EuroTour 2013, Part 2: Padova, Italy, 1st Concert

After my recuperation day in Venice, I took a train to Padova, 60 kms away, location of the first of my three concerts. I was again greeted at the train station by my host, Michele, and taken to my hotel. Another beautiful Italian city I've never visited before....

Once we had completed the guided tour of the city that Michele offered me, I returned to the hotel for a bit before we met up with the members of Duke, a local Genesis tribute band for a wonderful supper.

The very friendly members of Duke.

After supper, I got to sit in on one of their rehearsals for an upcoming performance in Verona....

In the Duke practice room.

Next day, it was time to get the first show up and running! After the customary technical problems for the first few hours, everything ran smoothly and the show was a real pleasure.

playing Seven Stones

talking about my meeting with The Great One

playing Mad Man Moon

promoting each other's CDs, with Paolo Chiarandini

After the concert, I got to meet a lot of people, including the ultra-talented Paolo Chiarandini, who learned all my arrangements by ear(!!!) and made his own CD of them, as well as performing them in the same venue as I did.

with Michele Maran, the organizer, and a brand new fan!

I was also introduced to the best kind of Genesis fan: a brand new one!  :)

concert hall in Padova

It was a night of sharing great music with really nice people in a beautiful town. 

The tour got off to a great start...

To see all my photos of Padova, visit my Dropbox folder

EuroTour 2013, part 1: Arrival In Venice

My amazing 2013 trip to Europe began June 24th, when I left Toronto, bound for Venice, Italy; it was my first time heading to that fabled city. I was met at the airport by Michele, my fantastic host and producer of my upcoming Italian show.

What I quickly learnt about Venice was that as beautiful as one might expect it to be, it is more so.

I had heard over the years that the water was smelly, but I did not detect anything in the couple of days I spent there.
I met someone else on my trip who also said they smelled nothing bad about the water while they were there; in fact, it smelled of nothing at all.

So I had the following day and the next morning to get over my jetlag, although I found it interesting that this time I had no detectable jetlag as such. 

I was told that after making the same trip enough times, the body adapts to some extent. When I first flew to Europe, I needed a week to feel better; this time I felt fine the very next day.


Unfortunately, Venice is being deserted, as the cost of maintaining a home, with the water perpetually eroding it's  foundation has become prohibitively expensive for the locals, who are leaving at the suggested rate of 1,000 buildings per year.

Piazza San Marco. My hotel was just off to the right. Below, with my host Michele Maran.

 

For all my photos of Venice, visit my  Dropbox folder