Joel Madden Takes Us To Europe, Part Deux

DJ and man-about-town Josh Madden has been blogging for us as of late and we're pretty pumped that his brother, Joel Madden, is also hopping on the PAPERMAG guest-blogging bandwagon. Here are bunch of photos and anecdotes from his summer abroad in Europe with Good Charlotte. Thanks for sharing Joel!

1. Part two of my Summer Euro trip. Even writing feels not as peppy as it did for Part 1. This is when touring gets kind of shitty --  after about two or three weeks. Especially summer in Europe. A different city, sometimes country, every single day, and usually the shower, and coffee situation in the morning is hard to find. A hot shower and coffee is the way I start my day, and when that is gone, I start to get a little grumpy. Throw in no internet and and bad phone service and well this picture says it all. I call this The mid tour blues fes

2. Somewhere in Germany, before a festival show. This day was very muddy, and I hadn't showered in a day or two. But I found a little hotel a few minutes up on the mountain side that over looked the town and the festival. I had a nice dude at the hotel take a pic. I shot it with black and white and it reminds me a photo I took a few years ago in Italy. I take a lot of these pics around the world to send home to my family.

But these are only moments, and they only last as moments. I feel lucky to have spent the summer on tour, and even luckier to be doing this going on 16 years now. I count my blessings everyday. So back to the good stuff! Festival season scattered in beautiful little towns all over Europe.

3. The city center of Hasselt, Belgium. We showed up for the Pukkelpop festival a day early and had a day off. It was a really nice surprise --  I thought this town was gonna be a bore, but it was awesome.

4. The little Belgian homies I met on the street. They were interested in my tattoos and I was interested in their kicks. They were very nice little dudes. Showed me around and helped me find a few things in town.

The next day was Pukkelpop and we all went to the festival early to hang out. There were so many bands we wanted to see, and some friends were there as well. When a sudden storm swept through the concert grounds, however, several tents and trees were uprooted and a stage collapsed. Many people in the crowd were injured and a few, sadly, were killed. It was so unfortunate and upsetting what happened at the festival. As a a touring musician, the thought of anyone getting hurt out here really saddens me. Music fans are the reason we all have jobs. From the artists, to the promoters, to local crew, to media. The fans are the reason we are all there. There are no words for how sad we were that people died that day. It me just want to fly home. And to think the day started off with such good, calm vibe.

5. One of my favorites. Definitely one of the highlights of my summer was meeting these guys. Very classy dudes.

6. Speaking of classy, Mark Ronson's always very dapper.

7. Got to hang with maybe two of the nicest dudes in heavy bands I've ever met -- As I Lay Dying's Jordan Mancino and Bring Me the Horizon's Jona Weinhofen. Great thing about festivals is you get to mix it up with so many different kinds of artists. I always end up making new friends.

8. Me x Alex x Benj

9. Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros.

10. More Edward Sharpe.

11. Ran into Casey Veggies and Josh Peas at Pukkelpop. Casey had flown out to perform with Mark Ronson & The Business Intl. He didn't end up getting to play but we did get to hang on the bus and play some FIFA.

12. Here's a shot of us on stage somewhere in Germany, I believe. It's hard to remember sometimes where and when each show is,  but we always hit the stage on time. That's one thing I love about my band --  it takes a lot for us to cancel a show. We will show up anywhere, play to anyone, on any gear, and we always have a good time doing it. I'm blessed to be in a a band with a group of friends who don't take each other or any of this too seriously. Just serious enough to go on stage on time.

13. Post show: Always the same. Sitting in front of my computer 'till i'm dry. I don't usually stop sweating for an hour. So I sit on my computer and iChat. Then it's out to the bus, talking to the kids who are hanging out, and then play some FIFA.

14. Eurobunks. This is the upstairs hallway of our bus. We keep it pretty clean most of the time because we're basically living on top of each other. Sleep. Wake up. Play show. Repeat.

15. But every once in a while you wake up to something magnificent. One afternoon I woke up in the Czech Republic to this. This picture doesn't really capture how vast the landscape was. It went on for as far as the eye could see.

16. Hanging with the You Me at Six boys at the V fest in Chelmsford, UK. I can definitely see a tour happening with them in the future. We did it big with these guys for two days straight. It was a very good last two days of tour thanks to these boys and all the people at V fest.

17. Also got to hang with our buddies from Hanson. Nicest brothers on the planet! I love these dudes. Pretty cool when I see other brothers doing it, because I love my brothers so much. The Hanson brothers always make me smile. They love each other like me and my bros do. Me and Taylor also swapped cameras for a little bit and I found some pretty cool festival pics on my camera.

18.  Devil girls at V fest by Taylor Hanson

19. V FESTIVAL GOERS by Taylor Hanson

20. Some dude peeing by Taylor Hanson.

21. This is it. Me just before we play our last show of the summer at the V festival. What a summer! From being in London during the riots, to the good times at all these festivals, and the bad times at some. It was definitely a summer I will never forget. If you're reading this, I hope you that you had a great summer yourself. As for me, I'm heading home to take a shower, shave, kiss my wife, and play with my kids.