Writings and pictures
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Auf dem berg
It was only a short drive from Worpswede to Scharmbeck, just outside of Winsen. Ray had warned me that it was an interesting get-in …. The field where the stage is once grew barley, then cows grazed there but it wasn’t right for them so for some years it was left to the wild and…
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Worpswede house concert
Yesterday we drove down to Hamburg to stay with Jörn who played trombone on the track Wind And Steel on Ray’s new album. It was good to split the driving to the next concert and today was only a short drive from Hamburg to Worpswede for a house concert. Having a free morning gave us…
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St Johannis Kloster
Today was a mere 40 minute drive down to Schleswig. The town is on one side of a small bay at the end of an inlet from the Baltic. Between the ninth and eleventh centuries there was a very important Viking trading settlement on the other side of the bay. The concert is in the…
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Schiffbruecke Flensburg
After the concert in Moorhausen, we stayed in a hotel in nearby Oldenburg. From there it was “only” a four hour drive up to Flensburg which gave us time to stop for lunch. Today was an early show at the Museumwerft Schiffbruecke – both a museum and a working boat yard with a cafe which…
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Moorhausen Konserdiele
From Remplin to Moorhausen was a four hour drive, thankfully going around Hamburg. The village of Moorhausen lies north of Oldenburg and very close to the North Sea. It sits in the Wesermarsch which is west of the river Weser, between the city of Bremen and the mouth of the river. The Konserdiele is in…
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Remplin Castle Chapel
Today was a very long (6 hour) drive, mainly on autobahns. These are mostly two lane motorways with usually quite long distances between exits which means cars drive very fast. On long stretches these is no speed limit so I might be driving at 140km/hr (87 mph) and a car will zoom by me as…
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Even For A Shadow Tour 2024
For Ray Cooper, this is his 41st solo tour and it follows the release of his 5th album. The album and the tour have the same title. The first gig for Ray was a house concert in Copenhagen. He drove down from his home in Sweden and over the Oresund bridge. It was a long…
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Dorsten Baumhaus
The Cornelia Funke Baumhaus in Dorsten is a community centre with a tree in the middle (Baumhaus means tree house). Ray had played here before and the venue was full. With good speakers, excellent lights and a very appreciate audience, it was a perfect venue to finish this tour.
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Schollbrockhaus in Herne
It was only a short drive to Herne. The Schollbrokhaus is an art gallery in the grounds of Strünkede Castle in Herne which dates back to the 12th century. We had some lovely pictures above the merch table. As you can see from the photograph, the timbers made for a very unusual place to play.…
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Essen Grend
The directions from Google maps said 3hr 42 mins but in practice we had a very long (five hours) drive up from Homburg to Essen. There are a lot of roadworks in this area which slows the traffic down (reminds me of England). The drive was north up the Rhine valley from Saarland into the…
A Visitor On Europe’s Roads 