Schottenfest - Vienna

I was very excited to have been invited to play Schottenfest in Vienna - getting there proved a little difficult however! I had booked a flight with Air Berlin from the island of Sylt for the morning of the 2nd December - and a week before that I got a message from Shane in Vienna asking me if Air Berlin had provided me with an alternative flight, as they had gone bankrupt and would not be flying me!! 

After a lot of calls, emails and internet searching - I settled on taking a train after the gig on Friday night to Husum, there I would be collected by a lovely couple, Sabine and Sterni, who gave me a bed and brought me back to the airport at 5am (even though I had never met them before!), getting a train to Hamburg and catching my new flight to Vienna! Thanks to Mel and Ulf for helping me get sorted! 

Arriving in Vienna, I was met at the airport by Michael, who was raving about the previous night's gig - making me very jealous I couldn't arrive earlier!  He dropped to my hotel (The RubyMarie) so I could get a little nap before the gig later, and try catch up on some lost sleep!  I was collected later by Dave who I kept missing in dance of lifts, lobbies and receptions, and we headed to the venue where I soundchecked and met more of the Schottenfest team - a nicer bunch of people you could not wish to meet! 

The gig started with a gorgeous set from Doug Andrew - a US native but Vienna dwelling singer songwriter.  I was up next to a room of incredible listeners, which was scary in the dark - but more so when they brought the lights up!  Dave Arcari closed out the night with an absolutely rocking and stomping blues set! 

Sunday was closing day - with an open session in the Ruby Lissi hotel and so much talent from the festival participants to festival volunteers and Vienna Songwriting circle members.  We played for a few hours and then the closing party was another massive sing song that started at 8pm and finished at 2am. We had the greatest night of music and friendship!