Peter Williams Musik

Well, that was fun, 3 gigs a day and all my food and drink taken care of.  When it goes well, music is more of a holiday than a job.  Shame that only happens a couple of times a year eh?

My first visit to Stavanger was a real treat.  The bass they provided was a work of art, (thanks Tom), the audience was enthusistic, the food was michelin star quality, I wanted for nothing. Perhaps I should not have stayed up so late drinking with the other musicians, but it was so much fun.  20 mins sleep, then off to the airport.  Sweden tomorrow, then New York on monday.

“…..når Paul Harrison går på scenen med sit band… “

Not a bad review! 

Paul Harrison Band – Sweet Sue – Peter Williams – Cynthia Sayer – Bria Skonberg

Here is a little clip from ‘the big gig’ last month

Our 5 day, 6 concert tour with Cynthia Sayer and Bria Skonberg could not have gone better!  Every gig was special in

it’s own way, and they all went well with hundreds of satisfied Paul Harrison fans all over Denmark!

It’s always a gamble putting together a tour with no rehearsal, and without having met all of the musicians, but Paul and Betina Harrison really pulled this off well and I was proud to be a part of it.  The zenith of the tour being the gig in Portalen, Greve when Nikklas Carlsson came to join the party, bringing the total of nationalities represented to 5 with a superb world class 8 piece band.

Spike Botterill, Bria Skonberg, Paul Harrison, Peter Williams, Anders Westfall, Cynthia Sayer and Ulrik Brohus

Sweet Sue…..Paul Harrison Band DK

Paul Harrison Band på Restaurant Vigen i Roskilde

We were really looked after on this festival, which was a good job as I was feeling particularly delicate after several hours of German Autobahn followed by several hours of German beer.

We were picked up in fancy cars, not even allowed to load our instruments, and whisked off to a canteen to be fed.  We were then taken to our first concert, given free beer and played two short sets on a paddle boat.

After that we were whisked off in fancy cars again to play just 30 mins on another stage to a larger audience.  Everything went ok, but the sound engineers had their work cut out, The Gunhild Carling big band had been playing before us, and the change over was very quick.

After this we were entrusted with the job of starting the jam session.  It went surprisingly well.  The drum solo/battle between Ulrik Brohus and Ulf Carling was particularly entertaining.

After that we were driven in fancy cars back to the hotel.

My only regret the whole day was that we could not persuade our driver that his car was dirty.

After 12 hours travel by car and ferry, with perhaps only 20 mins at service stations we arrived at the hotel in Dresden. We were none of us quite in the mood for a party, but it seemed rude not to go to the evening that had been prepared for us. And we were all glad we made the effort.

The mood was very traditional – a garden party with good German beer, marching brass bands, sausages and a seemingly endless procession of paddle steamers blasting their horns as we got steadily endrunkened with the atmosphere and the Frankenheimer.

After the marching bands in the garden, we made are way upstairs to the concert hall, again with a beautiful view of the Elba.   Here we were treated to a 1930’s style review from the Gunhild Carling big band complete with lindy-hoppers, authentic arrangements and even a Charlie Chaplin routine squeezed on to the end of a drum solo.

After that it was another minibus ride back to the hotel, a few beers with the Dirty Dozen from Amsterdam and to bed fully expecting a nasty hang over for the morning.