Christmas Marketing in Weiden

On the 12th of December, on a day off in medieval Regensburg, their promoter's hometown and a home abroad for the band, Tony McPhee joined his old buddy Rory Gallagher on-stage at Rory's gig in Regensburg that day. They went through two mind blowing jams on Bob Dylan's "I Shall Be Released" and Rory's own "Messin' with the Kid". The audience freaked out over seeing and hearing two of the best ever guitarists together.
If the fans get lucky they might hear that version of "I Shall Be Released" on the forthcoming "Nibelung Promo Sampler" in January or February 2021.

So, Tony was in the highest possible spirits.

The day after on Sunday, the 13th of December The Groundhogs, mark 2 played one of their greatest shows ever on their 1987 European tour in Weiden/Germany. The Groundhogs stormed through one of their European winter tours booked by their promoter and then manager Roland Hofmann. The storm hit a small yet picturesque town in Bavaria - Weiden in Upper Palatia. The tour was about halfway through and the band was in enormous playing mood and in festive spirits. As usual they had visited the local Christmas Market and drunken a few Glühweins, i.e. hot spiced wine and eaten a few roast sausage rolls with sweet mustard.
They all spoke about the upcoming Christmas celebrations and how they would commit them with families and friends. In this mood Tony McPhee decided to make a very special present to his friend and promoter/manager Roland. Robert Johnson's "Crossroads" being one of the latter's alltime favourite songs, esp. in the Cream's heavy Bluesrock version, Tony decided to play and record it as a special Christmas present to Roland.
This led to their only ever recording of "Crossroads" - live. A special Christmas blast. Now available to all their fans around the world, together with more songs from this memorable show.
The Groundhogs rehearsed it at soundcheck and pounded out a monsterous performance equalling the Cream's version.

Line-up: Tony McPhee - guitars, vocals; Dave Anderson - bs; Mick Jones - dr. Only available as download.

There is also filmed footage of this show, which might be released on dvd eventually. Wait for it! Stay tuned on facebook: Groundhogs - Nibelung Years