places

- Catherine

My top five

My current top five trip memories (in the non musical category):

1. Dancing in a conga line with the Brazilian Lion's Club
2. Staring in awe at the Ishtar gate in the Pergamon museum
3. Jumping and dancing in the square in Lubeck and yelling out the Beatles lyrics with a bunch of band buddies 
4. Having our picture taken on the pier in Travemunde – we looked like a flock of crazed penguins
5. Watching in wonder as fearless Cathy Frederick jumped off a scary five metre diving platform into Copenhagen harbour.   

What are yours?  -Catherine

tap tap tap!

Any other versions out there?………………………………...

four previous band trip group photos

Have a look at the four previous band trip group photos.  Isn't it amazing how none of us has changed?! - Catherine

10 simple rules

Beth & Sharon's 10 rules from the last night's dinner.

- Adam

Final Night Song Lyrics

Hey, I'm in the song this year!! Nice.

- Adam

Getting started

I'm starting my day quite a bit earlier than most of us this time around. I just landed from YVR > YYZ, which left at 6 in the morning... now it's almost 2:30 and I'm waiting to meet up with the rest of the folks to continue on to Paris, then get started on a gargantuan layover before the transfer to Berlin. Ouch.

Knowing I haven't slept in a day and that I won't really get to for another full day is an exhausting thought. But this is how it is every year; a couple days of suffering in exchange for the rest of the amazing vacation, and luckily, it's always more than worth the trade.

News story in Western News

“This is our fifth trip to Europe since 2005, and we’re excited about visiting and playing in Germany and Denmark,” said Mark Kearney, band spokesperson.  “Every trip we’ve done has been terrific, and it’s always a thrill to play in front of these audiences.”

It's all true.

Click here to read the full story.

NHB story in the Free Press

It's true. We're famous. You're famous. How great is that.

Click here to read it.

Musicians in London’s New Horizons band perform a Canada Day concert at Masonville Manor. About 50 performers begin a European tour on July 6.(Brent Boles, The London Free Press)

Adam's Top 3 Europe Performances

The coolest part of taking trips like this is getting to play music in some amazing places. Adam talks about his top three favourite shows out of all the Europe trips the group has done.

3. Temppeliaukio Church, Helsinki

We see a lot of churches on these trips but this one was easily my favourite; it's called "the church of the rock", and for good reason. It's constructed in stone, with a giant copper domed roof that provided great acoustics for performing, and a circular skylight that lets in a lot of sun. I was particularly proud of how we performed this show, which is lucky, as this was the performance we managed to record the entirety of, and you can watch it below.

These videos got very popular, generating tens of thousands of youtube views. Old Churches is my personal favourite. If you haven't listened to it, you can in the playlist below, it's an experiment in ambient/random sound. Playing it in this space gave me chills, and still does.

After we left the rain had stopped and Helsinki gave us a nice rainbow to reward our hard work. 

It's times like that one when I'm grateful for the good fortune that got me started playing with this ragtag band of delightful rapscallions. I just started playing with the group by relative chance, and I never wanted to stop. I find myself so proud of what we've been able to do. I've definitely played with groups that have tackled more advanced music, but I can truthfully say I've never had nearly as much fun in a band as I have when I play with these folks.

2. Pantheon, Rome

Being able to go to Rome and see these amazing old structures that I've only looked at pictures of in books was cool enough, but being able to actually go play in one of them was beyond amazing. What made it extra special, apart from having a big crowd to listen to us play (because it was during the day and there were hundreds of visitors), was that the accoustics were just fantastic. Any sound you made would just echo on and on after you finished playing. The first time we checked our instruments and our sound and heard our chord bounce off the walls and domed ceiling for 20-30 seconds, we just looked around at each other in amazement.

1. Vimy Ridge

I mean, yeah. 

It's hard to pick a favourite but there was something so surreal about playing on Canadian soil in a place that was very emotionally moving to visit. It was a beautiful day and we set up right at the memorial outside. It was the middle of the week so we didn't really have a huge audience, mostly just the friends and family we brought along. But (and this'll come across as corny no matter how I write it, but it's just true), I felt as though I was doing my fallen brothers and sisters a show of respect by honoring the sacrifice they'd made for us. I don't think I have any video of that performance, and it wouldn't really do it justice if I did; it's not like I played super well; the sun actually threw me a bit. Personally, it definitely wasn't my best show. But I did what I could, and I can't think of any other show I've played that felt so satisfying. 

And we finished playing, and we took some pictures, and I got to leave behind some flowers and take a moment to say thanks for all they'd done.

Lots more shows to come on the next tour (probably subject to change as these things are):

• Teltow Town Centre
• Hofbraeuhaus, Berlin
• Luebeck Altstadt Square
• Travemunde Pavillion
• Nyhavyn, Copenhagen
• Rosenborg Castle, Copenhagen

Can't wait to play them. If you've been on a tour before which show was your favourite?