Here I Go Again - Too Many Tours

The second part of his road diary follows Bernie and the Gov’t Mule boys over to the continent

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Sunday morning, 29 October, 2017. I’m at the Ibis Hotel Canary Wharf having breakfast with Warren Haynes and Jorgen Carlsson of Gov’t Mule after joining them for two dates in Cardiff and London. The minibus picks us up and we drive to St Pancras International, arriving at 12.15pm. The train leaves at 2.20pm, with one stop scheduled at Ashford in Kent before arriving in Paris later that day.

Fifteen minutes before Ashford, the train stops for 20 minutes. We then limp into Ashford where we’re told that one of the main batteries on the train has failed, and that we have to wait for a rescue train to come and pick us up. What can we do? Nothing except wait. Some unknown Americans close to me become very irate because their schedule is interrupted. I text Warren asking if we should get together to write a song while we wait – he replies: “What about now?” I immediately think this is a brilliant title for a song, but the train gets going a few minutes later. The train finally pulls into Gare du Nord – two and a half hours later than expected. A car meets us and we drive to the très chic Hotel La Pigalle, where my room includes a record player with Jimi Hendrix and The Beatles on vinyl – not a bad room to have!

That night we have a great curry, and walking back from the restaurant, Warren and I could hear an excellent jazz group (two guitar players, upright bass and drums), who were playing in Lulu’s Drinking Club. They were playing French swing Django style, and they made an awesome sound. We stood at the doorway with the sound reverberating across the street outside. Small gems like this are the side of touring that the fans often know nothing about, but make being on the road so special and are often the most rewarding.

Road Dogs