records and Namo in Vic Park for extremely decent Vietnamese.

SATURDAY 10 SEPTEMBER - OXFORD, UNITED KINGDOM
First day/night on the tour bus. We've gone totally rock star and are running two in convoy; grumpy sods on one, messy bastards on the other. Play first show of tour at Harvest Festival - nice to get on stage again. Pity the Kooks' guitar tech spent the whole set tuning up loudly behind us.

SUNDAY 11 SEPTEMBER - SUFFOLK, UNITED KINGDOM
Entire Harvest Festival drives to the other side of London for a repeat. Dobie Blaze (and crew) totally blows Freddy-heads and foodies away with a demo of how to make paua wontons. We fold and fry 250 - they all go inside five minutes.

TUESDAY 13 SEPTEMBER - HAMBURG, GERMANY
Totally slamming gig tonight. Amazing audience and the band was on fire. Tony Chang proclaims it "on a par with July's show in Paris, which was off the hook". DJ Fitchie cracks the rum to celebrate, and everyone else tries to keep up.

WEDNESDAY 14 SEPTEMBER - COLOGNE , GERMANY
Sorry Cologne, we were hungover. Blame that big guy over there. Lucky we had a good gig last time we were here, eh?

THURSDAY 15 SEPTEMBER - REIMS, FRANCE
Day off. Visit the Lanson champagne cellar for an amazing guided tour through the 23 million bottles stored in their caves. Sample some vintage bubbles and get caught up in a frenzy of champagne buying. Fitchie's bus bed gets punk'd by persons unknown - you can't move for balloons up there.

FRIDAY 16 SEPTEMBER - PARIS, FRANCE
Played Fete de l'Huma, a huge festival that has been going for over 70 years. It's actually a huge scrum of Communists. No, seriously - this is a political rally. Cracking some of the Lanson post-show feels right, but wrong, but so right.

SATURDAY 17 SEPTEMBER - ST NOIFFS, FRANCE
Another big drive. Who knew France was so wide? Can't remember much about the festival, but they served piles of oysters, cockles, prawns and mussels in the catering tent. Awesome.

SUNDAY 18 SEPTEMBER - HIGHWAYS ACROSS EUROPE
Amazing breakfast in a truck stop in Belgium. Makes me think we get ripped off in New Zealand for a decent brekkie. Walked around Amsterdam - d'oh, everyone else has a bike! Sample some fine beer and then locate a legendary local Spanish bar; Best. Tapas. Ever.

MONDAY 19 SEPTEMBER - AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND
First night of a double-header at the Melkweg. Killer show. Mark Butterball, our lighting designer, takes it into another realm - that guy is flash.

TUESDAY 20 SEPTEMBER - AMSTERDAM, HOLLAND
Hit Waxwell Records during the day (grab a nice haul of funk 45s for small change). Our local hook up cooks two suckling pigs in a charcoal-filled bath for dinner. Wow. We're joined onstage by Johnny Key, who plays keys (obviously) in Arctic Monkeys, for a synth-heavy workout on 'Wild Wind'. Dope.

WEDNESDAY 21 SEPTEMBER - AARHUS, DENMARK
We've never been here before and the venue is in the middle of docks. Will anyone come to the show? Yes, actually. A great audience in a cool little club. Meet someone who flew in from Ibiza for the show - legend.

THURSDAY 22 SEPTEMBER - COPENHAGEN, DENMARK
The Vega is one of our favourite venues in the entire world; great PA, amazingly beautiful room, up for it crowd - and we treat them to the debut performance of a new song. Fresh out of the studio, it sets the room on fire. Awesome way to finish a tour.

FRIDAY 23 SEPTEMBER - NEW YORK, USA
Last night I had a nightmare where I lived on a tour bus surrounded by unwashed musicians who watched endless repeats of Will Ferrell movies and ate mini-Mars bars for breakfast.... oh, wait, that did just happen. Is this what they mean by "living the dream?" I feel a little broken, a tad battered after the tour, but would happily do it all again. Oh well, time for a Korean taco and a stroll round Central Park. A treat for me and the missus post-tour. Not a bad stopover on the way home.

* Fat Freddy's Drop play One Drop with TrinityRoots and Cornerstone Roots on Monday 2 January at Ascension Wine Estate, Matakana, and with The Nudge on Saturday 7 January at Black Barn, Havelock North.

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