Smoke on the motorway - #4

It was the last concert of the tour. 35 years of Fiddlers Green, the grand finale. Löwensaal in Nuremberg, more than 1,000 people in the audience, song number 6 of our set. ‘Hold On To’. Franz had just brought Heike Probst on stage as a guest musician and was about to start the song when suddenly the Fiddlers Green crew appeared and rolled a mobile bar onto the stage.

Visibly irritated, Franz tried to explain to the equally irritated audience that bands traditionally play pranks on each other during the last show of a concert series. And we were now witnessing how we had just fallen victim to Fiddlers' tour prank.

That's because Fiddlers drummer Frank Jooss and violinist Tobias Heindl came on stage. Wearing ‘Wüstenberg’ T-shirts and green sunglasses, they ‘accompanied’ our ballad with rhythmic movements on green plastic cups. Franz and Heike performed the song in a highly professional manner, while the rest of us were only moderately successful. To be fair, it must be said that everything was happening behind Franz and Heike, and the rest of us had the best view of the action – and, frankly, the band's concentration didn't improve when Frank and Tobi started cutting up citrus fruits on stage and handing out shot glasses.

Jägermeister with lime. Terrible.

Most of the time, when I was asked in recent weeks how the tour had been, the answer was a brief ‘It was really awesome. Also super exhausting, but totally fun.’ Because honestly, how can you sum up in a few sentences what an insane (in every sense of the word) tour it was? Nine people in a van, somewhere between 7,000 and 8,000 kilometres on the motorway, sleepless nights, marathon weekends like Memmingen/Cologne/Hamburg or Munich/Leipzig/Bremen. Concert #13, where we were surprised by about 100 ‘Wüstenberg’ signs in the front rows at the first chord (thanks again, Basti!). And a car engulfed in smoke, which required five fire engines to be called to the motorway. Rest in peace, Elli (2008-2025) – you were a great car.

In contrast to my small talk attempts over the last few weeks, the music video for ‘Trading Manners for the Madness’ sums up very well how this tour felt. A whirlwind of euphoria, a flood of emotions. An audience that never made us feel like we were ‘just’ the opening act. People who went from being fellow musicians and crew members to family.

I can't wait to trade Manners for Madness again.

Unfortunately, however, the video also captures a moment from the tour that weighs heavily on my conscience – how I pour what is probably the world's best Kölsch (we are open to endorsement deals, by the way, wink wink) into the cola glasses of a hotel lobby in Solingen for lack of proper Kölsch glasses.

Terrible.

Almost as terrible as Jägermeister with lime. Well, almost.

Torben