by Ronan Casey
By any standards, touring abroad is a big undertaking for any fledgling Irish band, but when you are playing to almost 200,000 people in some of the biggest arenas in Germany, Austria and Switzerland, then it is a major undertaking.
By the end of next week, that’s how many fans White Chalk will have played to as part of a European tour, as support act to Rea Garvey, the Irish singer who is a massive European solo star. Rea was the driving figure behind Reamonn, one of Europe’s biggest bands in the early 2000s and his current arena tour in support of his latest solo album is sold out.
He became a fan of White Chalk, having initially seen them on Youtube, and later got to know the seven -piece band. He personally selected them to tour Europe with him, and the band are having the time of their lives since the tour opened in Hanover on Thursday last, January 22. The 14 date tour finishes up in Berlin on February 9.
According to some lucky Irish fans who got to see the band, they are in their element on the big stage. A ‘delegation’ from Mullingar was with them for shows at the weekend. Among them was Sean Lynch who said he was “blown away” seeing them. Sean has witnessed quite a few local acts on international stages – from Joe Dolan in Las Vegas to Mark Irwin trip the light fantastic on stage in London’s West End – but nothing could prepare him for 8,000 German’s going wild for a band they were hearing for the first time.
“What we saw in Dusseldorf on Friday was phenomenal. It was a privilege to witness one of the most incredible live performances I have ever seen. Genuinely! The reaction from the 8,000 Germans was amazing to witness. Unlike a lot of Irish shows where fans wouldn’t give the support band the light of day, they were enthusiastic, mannerly and totally into the band,” Sean told Topic on Monday, having returned from Germany and come back down to earth.
Fans come to the arenas early on the continent and by the time White Chalk take to the stage, the majority of fans are in situ. The band sold out of merchandise after the first handful of dates, such has been the reaction to them by the German audiences in Dusseldorf, Hanover, Halle and Hamburg.
“The after show sales demonstrate that the Germans really know talent when they see it,” thinks Sean. “The band were blown away by fans of all ages asking them to sign CDs and as soon as the band stocked up, they were sold out again.”
Sean says he was proud to be there as a Mullingar man, to see a local band come from playing to a handful at home to hundreds of thousands in 14 arenas. Also with Sean was Irene Brennan, Martin Coyne and Jimmy McEntee. Family members of the band are also catching them on the major tour and manager Terry Martin is guiding them on the road.
When the band return to Ireland they have little time to rest on their laurels. New single ‘Back To The Start’ is selling well on iTunes and picking up radio plays and there are more sell-out arena shows in March when they perform with another international Irish success story, Kodaline in Nottingham, Southampton, Norwich and Bristol.
White Chalk consists of of Niamh Kirby, Aisling McCarthy, Conor Quinn, Kevin Farrell, Brian Masterson, Liam O’Reilly and David Doyle.
