Alex, Myself, The Beatles, DIY Postmen, and great friends…

Hey,

I hope you’re doing well! I’m currently sitting outside in a small local cafe in Hamburg, a place I always like to come to and sit down ever since I discovered it during my very first visit to the Reeperbahn Music Festival, back in 2015.

I usually like to simply sit down here, and get lost in my thoughts for a few minutes as the day slowly kicks in, looking at people passing by, either walking, talking, reading, on the phone or else…! But this Saturday morning, as I start writing these words to you, it feels completely different from every previous year as I’m looking at all the pictures some of you already sent me from our summer tour while listening to The Beastie Boys right as 8h59 turns 9am. I’m so amazed and grateful because they’re all so amazing and remind me how great this tour has been! I’m already in such an uplifted vibe even if it’s way too early, and I’m exhausted after 3 long but wonderful days of meetings and concerts!

If you just joined the SFCC, in my latest letter, I asked everyone who came to our concerts to send me some pictures they had taken during the tour as we’d like to create a picture book and to get everyone involved! Please, keep sending more if you haven’t already! :)

It feels so great to be back in Hamburg for the Reeperbahn Music Festival, where it all started for us with Alex’s new project back in 2019. The entire European tour we just did happened following our passage here in 2019, something we’ll always be very grateful for...!

This time, we started the journey acting as DIY postmen with our 6 huge bags loaded with all the orders we received on the HTR Store in the past few weeks! We spent around three hours at the Hamburg airport post office making sure everything was properly done and shipped to you! Poor postman! He deserves a week off, I’m telling you! :) He was completely mesmerized, saying "I’ve never seen Canadians come here to ship hundreds of packages across Europe in my entire 20-year career in the postal service!" I took it as a compliment!!!

Even if Alex and I came here in order to meet those very same people we met in 2019 to plan 2023 — both being people of traditions as you now know more and more — we had to spend countless hours at our favorite spot for a drink near the harbor. There’s no greater way to end the afternoon before kicking into Hamburg’s crazy night life for me…! This calm waterfront, the fresh autumn breeze, and the early sunset bring a nostalgic vibe where everyone speaks and laugh quietly, making sure no one breaks this amazing moment in time. 

I remember this one evening where Alex and I started talking about this city being kind of the real birthplace for The Beatles, where they stayed months, playing night after night, trying to make a name for themselves (which is the entire idea of what the Reeperbahn Festival is about)... Quite interesting decades later! I’m a Beatles fan and have always been for as long as I can remember but Alex isn’t at all, and these musical conversations are always quite animated, especially when we don’t agree. As I was carried away with excitement around some nebulous analogies, Alex stopped me right away, without hesitating a split second. 

"I’m going to stop you right there! The Beatles aren’t the greatest rock'n'roll band of all time, it's The Rolling Stones! There’s not even a slight comparison to make here!" I kinda felt a few heads turn toward us, and this gentle little terrace vibe quickly changed. Here we were, in the middle of a debate with people we didn’t know, arguing about who was the greatest rock'n'roll band of all times between The Rolling Stones and The Beatles! I couldn’t believe this! It was insane! Everything was thrown into the mix, even comparing who was the more badass and trouble-makers between the Mick & Keith team vs John & Paul! The haircuts, the drummers' style and musical approach (Poor Ringo, hope he wasn’t around us!) Well, I don’t know where you stand on this debate, but let me tell you, make sure you’re ready if you bring that question up, because from what I witnessed that evening, it was pretty intense! The great thing was, we left that place with a lot of new friends that I’m pretty sure we’ll see again at our concerts wearing their Beatles or Rolling Stones t-shirts in order to keep that evening spirit full-on! :)

And now, to finish writing this... My favorite part! We decided to invite everyone who was in the area or available to join us for a drink on Sunday afternoon! It was so great to simply sit down, talk, and enjoy such a vibrant and powerful connection, something Alex and I simply can’t get enough of. We were all at this favorite place of ours for what was supposed to be two hours but finally turned into almost an entire evening! What a way to end this trip, with some of you traveling 6 to 7 hours to make this trip, others changing their plans to be part of something we all cherish so hard, this community, this spirit, this vibe we all bring back with us back home until next time..! :) We already miss you all so much!

Our flight is at 7am Monday! This means… No sleep ‘til...! 

Your Host and Friend,
Jeff