After a few morning errands, we had coffee with Tjalle and then got on the train to Liege. The countryside is very serene here, rolling green fields, horses and cows, and old fenced-in pastures. The villages are gray and black, houses nestled together every few kilometers.

As we get further east, the fields fold into small rolling hills. Dense forest and narrow valleys. Aliza and I are amazed when we get to the train station at Liege, it is a very modern and huge station. A giant elliptical globe, very bright and elegant concrete work. We are supposed to call Xavier when we arrive, but then we find the payphones don't take coins or visa. So we find a taxi and tell him the address, and he is a little confused, which is strange for a taxi, so we start to wonder that something is amiss. The taxi driver is a nice old fellow, white mustache with the nicotine stain, and he tells us about the vibrant classical music history in Liege. He is very proud of it, and points out the conservatory and other sights as we drive across the bridges of this pretty city.

We get to where the address is supposed to be, and it is just a small Quai by the river with some boat restaurants. There are no street numbers. In the distance the taxi driver spots a guitarist walking onto one of the boats and he says maybe that is it? We are confused, because we are supposed to be playing at the Tipi, which I am pretty sure is not on a boat. I have the address on my phone, copy/pasted from the email, so it can't be wrong. So we drive over to the other boat, and I walk on. There is a lady sitting and eating under the canopy. I ask if this is the Tipi, she says no this is the Legia. I ask for Xavier or Patrick and she says Xavier will be here later. The mystery expands.... Then her eyes light up and she says “oh are you the Canadian who is playing tonight?” I say I am a Canadian that is supposed to play in Liege tonight, but I am confused because the Tipi told me I am playing there but told me to come here. We find out later, after many criss-crossing conversations, and after the fellow who booked us comes by, that there had been a double booking at the Tipi. There are two guys booking it, and somehow a Mexican ska band had been booked too. We could've played together, but the fit would not have been good; my music is quite soft and mellow, probably not the best for a wired ska crowd. So Patrick had found us another venue to play at, and it was this place called the Legia, an old river boat converted in to a bar and music studio. It was such a cool place that I didn't mind the change of venues. We probably didn't get as many people at the show since we were not downtown where everyone is walking around, but we still had a good crowd show up, some to see us and some to see the other band that was originally booked at the Legia, and who kindly didn't mind us spontaneously opening for them.

We had arrived a few hours early for the show, so after we figured everything out we were entertained and fed by the friendly staff. We had a barbecue on the deck of the boat, Aliza learned how to play darts, and we enjoyed the serenity of being on the riverside.

As I mentioned, some people had come to the show to see us, the Tipi had announced on their website that the show was moved (I wish I had checked their website in the last week...). Of the people that came to see us, there was Seb and Virginie. They invited us for drinks at their table, and we enjoyed a long conversation about music and touring and politics. When they found out that we were only in Liege for the night, they kindly offered to give us a quick tour of the city center, which we hadn't yet had a chance to see since the taxi brought us straight to the venue. Earlier, we had thought about jamming with all the musicians when the sets were over, but we were pretty tired and really wanted to see more of the town. The four of us piled into Seb and Virginie's tiny european car (we drove downtown), and they pointed out monuments and districts and gave us a quick history of the town. It took us a while to find parking on this busy Friday night. The wanted to take us to the 'carre,' the square, a hip part of town that they used to go to when they were younger, but not anymore because there are too many party people. Indeed, the narrow streets were so packed full of drunken youths that we could barely make our way through. We were hungry, so we stopped and got a special donair, in an empty restaurant blasting club music so loud that I almost (not really) got into it.. It was neat to see where the locals go out. It was so nice of them to drive us around as ambassadors for Liege, and they were eager to help us with future shows in the area. We definitely made two new friends.