Sound check · Glasgow−∞−48−36−24−18−12−9−6−3−10dB
NIGHT FERRY
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Tour diary
Tour diary: a van, a ferry, Hamburg
Eleven hours on the road, a ferry crossing at dawn and the best green-room soup in Europe — notes from the spring run.
- KindTour diary
- Date14 Jun 2026
- Read6 min
Tour diary
Tour diary: a van, a ferry, Hamburg
Eleven hours on the road, a ferry crossing at dawn and the best green-room soup in Europe — notes from the spring run.
- KindTour diary
- Date14 Jun 2026
- Read6 min
Tour diary
Tour diary: a van, a ferry, Hamburg
Eleven hours on the road, a ferry crossing at dawn and the best green-room soup in Europe — notes from the spring run.
- KindTour diary
- Date14 Jun 2026
- Read6 min
Notes from the spring run, written mostly in the back of the van with the laptop on a guitar case. Spelling has not been checked.
Day one: Glasgow to the coast
Van leaves Govan at 05:40. Callum has packed the drums like a game of Tetris he has played for ten years and he will not let anyone else touch it. Jude has packed nothing except a bag of oranges and a book he will not open. We reach the ferry port with forty minutes to spare, which is a band record.
The crossing
The overnight boat across the North Sea is the best and worst part of any tour. Best: a cabin, a shower, a window. Worst: the bar has a covers band and they know three of our songs better than we do. We stand at the back and clap politely. Ezra requests "Northbound". They do not know it. Fair.
Dawn on the deck is the reason we keep doing it. Flat grey water, gulls, a container ship the size of a town sliding past with every light still on. Nobody talks for half an hour.
CH 0 · Cue“Dawn on the deck is the reason we keep doing it.
Eleven hours
From the port it is meant to be six hours to Hamburg. It is eleven. A closed motorway, a diversion through a lot of small towns with beautiful churches, a petrol station where the only food is pickled herring and chocolate. We eat both. Callum drives the whole way and only admits at the end that he forgot the van has a second key.
The show
The venue is a former warehouse by the docks with a ceiling so high the snare comes back to you half a second late, which is the best thing that has ever happened to the snare. Three hundred people on a Tuesday. A man at the front has a First Crossing paper sleeve from the merch table in 2019 and asks us to sign it. We sign it. We tell him he owns one of about two hundred. He already knew.
We play "Gourock at Two" for the first time, before it was even finished, and the room goes so quiet we can hear the fridge behind the bar.
The soup
This is the important part. The green room has a pot of lentil soup made by the promoter's dad, and it is the best soup any of us have had in Europe. We ask for the recipe. He writes it on the back of a set list. It is now taped inside the van door.
The list, for anyone touring this way
- Book the overnight boat, not the fast one. You need the sleep more than the time.
- Spare van key. Separate pocket.
- Ear plugs for the bar band.
- Leave room in the case for a set list with a soup recipe on it.
Next stop Berlin. We are told the soup there is not as good.
— Ama
Notes from the spring run, written mostly in the back of the van with the laptop on a guitar case. Spelling has not been checked.
Day one: Glasgow to the coast
Van leaves Govan at 05:40. Callum has packed the drums like a game of Tetris he has played for ten years and he will not let anyone else touch it. Jude has packed nothing except a bag of oranges and a book he will not open. We reach the ferry port with forty minutes to spare, which is a band record.
The crossing
The overnight boat across the North Sea is the best and worst part of any tour. Best: a cabin, a shower, a window. Worst: the bar has a covers band and they know three of our songs better than we do. We stand at the back and clap politely. Ezra requests "Northbound". They do not know it. Fair.
Dawn on the deck is the reason we keep doing it. Flat grey water, gulls, a container ship the size of a town sliding past with every light still on. Nobody talks for half an hour.
CH 0 · Cue“Dawn on the deck is the reason we keep doing it.
Eleven hours
From the port it is meant to be six hours to Hamburg. It is eleven. A closed motorway, a diversion through a lot of small towns with beautiful churches, a petrol station where the only food is pickled herring and chocolate. We eat both. Callum drives the whole way and only admits at the end that he forgot the van has a second key.
The show
The venue is a former warehouse by the docks with a ceiling so high the snare comes back to you half a second late, which is the best thing that has ever happened to the snare. Three hundred people on a Tuesday. A man at the front has a First Crossing paper sleeve from the merch table in 2019 and asks us to sign it. We sign it. We tell him he owns one of about two hundred. He already knew.
We play "Gourock at Two" for the first time, before it was even finished, and the room goes so quiet we can hear the fridge behind the bar.
The soup
This is the important part. The green room has a pot of lentil soup made by the promoter's dad, and it is the best soup any of us have had in Europe. We ask for the recipe. He writes it on the back of a set list. It is now taped inside the van door.
The list, for anyone touring this way
- Book the overnight boat, not the fast one. You need the sleep more than the time.
- Spare van key. Separate pocket.
- Ear plugs for the bar band.
- Leave room in the case for a set list with a soup recipe on it.
Next stop Berlin. We are told the soup there is not as good.
— Ama
Notes from the spring run, written mostly in the back of the van with the laptop on a guitar case. Spelling has not been checked.
Day one: Glasgow to the coast
Van leaves Govan at 05:40. Callum has packed the drums like a game of Tetris he has played for ten years and he will not let anyone else touch it. Jude has packed nothing except a bag of oranges and a book he will not open. We reach the ferry port with forty minutes to spare, which is a band record.
The crossing
The overnight boat across the North Sea is the best and worst part of any tour. Best: a cabin, a shower, a window. Worst: the bar has a covers band and they know three of our songs better than we do. We stand at the back and clap politely. Ezra requests "Northbound". They do not know it. Fair.
Dawn on the deck is the reason we keep doing it. Flat grey water, gulls, a container ship the size of a town sliding past with every light still on. Nobody talks for half an hour.
CH 0 · Cue“Dawn on the deck is the reason we keep doing it.
Eleven hours
From the port it is meant to be six hours to Hamburg. It is eleven. A closed motorway, a diversion through a lot of small towns with beautiful churches, a petrol station where the only food is pickled herring and chocolate. We eat both. Callum drives the whole way and only admits at the end that he forgot the van has a second key.
The show
The venue is a former warehouse by the docks with a ceiling so high the snare comes back to you half a second late, which is the best thing that has ever happened to the snare. Three hundred people on a Tuesday. A man at the front has a First Crossing paper sleeve from the merch table in 2019 and asks us to sign it. We sign it. We tell him he owns one of about two hundred. He already knew.
We play "Gourock at Two" for the first time, before it was even finished, and the room goes so quiet we can hear the fridge behind the bar.
The soup
This is the important part. The green room has a pot of lentil soup made by the promoter's dad, and it is the best soup any of us have had in Europe. We ask for the recipe. He writes it on the back of a set list. It is now taped inside the van door.
The list, for anyone touring this way
- Book the overnight boat, not the fast one. You need the sleep more than the time.
- Spare van key. Separate pocket.
- Ear plugs for the bar band.
- Leave room in the case for a set list with a soup recipe on it.
Next stop Berlin. We are told the soup there is not as good.
— Ama