News Page October 2004: News from the St. Thomas world, and updates to this page in October 2004. This page is not an official source of information, if in doubt of accuracy of info please get in touch with webmaster of this page or the info source.

October 25th 2004 - On Belgian radio today
St. Thomas will perform three songs live on the Belgian radio station Pure FM today. Unless my French is totally off and I am looking at the wrong day, St. Thomas will be on the show "Buzz" that lasts from 16:00 to 18:00. Thomas wrote in a text message that they would play at around five, and you should be able to listen to the performance through streaming MP3 by clicking the button that says 'écouter en direct' on the station's webpage.

UPDATE: The show has just started airing now, but Thomas sent a text message saying they have already finished performing, and that it will be broadcast at 18:00 tomorrow. He thought they had performed well.

October 13th 2004 - On The Road With St. Thomas
St. Thomas' European tour is well underway, and has been the most impressive start of any St. Thomas tour so far. Thomas himself says that now is the first time ever that St. Thomas has been stabilized as a well-performing live act, with the first five concerts of the tour being amongst the best-ever St. Thomas concerts. The sound of the band is slightly changed since last time around, with the introduction of Petter Pogo on bass and with Thomas leaving his acoustic guitar at home to focus on a more rock-oriented sound, and even several guitar solos. It seems to be a good change, both for the band itself and for the audience who seem to like the concerts better than ever before.

The tour started in Copenhagen on Wednesday, and Thomas writes in the messages on his page that it started a bit nervous but at the end the audience did not stop cheering for more. The concert the next day was canceled due to some organizing trouble, so the band enjoyed the sights and sounds of Copenhagen for a day off before driving to Hamburg to play at Indra Klub on Friday.

I went to Hamburg to follow them on tour for the next three days, and met a smiling and happy band outside of Indra in the afternoon. Unfortunately, things did not stay on top, as the soundcheck dragged on for hours and the sound never got any good, and afterwards the band (and I, unfortunately) were taken to the 'three-star hotel' that had been agreed upon in the contract; a dirty and worn-out one-room apartment with a double-decker bed and three matresses on the floor. Beatles played their first German concert at Indra in the Sixties, and the running joke was that she sheets of the matresses we would have to sleep on had not been washed since then.

Petter Pogo has been on tour since before some of us were born, and his down-to-earth rhetorics on things going up and down in life lightened the mood, and we went to an Italian restaurant to eat. There they kept speaking Italian to us, and since we did not understand any of that, Petter kept replying in Norwegian. If anyone ever meets Petter and does not like the guy it must be a wonder, because a more likeable person is hard to come across.

The concert itself turned out well, the sound was good both for the audience and on stage, and around hundred people paid to get in and there were quite a lot of people on the guestlist. They all saw a band that performed extremely well, with the well-oiled dynamics between Alex, Thomas and Petter on stage as the icing on the cake. They started the concert with a cover of Herman Düne's "Sheer Wonder," and were not let off stage before they had played two encores. The mood after the concert was great, everyone were happy, and Thomas' dad sold tons of merchandise.

The night in the apartment was a quite different experience than the concert. Let us just say that Alex slept creeped up to the wall because he thought there was a pee-stain in the middle of his matress, Thomas' dad opted to sleep in his full outfit to not have to get in contact with anything, and Thomas slept on a couch at Weltbühne instead of at the apartment. But it is things like that that makes a band a unity and makes them appreciate what they got the next day in Dresden even more.

At Scheune in Dresden everything was very professional, the sound-system was great, the venue was big with a nice backstage, and there was a woman there who served as the band's assistant and kept going one step ahead of the band, bringing them everything before they even got a chance to ask her. Very nice. I hope someone remembered to thank her for that.

Not a lot of people showed up right after doors opened, so we started to get a bit of nerves that the organizers made such efforts for the band and then no one would show up and they would lose a lot of money. But as it neared concert-start more and more people came in, and it ended up with more than hundred people in the audience, yet another great concert, a happy band and a happy audience (including one big St. Thomas fan who got to go onstage and sing along to "Sunny Day" for the first encore), and a happy organizer too.

After the concert the band checked out what Dresden had to offer, and apparently it was quite a lot, so there were a lot of tired faces when we met up to go Berlin the next morning. The drive was just two hours, and the first thing we did when getting to Berlin was to go to an apartment viewing with Thomas, since he wants to move to the city. Unfortunately we just heard today that he did not get it, but hopefully he will find another nice place.

Then we went to Knaack Klub to do the soundcheck and for the hungry band to get some refreshments. The people at Knaack had prepared some delicious vegetarian stuff, but Thomas, known for keeping focus on the big issues, kept complaining that the bread was a bit too dry. Afterwards we went out to eat, and for some reason no one complained that the restaurant we were directed to was being renovated and lacked basic facilities such as a bathroom and, well, walls...

The concert at Knaack was, once again, brilliant. There was only one person who was a bit unsure of how great it was, and unfortunately that person was standing with a microphone in his hand and told the audience that he did not think it was a very good concert. Everyone in the audience were confused, because they seemed to love every second of it, but doing it the silent Berliner-way, clapping the band back on for two encores. The sales at the merchandise table after the concert seemed to convince even Thomas that it had indeed been a good concert and that people liked it.

After that it was unfortunately time for me to say goodbye to the band, they went on to Prague for a day off, and then to Vienna where they played last night. Thomas sent a message saying the concert there was "insane, I gave the audience a rating of six out of six, they sang along and we sold a record amount of merchandise." Hopefully the band can stay focused, keep playing good concerts and making this the best St. Thomas tour ever.

October 2nd 2004 - British venues confirmed
The venues for the UK part of the European tour have now been confirmed. St. Thomas will play at Portland Arms in Cambridge on November 7th, Water Rats Theatre in London the day after that, The Fenton in Leeds the next day and at Cumberland Arms in Newcastle on November 10th. Please check the main page for the complete tour list, and be sure to check out Thomas' messages for his thoughts on the upcoming tour, and a list of songs (including the Herman Düne cover "Sheer Wonder") that can be expected to be heard on the tour.

October 2nd 2004 - Some changes to Swizz dates
There have been two changes to the forthcoming European tour dates in Switzerland. The concert on October 17th will now take place in Biel instead of Thun, venue to be confirmed, while the concert on October 16th has been confirmed to take place at the venue Wagenmeister in Basel.