Tour Diary: Rich Stephenson

One tour diary.
One Cruiseliner.
24 bands from Hull.
A return ticket to Amsterdam.

What could possibly go wrong?

As it turns out, absolutely nothing!

It was an honour to represent my home town on the ‘Made in Hull’ musical mini-cruise from Hull to Amsterdam last weekend.

I was invited to play the two day event by P&O ferries, who have run a service from Hull to Holland for over 50 years.

They wanted to celebrate the amazing music scene Hull has – and I was booked with Pearl’s Cab Ride, Jack Conman, Counting Coins, Fiona Lee and many more acts whose music is making waves beyond their East Yorkshire home.

Live music was across two stages as the ship sailed on the North Sea, with over 1,300 revellers enjoying the music, comedy, casinos and food.

It was also my first tour with my new band (Matt, Andy and Rob) who all play together in Atlantic 45, a super tight soul and funk review act from Hull.

The crisp beats and stonking rhythm section added a lot to my tunes – and it was great to hang out as a group for a few days.

All of the bands we performed with on the Saturday were acoustic based, so we turned a few heads by plugging amps in and properly rock out (especially as a few of those heads were sore from two days of partying!).

I think my video diary shows how much of a laugh we had: some good, old fashioned ‘band on tour’ fun!

Same again next year? I ruddy hope so!

Until then, follow my footsteps on the interactive travel map below… and take it easy!
Rich x