Session 162- Cartaxo, PT June 30th, 2018

We got up and out about 12 to hit the road south to Cartaxo. I was up at 9:45 and went to the local café for some juice and some cheese or ham and cheese sandwiches for the guys. People were tired but in a great mood. Mogens was to drive and backed into a parked car. We were lucky there was no damage on the other car but a blue scratch on the bumper of our an now. We have full insurance, luckily… We drove for an hour or so and then stopped at place to eat. We made decent time and arrived in Cartaxo about 16:15 or so. The Cultural Center was not hard to find despite a few little detours. The Talea Jacta guys were to arrive at 17 but of course were not there before 18 so soundcheck was delayed again. João, the gig manager and João the sound guy were really cool and nice people. The cultural center was excellent and there were drinks, sandwiches, pastries in the nice backstage room, so all was good. It was a strange room to play in and we thought the sound would not be that good but we were pleasantly surprised later. We got our backdrop up and I put the camera and mics and we just waited for TJ. All went ok with our soundcheck and it was much better sounding for the band on stage this night. TJ took quite a while again as they rehearse a lot of their songs at the same time. Make sure the loop parts work and the drummer can hear them well. When they were done about 20:45, we all walked to a local restaurant and had chicken again, except our two vegetarians, who they made special food for. Super nice people and we had wine, beer and CRF, an aged aquadente, that was very strong. Just a tiny taste. Mood was great. It was great except that Portugal had just lost to Uraguay in the world cup. Most of the people with the band, etc.. did not care about football much. It was a very small crowd, partly due to the football match. I guess about 30 people but they were really into the show. Drums were very loud in this room and TJ played a more loose set but they had a better sound on this night. I think they played the same set. Not sure.. This time they did not start until 23:15. I was not very happy about it. Such nice guys though. We played until just about 02 but it was nearly 00:30 when we started. This was a high energy set and we got Pedro to play guitar with us and Jocke played the bass. I tried to get my friend Luis Simones to come and play but he was in the studio with another band. Pedro did a cool job though and played some great stuff and had fun, he said. Audience dug, soundman did a great job and people said it sounded great. Sadly, our recording was in the back and the drums and Mogens synths are super loud and you hardly hear any guitars on the recordings, sorry folks.. Anyway, it was a great time and we packed up the gear and could leave it at the cultural center until tomorrow but we had to get it before 12. Me, wife, martin and Kate all headed back to the hotel while the others went to another bar with the soundman, João, and the TJ guys. I heard it was very late… After the tour, the guys came back to my house for a few days and we had a very nice time. Great time in Portugal. The hosts and venues were all excellent.

https://archive.org/details/OSC2018-06-30.FLAC1

spacejam162 back spacejam162