Hello everybody, here we go again. This time back in The Hague after about two and a half weeks of traveling and creating memories. I posted my last entry from Prague and couple of seconds after hitting the “publish” button, the fucking city went down. Blackout. I’m talking buildings, elevators, traffic lights, public transport (trams and subway)… Everything off. My mobile data kinda worked but super slow, the whole shit was a mess. About an hour prior, I took an elevator at my friend’s building and I was really fucking grateful not taking it a bit later as firefighters were driving aroud rescuing people from those for a good part of the rest of the day. I also had to rethink my immediate plans as I had initially intended to get to the airport partly by metro. Fortunately, my friend has a car and he offered me a ride. Was a bit afraid of traffic jams and people panicking but there were some parts of Prague unaffected and the airport was running as usual. So I did make it to Geneva and subsequently to Lausanne later on that day.
The whole Swiss thing was pleasant. Again, visiting Switzerland is a bit of a trip when you look at how much shit costs but if you come a guest, you know people, you have a place to stay and you get to cook most of your meals, it’s bearable. All of this kinda doesn’t matter as some of the shit I had a chance to do there turned out to be priceless.
Let me start with Lausanne where we spent the first two nights. There was this city festival they hold every year and they have evidently managed to create something special. It all takes place at different stages around the center, you got theater, you got performances, you got concerts, you got dj sets… You got the whole fucking city on their feet, streets flooding with people of different age groups, different ethnicities, different subcultures. The vibe was really cool, we caught some really good shows and I really wish this happened everywhere. And I also wish people people danced and vibed more than they work and stress. We are all getting this fucking thing wrong. On top of that, we did some pedal boats and some hangouts up in vineyards close to the city with magnificent views at the Leman Lake, French mountains and picturesque towns and villages. Fucking Switzerland.
I spent the rest of time in a village not far away, went swimming in the lake pretty much every day, met up with some super cool people and generally focused on pleasant things. I did work but I managed to limit my work mostly to mornings and early afternoons. The fact that it’s summer holiday and the schedule is a bit more loose definitely helped.
On Wednesday, it was my birthday and I was taken for a fucking ride. The only thing I had been informed about was that we were going to take a train somewhere. In my head, I was picturing either a hike or a picnic or some shit like that. Firstly, because that would have already been a pretty nice birthday program, and secondly, because I don’t really celebrate my birthday like that so my imagination tends to be quite limited. As I was about to be shown. Anyways, we went to the city of Montreux where we hiked up all the way to Sonloup. Beautiful hike, no people, Canadian-level nature, great weather. We did some stops but as we were walking uphill, it was a bit of an exercise. On the way down, we took a cable car and a train. Both with some beautiful views. Like a Switzerland ad. Now, in Montreux, we walked up into the Montreux Jazz Festival sign. I had been aware of the brand but I did not know it was happening right there at that moment and honestly, I didn’t pay it much attention. My brain was focusing on getting some food, possibly a having swim and then wrapping up a great day. About half an hour later, I got brought to a ticket stand and I ended up with a festival bracelet on my wrist. Still not knowing why the fuck, asking all stupid questions, trying to connect the dots of how are we getting a ticket when they’re obviously sold out with whole bunch of resellers running around trying to hustle people. I actually had to be told that this is the main part of the gift. That on my fucking birthday at this festival there’s Raye performing and we were about to see her. Now, Raye has been my absolute favorite singer for the past 3 to 4 years (ever since I stumbled upon Escapism which left me with my jaw dropped) and seeing her had been on my bucket list for a while. What a treat! Okay, so let me start with the shit that was not perfect (because the show itself actually was). We got to the stage around 7:30 and Raye was booked for 9:15. She did have an opening act – a singer named Jade who I’m not really familiar with and whose music did not speak to me that much. She did throw a really good show tho and I don’t think she could have done much more with a crowd of people mostly either non or very vaguely familiar with her. It was going well. The only thing that’s not great with events like this is the whole format. You kinda need to be there a bit early so you don’t end up 100 meters away from the stage and you also kinda need to stay there. So if you feel like taking a piss after 2 hours, you better think twice. Because it’s gonna take you like half an hour to make your way out of there and then you’ll never make it back. I have not been to many festivals but I feel like that degree of discomfort was a bit more acceptable when I was 20 than it is now. But that’s just me being a grandpa. Everything else was legendary. The fucking stage is literally right by the lake (Smoke On The Water was directly inspired by a concert Deep Purple threw there years ago), it was all happening around sunset so the background light was unbelievable and when you turned around, you saw mountains (and some lucky motherfuckers who happened to live in apartments with premium overview of the show from their balconies). Now Raye… Fucking Raye. I’ve followed her career ever since I spotted her and she’s blossoming. The stages are getting bigger, the band is growing. And she is a true musician. I’ve been to shows where I was happy to see my favorite artists but the performances were kinda shit. You’re still happy but the artist gets out of breath, it all sounds messy and it ends up being mostly about people chilling there sharing the moment, watching their heroes. Ray is a cut from different cloth. I feel like the first thing she invests in when she starts getting more money is musicians. Really good musicians. She had keys, guitar, bass guitar, jazz sextet and two background singers. And her stage presence, vocal skill set, the ability to improvise and capture the whole crowd by her angelic voice… Holy shit! She slides between super deep messages and bops, between blues, jazz, hip-hop and electronics… All seamlessly, all without breaking a vibe, all with backing by live instruments and showstopping solos. The whole show could be (and most likely will be) released as a live album as it is. She plays with songs, they all have more or less different arrangements than the album cuts and it all sounds perfect. I swear to god, there was not a single moment of her voice breaking, not a single moment of her getting lazy… You were just standing there nearly not believing your eyes and ears (wanting to pee a bit). She outsings pretty much everybody on this planet, she outraps most people rapping and she blends all of those things into something so cohesive it warms your heart. Oh, and she did nearly two hours while contractually obliged to one. Interacting with fans, openly stating she would push the curfew to the max... All in all, most likely the best show I’ve ever seen. Super happy I got to experience that and super happy I got people in my life that would go through all the trouble to make it happen for me. One love!
The day after, we met up with couple more people, we rented a car and did a trip about an hour away. Since nobody really felt like driving, I got to handle that for the first time in Switzerland. It was fun, we did a bit of a hike and ended up in a forest by some waterfalls and natural swimming pools. Because fucking Switzerland. I really had a great time over there, I’m happy how everything went and I feel these past two and a half weeks were nothing but positive energy. So shout out to everybody who played a part in that!
We arrived to The Hague around 11am today. I got to do a walk, jump into the sea, do some shopping and send some texts regarding plans for the upcoming week (diving, here I come again!). Hope you guys are safe and sound, hope y’all safe. Keep it positive, don’t entertain bullshit and don’t let them fuck with your inner light. Oh, and here’s my current birthday record. One!
Highlights:
- Raye.
- Raye again.
- Switzerland.
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