5th May until America
Apologies to those of you that have checked in to find the blog with nothing new on it. After Paris we flew in and out of Arnhem in Holland and straight on to England where I have been home for a wonderful couple of days. Suffice it to say I will be reporting once again when we travel across the pond to the good ol' USA for the last leg of our tour.
4th May Paris - France
First off Richelle and I went to La Musee Branly which is full of indiginous tribal art from Africa, America and New Guinea. We saw lots of crazy looking masks which I alway enjoy. We then had a great lunch outside looking up at Le Tour Eiffel which is always a lot bigger than you think it will be close up. We then wandered back along the river and up the Champs-Élysées. We ended up having dinner in an amazing Italian restaurant where I had Amatricciana which is one of my favourite types of pasta followed by a delicious rasberry tart.
3rd May Paris - France
Today, Richelle and I got up nice and late and had a leisurely breakfast. I had a long bath and did So-duko for about an hour whilst Richelle read her book. We then went out for a cafe lunch opposite the hotel. I really enjoyed the gig as I could see my lovely girlfriends face down the front of the stage taking photos. Always makes me smile.
2nd May Paris - France
My lovely girlfriend Richelle is here now and we had a fantastic day. We went to see Notre Dame which neither of us have seen before. It is most impressive and Richelle took some photos with my camera which you can see below. We spent the rest of the day wandering around and had some lunch at a local cafe. French onion soup (which is one of my favourite things in the world) was the order of the day with some bread and emmental cheese.
In the evening we went to see Spiderman 3 which has a brilliant first hour, full of brilliant spidey antics, swinging around and over stuff hurtling towards him, much better than the first two in terms of excitement factor, and then descends into an hour and a half of fucking bollocks. Sam Raimi has lost it to be honest. There is a long scene where his "dark" side comes out because of his new symbiote suit (which eventually joins with Eddie Brock to become Venom) in which he struts around to funk music looking like a goth ( with black eyeliner on ) and checks out women. Oooh how dark. Only an American would think that was how people express their inner demons by winking at women. Plus they all think he's a dick for it. He doesn't even get any action. So an hour of rubbish, boring nonsense with no fighting or excitement at all. Pretty good fight at the end though with Sandman and Venom V Spidey and Goblin.
1st May Bergen - Norway to Soenderberg - Denmark to Paris - France
We left beautiful Bergen for Denmark today. The gig in Sonderberg was one of the few gigs that we will do outdoors. The venue was in the grounds of Augustenborg Castle. Our dressing room was huge and comrpised not only our beloved Table Tennis table but also a grand piano. Being unable to practice on a proper piano whilst I'm on the road is torturous. When there is the opportunity to practice some good old scales, I relish the chance to do so. I was able to practice only for a short time (half an hour or so) before the rest of the band had had enough, but it was better than nothing.
The gig itself was freezing cold as it was outdoors. I had to rely on those chemical handwamers in my pocket to warm up in between songs. After the gig we flew to Paris where my lovely girlfriend was fast asleep waiting for me in the hotel.
30th April Bergen - Norway
Nothing really to write about today. I spent most of the day in my room playing video games (Supreme Commander mainly) but did make it out for a quick run along the same waterside route that I took the other day.
In the evening we took the old man out for dinner at a local fish restaurant where I ate the forth pepper steak (which seems to be the only alternative that Bergen offers in place of fish) in four days. We had some great conversations about religion and the cargo cults of New Guinea. They are these crazy people who see the white man with their magical planes and crates of cargo that get dropped (seemingly from heaven) and assume that if they copy them, they too will have bestowed upon them the treasures that come from these boxes from God. They have even built air control towers with all the equipment (headphones, radars, microphones etc) made out of wood ! Having completely misunderstood that this equpiment is what actually facilitates the arrival of the crates.
29th April Bergen - Norway
I got up late and watched the movie "Downfall", about the last days of Hitler in his bunker. Damn that film is amazing and I recommend it highly to anyone. I then went for a quick run in the gym, slowly getting my fitness levels back up, especially as we haven't played tennis for a week or so. The gig was really great, the audience were especially responsive and standing up which makes a big difference.
28th April Stockholm - Sweden to Bergen - Norway
Today was quite simply a great day. We flew, at respectable time of 2pm, to Norway where I went for a run along the water. The sun was shining and the bay full of old sail boats. I listened to a load of music that Sean (part of the crew) had given to me (we are both heavy metal fans). I can highly recommend running with the heaviest metal you can find blasting in your ears. I am most partial to Meshuggah - Catch 33 at the moment, which is my metal album recommendation of the week.
We then went out for dinner with our friends Marianne and Francois and during dinner were informed that a performance of The Wall was happening in its entirety only moments away. We raced there in our van and had a particularly enjoyable time being on the other side of the PA for once. The band had a great vibe and really captured the spirit of that album. Ian and I then came back to the hotel and played some music on the hotel bar piano for a couple of hours. A great and full day.
27th April Stockholm - Sweden
Well, I had another lovely day today, my mum and I went to Skansen which is a park that has a number of wild animals to view in large enclosures. Being an animal lover, this was a great way to spend the day. There are also a number of old farm houses that are preserved as they would have been lived in in the sixteenth century.
26th April Stockholm - Sweden
First off, many thanks to those of you that assured me that the audience last night were in fact having a good time ! Much appreciated and I intended no offense, so apologies to anyone that took it as such.
My mother came to visit me today which was a joy. We took a boat tour around stockholm and saw many interesting things as well as sailing through the beautiful park on either side of the canal. We then wandered around until we found the Nobel Museum chronicling the history of The Nobel Prize, which was created by Alfred Nobel who invented dynamite and insitituted the Nobel Prize.
25th April Milan - Italy to Antwerp - Belgium to Stockholm - Sweden
We started the day off with a flight to Antwerp where we played a gig to a seemingly unenthusiastic audience. I have to admit, it was rather hard to tell whether or not they were enjoying it. We then headed straight off to Stockholm and during the drive from the airport to the hotel Ian tried to explain some of the finer points of the theory of relativity. You see I find it difficult to understand that time isn't a fixed quantity, but this can be proved by accelerating something so it approaches the speed of light at which point time will SLOW DOWN. How crazy is that ? Pretty cool though.
24th April Milan - Italy
I had a very short day today seeing as I got up late and went to bed very early. After a quick breakfast I went and played tennis on a very hot indoor court and had a great workout. I then went back to my room and watched some comedy (South Park, Jerry Sadowitz, Alan Saxondale) until 10pm when I fell fast asleep and proceeded to sleep for 14 hours.
23rd April Barcelona - Spain to Milan - Italy
I was very excited today because one of my best mates from home, Max, is living and working in Northern Italy about 3 hours drive from Milan. We flew in to Milan and headed straight to the gig where I awaited the call as to whether or not Max could make it out of work early enough to make it to the gig. It was also dependant on whether or not he could get a ride. He finally broke away from work and raced down to the gig, arriving sometime during Beirut having missed almost all of the first set.
We ended up spending the night in my room playing poker until the early hours when he had to catch the first train back to the north and go straight to work having had no sleep ! Poor bugger. Still it was great to see him.
22nd April Barcelona - Spain
We were lucky enough today to go to see John MacEnroe and Cedric Pioline play two sets of tennis as part of a senior tennis players tour. We had incredible seats right next to server's end of the court. It really was something special. Later on I went for a run and then went out with Ian to a jazz club to play at a jam but unfortunately it was no longer there, so we decided to go and check out the Gaudi Cathedral instead which was amazing.
21st April Barcelona - Spain
Today I played some more tennis at a great outdoor club. There were courts, table tennis, swimming pools and even horses wandering everywhere because of the polo that they play there. Unfortunately the courts were clay which is my all time worst surface. We didn't get the chance to warm up properly and consequently I had a terrible game. We played just the one set where usually we play two.
The audience at the gig were fantastic tonight. They were all standing, which makes a big difference to the connection that I feel to them. When they are sitting down it can sometimes seem that they aren't as enthusiasitc as when they are standing. After show we had a dinner at the hotel which was lots of fun and I was almost the last to leave, which is rare as I'm normally one of the first to leave and hit the sack.
20th April Barcelona - Spain
I had a great day off today. I went for a run along the beach which was most enjoyable. I'm particularly unfit at the moment so managed about a couple of miles at a very slow pace which was more than enough to get me started. I then spent the rest of the day watching Futurama in my room which is one of my favourite pastimes.
In the evening I took a cab to the crew hotel where Dave Hall and I played heads up poker until the early hours which was a lot of fun. I'm certainly looking forward to playing some more of my all time favourite game.
19th April Hamburg - Germany to Barcelona - Spain
Today we were in Hamburg for a very brief spell. I didn't even leave my room so short was our time here. I really enjoyed the gig tonight, it went very smoothly and felt great to play those songs. Sometimes they just feel particularly good to play, and I feel particularly blessed to be part of this show and tonight was one of those times.
We are on the plane about to land in Barcelona which is a great city, one which I'm looking forward to seeing again. Although to be honest I probably won't see much of it as I'm playing tennis and then poker with the crew tomorrow afternoon which will probably see me through until the early hours of the morning.
18th April - Koln - Germany to Leipzig - Germany to Hamburg - Germany
We had quite a long day today including 2 flights and a gig. We left Koln to fly to Leipzig where we did a gig and then flew straight onto Hamburg where we have a gig tomorrow night. Having had a slightly underwhelming gig the night before, tonight was great fun for me. I really felt the music tonight and particularly enjoyed playing Great Gig.
On the drive from the airport to the hotel Dave, Ian and I had a great converstion about our top five favourite films. Without having too long to think about it my top five were:
American Werewolf in London
Spinal Tap
Back to the Future
Brokeback Mountain (A very recent adition)
The Shining
It's actually a pretty hard list to come up with considering that there are many more that probably would have made it to the top five if I had longer to think about it. The only one of these that I'm SURE about is American Werewolf in London which is my all time favourite film.
17th April Koln - Germany
Very little to report today. I had a wander across the bridge and took some photos of the Koln Cathedral and wandered around a shopping street. I then spent the rest of the day playing Silent Hunter 4 (a submarine sim game) which was a lot of fun. We had a promoters dinner at an Italian restaurant and I had some great pasta and then went home to an early bed.
16th April Koln - Germany
Another good today, in fact rather similar to the day before save the fact that we had a gig. I played tennis in the early afternoon and then later on in the day I played some great table tennis at the venue. Kahuna (the stage manager) is a monster player, and so far the only person to have given me a sound thrashing. He is now my table tennis nemesis and I hope to return the favour at some point in the future.
15th April Koln - Germany
I had a fantastic day today. I awoke at midday and wolfed down a quick breakfast with Ian and Pompey, and then headed off to play tennis with Andy FL, ALex (one of our drivers) and the old man. We had a great game on an indoor court with a strange carpet surface. The bounce was high and fairly slow which lead to some great rallies.
Later in I got a call from Ian who had found an afternoon jam session. We arrived to find the band had finished their set and were unfortunately not going to stay for the jam ! This however turned out to be to our benefit, as we were able to get on the piano (a great yamaha grand) and play for around an hour or so before they shut. They were pleased enough with our entertaining the clientelle that we got our meal for free !
14th April Prague - Czech Republic to Budapest - Hungary to Koln - Germany
A full day today. We left our glorious Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Prague headed for a gig in Budapest which went well. For some unknown reason, the confetti that covers the audience during Sheep, managed to find it's way ALL over the stage. Whilst both hands are playing it's impossible to do anything about the strips of paper that are slowly covering the Hammond. By the end I was simply having to hit the keys covered in small bits of green and white paper. Bless Alfie (my kepboard tech) who managed to remove the offending articles by the time the set break was over. We then flew to Koln where we are about to do three gigs in Germany over the next few days.
13th April Prague - Czech Republic
I started the day off with a great game of tennis with Andy FL and a pro at a local club. I'm especially unfit as I haven't done any excersise since the last time we played, but it was great to back into it. At the gig we now have a games room which is fantastic. We have a table tennis table and a darts board which are both great ways to pass the time when waiting for show time. I managed to get in a few games of both, with Richelle, before heading up on stage. The show was a lot of fun once again, and hopefully an indicator of good gigs to come.
We had an after show dinner at the hotel restaurant "Essensia", which I can safely say was one of the best meals I have EVER had. The steak was literally as smooth as butter and just melted in my mouth. I gorged myself and felt particularly satisfied afterwards.
12th April Prague - Czech Republic
We had a great day off today, Richelle and I explored Prague. We wandered over Charles Bridge which has two fantastic looking towers at either end of it. The bridge was full of street artists and musicians. In particular we enjoyed a local band playing some Benny Goodman'esque music. We were surprised at the number of puppet shops around the city. It's something that is obviously popular here unlike anywhere else I have ever been.
We had a great dinner at a restaurant that we ate at five years ago but was washed away in the flood and has been rebuilt since. Ian, Richelle, Mary and I then went to a tiny jazz club and watched a trio comprising double-bass, guitar and piano. They were great players and a joy to watch.
11th April London to Zurich - Switzerland to Prague - Czech Republic
Well, our first day back on the road was a great success I feel. We flew straight in and out of Zurich for the gig and then onto Prague. It felt absolutely great to be back on stage and playing again. I particularly enjoyed Shine On and Any Colour You Like, those songs are often my favourite to play and tonight was no exception. We are looking forward to a great time in Prague which is an amazing city that I have visitied before.