We have officially finished our first European tour. And we finished with one hell of a bang...

The last gig of Koritni's 2006 European tour came to an end with one of the greatest gigs any of us had ever done.

The Scorpions gig was held in Amneville at a huge venue called 'Galaxie' which has a capacity of 12000 people. On this particular occasion, though,(because of the large stage causing changes to the seating arrangements) we were greeted with an audience of around 6000!!!!!!

Everything about this gig was huge, even the catering crew consisted of three chefs who served up a dinner one would see at a restaurant. They actually cut a steak off a fillet for us and asked us how we would like it cooked!!! Fruit salads, yogurts and four different desserts filled the serving tables in the dinning room. But enough about food.

Once again we were touched by Murphy's Law (and by Luke's amazing luck with guitar amps) which caused the pre-amp to blow in sound check. Luckily Sam, the man with plan, brought a backup head so that we were able to fix the problem and finish our sound check.

It seemed that our luck with gear lingered on the stage because the 'one man band' (Thomas Kieffer, guitarist with three pedal boards and a rack unit full of sequencers and effects) who opened the show blew some of his gear as well.... On the first bar of his first song no less......But he did get in a few songs after eliminating his problem.

When we saw the amount of people in the venue we were a little rattled to say the least but I have to say, and I know I'm biased, that my band kicked the proverbial ass on that stage and let those Scorpions fans feel the rockin' grooves that we so regularly deliver.

Our set was shorter than usual; half an hour, and we powered through the songs with all the energy we had. Everyone felt really focused and excited to be finishing our first tour together with such a monstrous show, and we all had an absolute blast.

After the show we relieved ourselves of all our picks and sticks, hurling them recklessly into the crowd as only true rockers do, and retired for a few beers with Peter, the Scorpions manager.

The rest of the night kept getting better; we watched The Scorpions rock out for two hours, signed a bunch of posters and CD's for our new friends (I believe we sold forty albums in all) then went and drank with THE SCORPIONS at their hotel until the wee hours of the morning. It all gets a little hazy after that' we had reports about some rumbling on the grass outside the hotel and someone mooning the concierge but they are all very speculative..... It doesn't sound like us really.

Probably the most amazing gig any of us have ever done. Thank you Scorpions.....

Signing off till next time/tour. Thanks for reading.

The Huntsman

Peace

Paris gets a taste of Koritni...

After the huge Belgium gig and radio appearance we had the immense task of winning over the Parisian punters and (our manager would say 'more importantly') press. There was much anticipation in the air as we ventured into the Nouveau Casino where, in a few hours time,  we would play supported by ACDC cover band 'Scotland'.

'How did it go?' you ask.... Well, Murphy's law always presents itself when you try to plan too much and the extra planning our manager, Sam, did to make the gig a success almost stopped the gig in its tracks. Luke's speaker box spat the dummy and ate the input jack in the second song and forced us to leave the stage for ten mins while the techs from Scottland tried to fix it.
It looked grim and the possibility of doing the show with only one guitarist was very real.... But in no time it was fixed and we took the stage with a note of triumph that energized us and the patient audience for the rest of the set.

It was a great night and we would like to send a huge thanks to the boys from Scottland and the Nouveau Casino for making it a really enjoyable gig for us.


Koritni VS Corsica... The only winner is ROCK

Friday, the day after the huge night in Paris, we were ferried into our limo's and driven to the airport for our 'first class all the way' trip to Corsica...

Well, actually,  no limo's or first class travels every entered into our trip. Only amazing weather, extremely friendly people and some interesting culinary adventures that made for a sojourn full of memories. The island of Corsica is absolutely beautiful with its long winding coastal roads to its crystal clear waters, which we weren't able to sample unfortunately.... Too busy rocking out. Well next time.

The gig, after changing venues three times on the day of the actual performance, was held at an outdoor soccer field in the mountains. We played on a raised level in a marquee tent to approximately 30 people who would become our very close friends.

We were able to scam a soccer ball from the kids after they had finished their Saturday practice and found out how unhealthy being on the road can be. Play was suspended after about 15 mins from sheer exhaustion and a a list on injuries that included: three abrasions, an injured hip and two wardrobe catastrophes that led to Lexs' tight black pants from covering all the important places!!!
This was definitely the most Spinal Tap leg of our Euro invasion with our dinner consisting of freshly killed 'Corsican wild pig' rolls and a very tasty Corsican beer (Pietra) that we became very familiar with during our stay.
The gig was probably the most fun we have had on stage so far with a great reaction from the crowd and an invitation for 6 more shows next Summer... If possible.

The rest of our stay consisted of a freshly caught and barbequed fish lunch and an amazing dinner of traditional Corsican recipes that left us all loosening our belts.... Well, actually, just me. There were memorable times had by all but one of the most memorable times for me was an incident that occurred during our second night of stay........
I was sharing a bed with our manager Sam (an extremely straight man I promise) and woke up to find something in the sheets. Being the middle of the night I could not make out the fury object and dismissed it to the side of the bed to continue my well deserved sleep. Upon my wake the next morning I looked down at my side of the bed and, after my eyes had adjusted themselves, realized that my midnight visitor was nothing less than a dead mouse!!!!! It was almost completely petrified and was neither excreting any guts, or attracting any visible bugs or maggots.

This, after my announcement, turned out to be an hilarious event amongst the Koritni camp, seeing as though I am, by far, the biggest germa-phobe out of all of us. I'm sure that it will live on for many a tour to come as one of
our fondest memories of Corsica.

Stay tuned sports fans for more wild adventures coming you way.

Dear all,

I hope everyone is fighting fit back home and checking the koritni website religiously because it is getting packed up with pics and videos from our gigs.

We had a gig in the town of Verviers in the waffle making country of Belgium on Tuesday and it was off the hizzook!!!

We played at a place called SPIRIT OF 66 which is one of those Americana/50s nostalgia bars similar to the Hard Rock Cafe. It was a smaller turn out compared to what we have been playing to recently but what the crowd lacked in numbers they made up for in energy-and merchandise purchases. The crowd was so supportive of us that even though we blundered through the set a little they still sung out and cheered for the KORITNI juggernaut to do two encores... That is three in a row by my count!

The next day we set off straight away back to Paris where we unloaded the van at our home base and headed straight for a rehearsal for the acoustic recording for a Parisian radio station. After a few hours of recording and a few coffees we were on our way, through some of Paris' best traffic, to the radio station which, of course, was blocked off because of a gas leak - leading us to carry the gear into the danger zone and argue with the fire department that we were important enough to risk injuries.

Being in the tired and loony states that we were in, we decided it would be a good idea to do our recording in our underpants! For the onlookers it was a special event that required many awkward photo oppurtunities but that, as they now know, is part of the fun that is KORITNI.

The recording left us all tired and hungry....We were there till past midnight and no one bought us dinner!!!! This rock stardom is not all it's cracked up to be.

Thursday is our Paris show and by all accounts looks to be a cracker of a night. We are all very excited for this one and will not be letting the people of this city down. Especially since it has been our home away from home for a little while now.

Till next times sports fans... This is Matty 'the huntsman' Hunter signing off.

PS - ROCK!