EUROPE TOUR 2010
by Jim Stewart

That night from my merchandising sales location in the Rheingoldhalle I had a clear view of the beautiful Rhine River and the carnival rides that were being set up along the walkway for a festival later that week. Sad news had reached Joan in Mainz when she received word that renowned photographer and longtime friend Jim Marshall had passed away in New York City while on a book tour. Mr. Marshall had photographed Joan many times over the years including the famous photo of Joan and her sisters used on the famous anti-war poster Girls Say Yes To Boys Who Say No.

Immediately after the Mainz show we were off to Munster's Halle Munsterland, where the band's Grammy award winning bass player Todd Phillips was off to meet his new in-laws for the first time! The meeting obviously went very well, as Todd was all smiles onstage that night.

Joan surprised her band at the tour's last show on March 28 in Braunschweig, Germany, when she performed "Joe Hill" solo, instead of with them as she had in most of the other shows on this tour, harkening back to her performance in the film " Woodstock." Braunschweig was a gem of a finale to the tour with a very alert, appreciative and enthusiastic audience who sang along loudly when requested to do so and rushed the stage to encourage Joan to do encore after encore. This final show was attended by many of Joan's wonderful fans who came from all over Europe and the United Kingdom. In particular, Michaela, Andrea and Rosi are always welcome faces for me to see, since they are so helpful with the merchandising aspect of the shows.

But, alas, this is no way to start a tour report! To do that properly, let's set the Joan Baez Wayback Machine to February 16 and Vienna, Austria, where Joan and her entourage gathered. The first day seemed to be "tooth" day on this tour - Joan was all smiles as she displayed a new gold tooth with a diamond placed in the middle that her dentist had recently mounted in her mouth, and Joan's manager Mark Spector was off to find a dentist in Vienna who could reinstall a crown that had come off during his travel overseas. Joan's energetic, efficient and lovely personal tour assistant/guitar tech Emma Vasseur was back for her third tour and could be found wandering the streets looking for a Bikram Yoga studio. Afternoon rehearsals were delayed when Joan was summoned to have tea with Austrian President Heinz Fischer. Joan had recently mastered texting in preparation for this tour, and she sent Emma a message to deliver copies of the new DVD biography Joan Baez: How Sweet The Sound to the President's office. After wandering around Vienna for awhile, Emma got on track by seeking the help of a kind, scholarly-looking pedestrian that she stopped and asked for directions.

The first concert went off without a hitch in Vienna, and Joan was so enthused after the show that she, Emma, and a few other members of the tour group decided to walk back to the hotel some distance away. It was a cold, blustery night, and the group ambled by an amazing ice skating area around one of the city's ornate public buildings where they watched skaters and sipped delicious hot cider - spiked with rum!

After Vienna, we traveled to Salzburg, the Sound of Music city, where much of the Julie Andrews' classic film was done on location. Everyone roamed around the streets and marveled at the wondrous Austrian sites. I couldn't help but hum tunes from the film as I strolled around the enchanting city and encountered familiar places that I had seen in the movie, while keeping an eye open for Maria and the von Trapp kids - who never did materialize!

After Joan's major Austrian successes, our lavish tour bus with its friendly, capable driver, Barry Anderson, headed to Augsburg, Germany, for a day off. Tour manager Blair Woods and production/sound manager Jason Raboin headed for a skiing adventure in the Alps.

During the show the next evening, Joan performed a stunning a capella rendition of "Pilgrim of Sorrow." She then requested Emma bring her a glass of the cherry brandy that a thoughtful fan had given her before the show. Joan delighted the audience as she saluted them and took a drink from the glass and announced, "I have to have a drink after singing a religious song!" She then passed the glass around the stage so everyone who wanted could have a sip! There was no doubt that Joan had this audience in the palm of her hand, and she got great results when she asked them to join her for "Sagt Mir Wo Die Blumen Sind (Where Have All The Flowers Gone)" which featured brilliant multi-talented band member Dirk Powell's wonderful keyboard work.

After an 8.5 hour overnight bus ride to Lyon, France, the group found itself in a hotel across from a magnificent park with a zoo. Despite continuing bad weather, most of the group managed to take public transportation into town to eat and shop and stroll through the lovely park. Ian Cameron, Jason, Emma, Todd and Blair were off in a rented car to visit a winery where Blair's favorite wine is created.

The month of March started off with a 9 hour bus ride to Barcelona, Spain, where we encountered the first really good weather of the tour. Joan was returning to perform at the dazzling Palau de la Musica Catalana, with its gilded golden angels and horses, and one of the most spectacular stained glass ceilings I've ever seen in my many years of touring with Joan. Catherine Turek (a Joan Baez fan from France) and Diego Herman (from Argentina) had arrived for the concert in this musical palace, and they both helped me sell merchandise.

A mini-tour of Spain followed. Vigo appeared to be an industrial city on the Ria de Vigo, which flows into the north Atlantic ocean, where Joan and I posed for pictures with an impressive statue of author Jules Verne and that gigantic squid he wrote about in 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. Jason, Emma, Ian Cameron and I decided to tour Castro Castle on a hill above the city and stopped for a street-side lunch that consisted of raw oysters, squid, and other fresh seafood items. Before that night's show, Ian Cameron became very ill and was found lying on a bench backstage, softly moaning with a jacket over his head to keep the world out. He was so ill he stayed behind while the rest of us traveled to Gijon (pronounced hee-hawn) for the next show. By the time the bus rolled into Gijon, Jason and Emma were sick, and I soon followed suit! I lay blame on the murderous Vigo oysters that attacked us at lunch the previous afternoon! It was good to see Ian Cameron roll in with the Spanish crew the next day, looking much better. And while Jason recovered quickly, Emma and I suffered the consequences for the next couple of weeks. However, some rotten oysters couldn't stop me from visiting Gijon's seawall and walking along the waterfront in the strong winds that threatened to blow me into the sea. Luckily, we were in contact with our friend, Anke, who is a German doctor, and she recommended some products that would help reduce the discomfort caused by the killer oysters of Vigo!

By now it was time for a different European country: Portugal! Joan hadn't appeared there for decades, and the audience at Porto's Casa da Musica made her know how much she had been missed. The city was proud of their modern performance hall with its amazing brown exterior sandstone tile pavement that continued inside the venue. However, the modernistic structure just reminded me of a toaster oven! John, the tour's gifted musical director and recent Grammy nominee, and Todd were off to San Francisco Cathedral. They brought back stories of wandering through dark catacombs where they encountered skeletal remains of past residents. I elected to stay close to the venue and visited Prado do Repouso Cemetary which is internationally known for its beauty and magnificent statuary.

As a special treat for that night's audience, Joan performed a song in Portuguese, "Red Carnation," and spoke of their nonviolent Red Carnation Revolution, along with other internationally successful nonviolent efforts such as the Czech Velvet Revolution, and the work of Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

For her next audience in Lisbon, Joan probed her memory bank for something unique to perform and recalled the Brazilian song from her Joan Baez/5 album, "O'Cangaceiro." The song was so enthusiastically received by the audience that it remained in the set list for the rest of the tour.

While in Madrid, Joan was presented with Spain's Order of Arts and Letters under a decree from the Minister of Culture, Angeles Gonzalez-Sinde. The band's percussionist, Gabe Harris, had a reunion with his wife and daughter who were visiting from their home in California. Then the bus headed off on a 14 hour drive to Toulon, France. Joan was sitting in the "crow's nest" section of the bus located on the second story above the driver. She noticed a sign that announced we were passing through Arles and recalled that this was the hometown of her dear friend Marie Flore and is mentioned in her composition "Marie Flore" which is included on the 1971 Blessed Are... album.

After a show in Besancon, France, it was time to head back to Germany for the tour's final 8 shows. When we reached Baden-Baden for a couple of days off, Jason and Blair headed for another skiing adventure, while the rest of us celebrated St. Patrick's Day in a Chinese restaurant.

The next day Ian Cameron and Emma went to a spa that sounded more like an automatic car wash, with its scrub brushes and all, while I went to catch a wonderful concert by the Baden-Badener Philharmonic Orchestra, and John took a 5 mile (each way) walk into the beautiful German countryside. Everyone noticed that the few patches of snow remaining from Baden-Baden's harsh winter were giving way to purple and yellow wildflowers. Meanwhile I startled the local natives by wearing an oversized leprechaun's hat around town and to dinner, sharing the glories of St. Patty's Day with the locals who were rather uninformed about the holiday!

By now the concert cities were flying by - first Regensburg, then Heilbronn where Joan added "Handsome Molly" and "Deportee" to the set list and performed the Tunisian song "Jaria Hamouda" with Gabe, and she joined Luciano Pavarotti as one of the recipients of the Jussi Bjorling Silver Medallion. Next came Dusseldorf, and then Ravensburg where Joan and the band tinkered with songs like "Before the Deluge," "Marriott USA," and "Lily, Rosemary and the Jack of Hearts" during soundcheck, and Joan and Emma went shopping for exquisite candies to send home to Joan's mother, Joan Baez, Sr. When Joan summoned me to her room a story above the town square to accompany her on a walk, I looked down and noticed Ian Cameron, Blair and Jason seated at a sidewalk cafe table immediately below the room's window. I couldn't help but pelt the unsuspecting trio with grapes from the hotel's complimentary fruit basket. To everyone's amazement Blair stood up and actually caught one of the grape missiles in his mouth! The entire event reminded me of another Joan Baez composition: "Children and All That Jazz."

And this returns us to the place where this tour report began: Mainz, Germany. Only Munster and Braunschweig remained before we all headed to the Frankfurt airport where Joan, Gabe and Dirk would catch a flight to Paris to participate in a music festival at Joan's beloved Chateau de Canisy in the Normandy region of France. The rest of us would head to our respective homes, with the exception of Ian Cameron, who changed his travel plans and headed off to more adventures in Prague and London.

So there you have it - another amazing Joan Baez tour under our belts! This report marks the end of another tour, but finds us looking forward to the wonderful U.S. venues coming up this summer. We hope to see you somewhere along the way.

All photos by Jim Stewart, 2010

Be sure to take a look at the many other photos from this tour. Enjoy!

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