Saturday, May 7, 2016

05/07/16 day 35: Öblarn, AT

Breakfast spread was minimal but fairly righteous. There were some nice touches; namely tobasco and a hunk of salt with a nutmeg grater. It is "salz" burg after all...

We all agreed a walk about was in order so we loaded the car at 11:15 and ventured back towards the pedestrian waking area and "old" part of town. It was hopping today. The weather was actually quite warm. Large groups of foreign tourists led around by someone with an umbrella held high. Headsets. Selfie sticks. The whole shebang. Especially once we crossed the river into old town. Mozarts house. Salzburg Dom. Various museums. Shopping area and tourist carts with cheap trinkets. In the square next to the Dom a large stage was set up with a big brass and wind band playing traditional Austrian music. Long tables were set up for the audience and around the seating area filled with folks in lederhosen and other traditional outfits. A group of food trucks flanked one side selling grilled fish, pretzels, sausages, beer. It was a nice sensory enhancer to have these smells and this music as the backdrop to these visuals. 
Crossed the river into old town towards the Salzburger Dom and the Hohensalzburg Fortress looming above.
Salzburger Dom and square.

We walked up the hill to the Fortress which provided stunning 360 views.
The courtyard of this beautifully maintained castle. My 10 year old self was shitting his pants.
Cascading selfie photobombed by the Dom! Sometimes the wind would be just right and you could hear the music from the band down below.

Walked through various exhibits detailing the history of the castle through the ages. We found a perfect spot in the beer garden perched on the ramparts and toasted our good fortune with a couple frosty Stiegl and a pretzel with mustard. Glorious. So fortunate to have these moments.

The drive was shorter today (1.5 hrs) all things considered and painless. We headed east to Öblarn through quaint countryside, flanked by beautiful mountains dusted in snow. We rocked the Shins album "wincing the night away" (one of my favorites) and peeled off the highway 1.5 hours later into the small village of Öblarn. The last time we were here was exactly two years ago. We were excited. This is a great room, and last time we had an epic post gig hang, and our host Hans is the stuff of legend.

We loaded into the hotel attached to the venue and ran into Harold who runs the bar adjacent to the venue and greeted him warmly. He remembered the epic post gig hang that occurred in his bar last time and I assured him anything was possible, but those conditions were special. I tried to lay down for 45 minutes but could never get into the groove despite my full body weariness. We met back up at 530 and walked next door to the venue, next to Harold's bar, next to our hotel. The commute is killer.

Greeted Hans and sound technician Dinos at the stage. So nice to see them both again. This place takes these shows seriously and you can see in the attention to detail with the pa, lights, PR for the event, everything. Sound check wrapped about 6:45 and the band agreed to eat after the show as timing was a little tight to eat, shower, warm up by showtime at 8.
View from the green room into the surrounding hills.

We played a full set (2 x 45) to 65 lovely Austrians, some of which were at our first show two years ago. Set felt good. Polished and loose where it needed to be. We got called out for an encore and did Been Too Good and Bid You in the audience which put a nice bow on the performance. Really happy with this one.
Photo by our friend Christoph Huber.

After the set we demolished some salads and some bacon and onion flatbreads. Once back at the bar, Dinos insisted we have some Zirbenschnapps, which you can only find in Austria. Made from pinecones, this is more sweet than boozey and really smooth to drink. The late night jam wasn't in the cards tonight and we were all relieved for a night to fill up on rest. Such a good crew of folks here. Two years is too long!
P, Hans, Harold, B, Dinos, J.

Night from Öblarn!

 


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