News Tour Diary: The Whigs (Part One - Munich)

Day 1: Munich, Germany

Today we are in Munich, Germany. It’s our first time playing here and we’re excited to have such great exposure opening for Kings of Leon. However, with a day off, we want to take advantage of what Munich has to offer.

We meet up with KOL’s crew to visit Dachau, the WWII concentration camp. Obviously, this isn’t the most uplifting way to spend an afternoon but it was important that we see it and get a much better perspective on this. Reading in school about the horrific acts of cruelty that occurred at these camps doesn’t compare to actually standing in the same barracks and chambers.

On a lighter note, we decide to go back in to Munich and visit the main Christmas market. It is very festive, quite gimmicky, but fun nonetheless. There’s Glühwein, Christmas décor, bratwursts, more Glühwein, and Christmas carolers singing. Lastly, we strolled over (in the freezing cold, us Southerners can’t handle this weather!) to the Hofbrauhaus for classic German oversized beers. It only takes a couple of these steins before you can’t see straight. With a show the next day, it was time to head back to the bus.

It’s a privilege to have our first show in Munich be such a high exposure arena gig opening for a great band like Kings of Leon. But with it comes its challenges. We are aware of the fact that people worship KOL. And we’re fans, too, so we totally understand. The challenge lies in trying to get these fans’ attention for 45 minutes and perhaps introduce them to something new. Each country has it’s own unique energy…the way fans respond and cheer, sit or stand, maybe they’re loud or maybe they’re quiet and attentive. Something we love about KOL’s fans is that they are open minded enough to give an support band a chance. However, that window of time may be small so we have to make sure we give each show everything we’ve got. The Olympiahalle was a nice arena and the audience was even nicer. As we played, they were more and more responsive. The moment we feel like our energy is being reciprocated by the fans, we know we’ve made a connection. Hopefully we’ll see them next time we’re in Munich this upcoming February.

Touring with Kings of Leon is also great because we’ve become such good friends over the past 2 years. We learn a lot from their show, crew, songs, generosity and professionalism. They’ve taken such amazing care of us and we can’t thank them enough. In Munich we ended up hanging out for quite a while afterwards. Somehow Caleb and I found ourselves nearly breaking a sweat playing ping pong game after game. Don’t worry, I was victorious, but I sense a rematch.