Hamburg

12/7/10


We are playing in the famed red light district in Hamburg and the city is misty and electric, with sex stores and peep shows lining the clean, brightly lit boulevard. It is like an outdoor sex-mall. There is a giant Christmas market in the middle of the street and Kate and Margot and I stroll around and drink grog out of a ceramic mug. It is sweet and there are bits of nuts and spices floating around on the top and we all crack up trying to take dainty sips. There is a beautiful tree and jolly middle-aged carolers and I look around for a gift for my parents but all of the booths are selling gimp masks and glass dildos and it is totally bizarre. We hear that there is a street that only men are allowed on but there is no time to find it and run a reconnaissance mission. 


The club is labyrinthine and has a great light-up disco floor and a beautiful old theatre-style stage. The green room is basically another bar downstairs and there is a spread of candy bars and Fritz-cola and crackers. We are playing with a British band called the Tambourines and it is a great bill, with some label people there that Frankie is stoked about. The blonde bartender tells me that we are her favorite "woman-band" since Elastica and gives me my first ever shot of Jager as we are on the way out. It is delicious and I want to stay and drink more. We grab a bottle of Wodka out of the green room for the ride and have a great time surfing the radio stations in the van on the way out of town. We decide to cancel the show in Gent the next night so that Luke can drop us off in Paris and head back down south to pick up the Sprinter. We figure we'll find an Etap along the way but everything is full and we end up driving until 4am and spending way too much money on a fancy hotel in the middle of the German countryside with mints under the down pillows and tiny duvets.