The first of our two shows in Poland was in Krakow, in a club called the Beautiful Dog (Piekny Pies). The weather turned to shit on our way from Prague, so we were once again worried about attendance at our show. For small bands, rain is one of your worst enemies, cause people don’t know your band and may decide that braving the bad weather isn’t worth it. We were sitting there at the club, waiting for the show to start, eating some pirogi (which is a sort of a Polish dumpling), worrying about making enough money for gas. In the end, though, everything turned out great. The show started really early (before 9pm!), because we had to finish by 10, lest the neighbours call the cops. Despite the early start and the rain, an OK number of people showed up and we had a great show. The energy was through the roof and the sound was awesome. Really pumping it hardcore.
After the show, we stayed in the club for a long time, dancing to the funky vibez from the DJs in charge of the afterparty. The best DJ of the night was actually blind. Like, totally blind, walking around with a cane. But he had no problems finding the buttons on his mixer. Major respect!
Eventually, we went to sleep in a nearby apartment, where we were welcomed by a guy that I can only describe as a Polish hippie shaman. Long white hair, very spiritual, and totally into creating things. We slept on the floor of a pretty small apartment, so it wasn’t comfortable… at all. But it was worth staying there, because we got to meet this guy. He showed us some drums that he made himself, including a small metal tank drum, and shared some words of wisdom with us. All in Polish, of course, since he didn’t really speak English, but where there is a will there is a way and if we speak slowly and try hard enough, Slovenes and Polish people can manage some semblance of a conversation. It’s very interesting, cause every conversation in Polish is like a little puzzle you have to solve. Sometimes you don’t manage to and give up, but when you do, and you bridge that language barrier, it feels like a major victory.
Unfortunately, our brains were fried from clubbing all night, and we didn’t remember to take any pictures with our new shaman friend. After a nice late breakfast of some zapiekanke and žurek on the streets of Krakow, we went to Kobior for the main event of our mini tour – headlining a small local festival called Reggae w Stodole (which means reggae in a barn).
We learned about this little festival when we were on tour in Poland last year. We are very happy that we were invited to come play this year and were really looking forward to it. Unfortunately, the weather inexplicably turned on us. It was hot and sunny before we got there, rained in Cracow, and was cold as hell in Kobior at Reggae w Stodole. Then it was really hot again the next day, while we were driving home. Talk about bad luck. But the Polish party spirit is not so easily broken, so the festival still turned out great.
There were 4 bands playing before us. We didn’t see the first two, cause we had to rest a bit, but the other two were awesome. Shashamane, who played right before us, were especially good. They are a 12 person roots reggae bend made up of very experienced musicians. Shashamane haven’t released any music so far, but their said they are working on an EP. Really looking forward to hearing that, they sound great live!
Then it was our turn and we were ready for it. We were having a great time throughout this tour, and the people in Kobior especially gave us a really warm welcome, not just now, but last year as well. So there was a lot of positive energy in the band and we really let it loose on stage. While scientists are trying to figure out how to use cold fusion to get energy, Raggalution is doing it with reggae fusion 😀 I think the people enjoyed our show and we definitely enjoyed playing for them. Then we enjoyed hanging out with them. We met a bunch of awesome local people, found some pretty original combinations of languages to communicate in, and got properly wasted.
We slept on the floor for the third day in a row, but it’s actually not that bad sleeping on the floor, if you come slightly prepared. Also, unlike hotels and hostels, you don’t have to check out at 11am. On Sunday we slowly put ourselves back together and started our 12 hour journey home (it took that long, because of traffic jams on the highway).
Making new friends in Poland
Like last year, the people of Poland welcomed us with open arms. One great experience on tour is random, but two in a row is starting to look like a pattern. Therefore, we are declaring Poland official Raggalution touring ground! We will definitely try to be back soon. Big up to everyone who helped make our mini tour possible, to all the people giving us love at our shows, and a special thank you to our friend Robert, for everything 🙂
