It’s been a few days since we’ve had internet and since I’ve had any time to write anything. We completed the 4 concerts in 2 days. That was pretty crazy. The first church was full of young people who were up for expending some serious energy. After setting up our equipment (15 minutes to do this and then it was unplugged and the worship band came back on) I had a blood sugar crash. I think I’ve worked out what this is now. I feel really hot even if it’s cold and my head starts spinning a bit. Adrenaline may play it’s part in sucking some blood sugars out of my system, but whatever it is - I went out to the café and took some dextrose and glucose tablets and some sushi. This seemed to work, although slower than I wanted. Sugar even if absorbed quickly doesn’t make me feel instantly better.
We walked onstage and played the songs. Everyone seemed excited and clapped and sang along. Much to the consternation of some of the leaders, our friend Bobo who is training to be a dance teacher grabbed a mic from the stage and started shouting to everyone to go more crazy. Ha ha ha ha ha. Brilliant. One of those things that you can’t stop and that I wouldn’t want to. It all happened too fast. So the temperature in the place rose higher and we had to respond. By the end of the concert it was all a big melee around the front of the stage. I was somewhere in the middle of it.
Then we were bundled into a taxi and rushed off to another church to play another gig. There was 30 minutes on our schedule to get to this gig, set up our equipment and start playing. Needless to say we got lost. In trying to find the right place we walked into a building with a big red cross on it that said there was a church on the second floor. We ended up hauling our stuff there only to find that it was a residential building and the look on the face of the Taiwanese guy that walked out of his flat as we were walking up was definitely one for the cameras. He ran back into his flat and slammed the door. Then a mum and a girl came walking downstairs obviously on some errand. Probably going to 7/11. I smiled at the girl who was probably 5 or 6 years old and said “ni hao” as with all the kindness I could muster. She promoptly burst into tears. So we retreated and eventually found the church… ate dinner… played the concert…signed cds...ate more dinner that the church gave us…then went to another place with Bobo and Pei Chun and supper. aaaaaa Taiwanese food. It’s the best.
The next day, we arrived at New Life at 1:15pm. The church was so packed it was untrue. 2,000 people plus were there and the church had put in a huge order to the local McDonalds, Burger King and other fast food chains in order to feed everyone. I was reading the story of feeding 5,000 and 4,000 the other day. It’s a big enough mission with willing restaurants that you can pay to do the job! We hung out with quite a few musicians, actors and producers from New Life before playing “good day” with Wing and then a new song that we had collaborated on. The people seemed to love it. So did I. I felt very at home and relaxed as lots of the crowd know us by now. I even sang a verse of “good day” in chinese. Thanks Wing.
Then we raced straight from there to the high speed rail. Pretty much the same as France’s TVR. It goes 300kmh. We arrived in Kaoshung and found a very very different set up. 20 local churches had collaborated to create a kind of circus/market. We featured alongside a friend of ours from the record company. that was good. It was an outside gig though - very sweaty as the temperature was in the 30s. The crowd were pretty small and hardened Taiwanese. They seemed to enjoy the show though. I have to admit this one was pretty stressful. Trying to win over a crowd can be tough sometimes. You have to smile and engage even if you feel like leaving the stage and going to a quiet secluded place away from all the darn noise!
The church bundled us all in a van afterwards and we were given an extremely nice meal and taken to a flat that we have been leant for 2 days. Then today (Monday) we had the day off. Min Nian and Ben drove us to the beach in Kending (over 2 hours drive away). Julianne and Hannnah were so excited abou that. They’ve heard all the stories about Spring Scream and how beautiful Kenting is (the location for Spring Scream). Lots of palm trees and beaches. More nice food…racing karts…and a jeep ride. One of the most fun and scary things I have done. You stand up in the back of a 4 x 4 while it races up and down extremely steep sand dunes and along the beach. The finale is a high speed dash through a river. I was surprised at how much water was thrown into the air by this part. We were soaking. We might as well have swum in the sea!
So now I’m sitting here in our room in Kaoshung (the south part of Taiwan) with the fan blowing hot air at me. A bit like Celine Dion on Top of the Pops. All I’m missing is dry ice. Tomorrow we might go to a water park. That would be great as the strain has been immense on Vanga (our friend/manager). She loved going to the beach today. She will love going to the water park as well. Then it’s more concerts and off to Singapore on Friday for a headline slot at the biggest rock festival in Singapore. I hope that is the business. We’ve worked hard enough on our set by now it should be red hot!
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