Merry Christmas!!

Hi all hope you have a great Crimbo and New Year
Check This Out!!
http://www.elfyourself.com/?id=1613850708

Hooray For Hollywood!!

So last Thurs saw me off to LA for the last Killers show of the year. We were to be the "Secret" guest act at the second night of the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas. First up however was a trip to the Roxy Theatre to see our good friends "Solarcade" opening for Puddle Of Mud. (Check em out at www.myspace.com/solarcade) A good night out was had by all even if it felt like an 80's hair metal night out with visits to the famous Sunset Strip rocck hang outs Viper Rooms, Whiskey A Go Go and The Rainbow included!!
Next day was very relaxed with a bit of Christmas shopping around Hollywood Blvd which was just outside my window.

Had a look at the Walkway Of Stars. The 3 most important of course being


And...

Spent most of today just hanging about the strangeness of Hollywood really and not doing much else.

Speaking of weirdos, unsurprisingly there is Scientology centres all over Hollywood. But they do know how to build a Christmas scene outside theyre building.

Saturday morning i was off to the Gibson Amphitheatre for a quick programming session to make sure everything was ready for our show on Sunday.

Spent the remainder of the day in the universal Studios Theme Park next door.

All the usual suspects are there, Jurassic Park, The Mummy, Terminator 2 3D but one of my favourites was sadly missing. Back To The Future the ride has been taken away to make way for the opening of the Simpsons ride next summer. Guess ill have to go back next year now to see that one. Although in true American style, the ride may not be finished but you can bet your ass the souvenir shop is.


i did find it strange that there was versions of this sign all over the park


Not quite sure what you could switch them for though....maybe a sweet remote control helicoptor...That'd be a deal!!

That night we were off to the Springbok bar in Van Nuys for our unofficial end of tour party at what is Solarcade's regular Sat night intimate club show. A night of beer, whiskey and jager with most of the crew and some of the biggest Killers fans that we've gotten to know over the course of this tour which ended at some time around 6am.

Sunday came around and it was time to actually do some work. Also on the bill today was Fiest, Spoon, Modest Mouse, Jimmy Eat World and the always fantastic MUSE.


We only had 20 mins stage time so it was a bare bones set which was a complete surprise for quite a large portion of the audience as it hadnt been announced that there even was a special guest playing so there was a deafening cheer as the guys came on and started with Shadowplay and Somebody Told Me. next up was the guys new Christmas single "Don't Shoot Me Santa" with our Assistant Tour Manager Ryan playing the role of a homicidal Santa and Dave and Bobby playing elves shooting the audience with Super Soakers.

We did try and make the show as Christmassy as possible with 20 Decorated trees on stage.

As well as having a confetti drop of fake snow during the closing "When You Were Young".

It was kind of fitting that the first song performed on this tour in August 2006 was also the last one to be played as well. (It was also apparently the first ever Killers live performance not to have Mr Brightside as part of it)
After a few end of tour drinks it was off to the airport to try and change my flight to San Francisco as i only had an hour to make my connection to Dublin. It took 2 hours and 7 people to change my flight and i made the earlier flight by 1 minute.
Luckily there was no such trouble on the long leg and i even got 4 seats to myself and was able to lie down most of the way once the turbulance dissappeared.

So there you have it. its all over for the time being. For the first time in 4 years i have a nice block of time off before my next project begins. Just as well as i do as i now have a new home that i've just purchased to decorate and move into over the next while.
Thanks to everyone who's been reading this and checking in. There probably wont be many updates for a while now so thank you very much for dropping by and i hoped you enjoyed reading it as much as i enjoyed living it.

This isn't Goodbye,Its just Goodnight....For Now!!

And Off I Go Again!!

So after a couple of days off in Sydney it was off to London for rehearsals with Babyshambles. I'd heard all the horrors about Pete Doherty but i have to say he has been nothing but easy to deal with and has been on stage on time every night and been very professional with everyone involved in the tour.

Im in Nottingham today on a day off trying to find Robin Hood but not having much luck, so i went a got a haircut instead.

Nice.....I know!! : )
The shows have been pretty good and is a big change from doing shows with The Killers as its a much more subtle lighting show with a lot of video projection as well.


We've already been to London, Manchester, Newcastle, Brighton, Bournemouth, Wembley, Birmingham and have 2 shows left in Nottingham and then Glasgow before i head home for a few days.
As you see from the last pic. We have Union jack flags and British Navy Standard Flags that fall during the last song. After a couple of shows the band decided they were a little too clean cut looking and handed me a scissors and had me go to work on them to make them look a little more weathered and tatty.

I did get a few weird looks from people as they watched the only Irish person on the tour cutting up a British Flag in the middle of Londons Wembley Arena!! I wondered if it qualified as treason??

Anywho!! Im off home this weekend to hopefully tie up the purchase of my new house before heading to Los Angeles for a show i'll tell you all bout soon enough!!

Do you like my house??


Talk Soon!!

We hope you enjoyed your stay.......

And there you have it, after 176 shows in 29 countries, the SAMS TOWN world tour came to an end in Melbourne and we alll went our seperate ways......For Now!!


SAMS TOWN WORLD TOUR 2006 -2007
AUGUST 2006
23 Las Vegas NV @ Celebrity
24 San Francisco,CA @ Popscene
25 Los Angeles, CA @ The Troubadour
26 Las Vegas, NV @ Empire Ballroom
31 New York, NY @ Radio City Music Hall "MTV Video Music Awards"
SEPTEMBER
08 Blackpool, UK @ Empress Ballroom
14 Cologne, GER @ Yard Club
15 Berlin, GER @ E Werk
16 Bologna, ITA @ MTVDay
18 London, UK @ Electric Ballroom
22 New York City, @ NY Webster Hall
23Baltimore, MD @ Virgin Festival
29 New York City, NY @ MTV Live Leak
30 New York City, NY @ Saturday Night Live
OCTOBER
06 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
07 Los Angeles, CA @ The Wiltern
08 San Francisco, CA @ Warfield Theatre
09 San Francisco, CA @ Warfield Theatre
10 Portland, OR @ Roseland Theatre
11 Vancouver, BC @ Orpheum Theatre
12 Seattle, WA @ Paramount Theatre
14 Magna, UT @ The Great Salt Air
15 Denver, CO @ Fillmore Auditorium
17 Chicago, IL @ Congress Theatre
18 Detroit, MI @ State Theatre
20 Toronto, CAN @ Kool Haus
21 Atlantic City, NJ @ The Borgata Event Center
24 New York City, NY @ Theater at Madison Square Garden
25 New York City, NY @ Theater at Madison Square Garden
26 Boston, MA @ Orpheum Theatre
28 Las Vegas, NV @ Sam Boyd Stadium "Vegoose 2006"

NOVEMBER
01 Copenhagen,Denmark @ Vega
02 Copenhagen,DEN @ MTV Europe Music Awards
03 Hamburg,GER @ Grosse Freiheit 36
04 Berlin,GER @ Huxleys
05 Koln,GER @ E-Werk
07 Munich,GER @ Tonhalle
08 Milan,ITA @ Rolling Stone
09 Zurich,SWI @ X-tra
11 Barcelona,ESP @ Razzmattazz
14 Brussels,BEL @ Ancienne Belgique
15 Paris,FRA @ Bataclan
16 Amsterdam,NL @ Paradiso
18 Wolverhampton,UK @ Civic Hall
20 Manchester, UK @ Apollo
21 Hull, UK @ Hull Arena
22 Glasgow, SCO @ Glasgow Academy
23 Newcastle, UK @ Newcastle Academy
25 Nottingham, UK @ Rock City
26 London, UK @ Brixton Academy
27 London, UK @ Brixton Academy
28 London, UK @ Brixton Academy
DECEMBER
08 San Fran, CA Bill Graham Civic @ "Live 105's Not So Silent Night"
10 Universal City, CA Gibson Amph. @ "KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas"
12 Monterrey, MEX @ Arena Monterrey
13 Mexico City, MEX @ Palacio De Los Deportes
15 New York, NY Madison Square Garden @ "Z100 Jingle Ball"
16 Philadelphia, PA @ Electric Factory
18 Atlanta, GA @ Philips Arena "99X Mistle Toe Jam"
31 Los Angeles, CA @ Paramount Studios"Gridlock New Year's Eve 2007"

JANUARY 2007

13 Tokyo, JAP @ Zepp
14 Nagoya, JAP @ Diamond Hall
15 Osaka, JAP @ Nanba Hatch
19 Auckland, NZ @ Mt Smart Stadium
21 Gold Coast, AUS @ Parklands
25 Sydney, AUS @ Showground
26 Sydney, AUS @ Hordern Pavilion
28 Melbourne, AUS @ Princes Park South
FEBURARY
01 Melbourne, AUS @ Festival Hall
02 Adelaide, AUS @ Adelaide Showground
04 Perth, AUS @ Claremont Showground
14 London, UK @Earls Court "BRIT Awards 2007"
16 Sheffield, UK @ Sheffield Arena
17 Manchester, UK @ MEN Arena
18 Birmingham, UK @ Birmingham NEC
20 Newcastle, UK @ Metro Radio Arena
21 Aberdeen, UK @ Aberdeen Arena
22 Glasgow, UK @ S.E.C.C.
24 London, UK @ Wembley Arena
25 London, UK @ Wembley Arena
27 Dublin, IRE @ RDS Main Hall
28 Dublin, IRE @ RDS Main Hall
MARCH
01 London, UK @ Hammersmith Palais "NME Awards"
03 Brighton, UK @ Brighton Centre
04 Nottingham, UK @ Nottingham Arena
05 Cardiff, UK @ International Arena
07 Amsterdam, NET @ Heineken Music Hall
09 Cologne, GER @ Palladium
10 Berlin, GER @ Treptow Arena
11 Frankfurt, GER @ Jahrhunderthalle
12 Paris, FRA @ Le Zenith
13 Lille, FRA @ Aeronef
16 London, UK @ BBC Comic Relief
APRIL
06 Santa Barbara,CA @ Events Center
07 San Francisco,CA @ Bill Graham Civic Aud.
09 Los Angeles,CA @ Staples Center
10 San Diego,CA @ Rimac Arena
11 Phoenix, AZ @ Dodge Theater
13 Austin,TX @ Frank Erwin Center
14 Baton Rouge, LA @ River Center
15 Frisco, TX @ Pizza Hut Park"Edgefest 16"
18 Tampa, FL @ USF Sun Dome
19 Hollywood, FL @ Hard Rock Live
20 Orlando, FL @ UCF Arena
22 Atlanta,GA @ Fox Theatre
23 Nashville,TN @ Ryman Auditorium
26 Fairfax,VA @ Patriot Center
27 Camden,NJ @ Tweeter Center
28 New York,NY @ Madison Square Garden
29 Lowell, MA @ Paul E. Tsongas Arena
MAY
05 Atlantic City, NJ @Borgata Events Center
06 Montreal, QC @ Bell Center
07 Toronto, ON @ Air Canada Centre
09 Detroit, MI @ Fox Theatre
10 Chicago, IL @ Sears Centre
11 Kansas City, MO @ City Market
12 St. Louis, MO @ "105.7 POINTFest"
14 Des Moines, IA @ Val Air Ballroom
15 Saint Paul, MN @ Roy Wilkins Auditorium
17 Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks
21 Vancouver, BC @ Thunderbird Stadium
23 Edmonton, AB @ Rexall Place
24 Calgary, AB @ Pengrowth Saddledome
26 Portland, OR @ Keller Auditorium
27 Seattle, WA @ WaMu Theater
29 Sacramento, CA @ Sacramento Memorial Auditorium
31 Magna, UT @ The Great Saltair
JUNE
01 Las Vegas, NV @ Theatre Under the Stars
11 London Billingsgate Market
12 Madrid, ESP @ Plaza de Toros La Cubierta
16 Interlaken, SWI @ Interlaken Airfield
17 Nickelsdorf, AUT @ Pannonia Fields
23 Pilton, Somerset UK @ Glastonbury Festival 2007"
24 Luxembourg, LUX @ "Rock-A-Field Festival
26 Helsinki, FIN @ Ice Hall
27 Arendal, NOR @"Hove Festival"
30 Leuven, BEL "Rock Werchter Festival"
JULY
04 Hradec Kralove, Cz @"Rock for People"
05 Roskilde, DEN @"Roskilde Festival"
07 Kinross, UK @ "T in the Park"
08 Naas, IRE @ "Oxegen Festival"
AUGUST
14 Budapest, HUN @ "Sziget Festival"
17 Biddinghuizen, NL @"Lowlands Festival"
18 Staffordshire, UK @ "V Festival"
19 Chelmsford , UK @ "V Festival"
22 Belfast, N. IRE @ Ormeau Gardens
SEPTEMBER
03 Boulder, CO @ Fox Theatre
04 Morrison, CO @ Red Rocks Amphitheatre
05 Council Bluffs, IA @ Mid America Center
07 Cleveland, OH @ Wolstein Center
08 Columbus, OH @ Lifestyle Communities Pavilion
09 Toronto, ON @ "V Fest"
11 Louisville, KY @ Palace Theatre
13 Grand Prairie, TX @ Nokia Theatre
14 Austin, TX @ "Austin City Limits Festival"
15 Houston, TX @ Reliant Centre
17 El Paso, TX @ Abraham Chavez Theatre
21 Lake Tahoe, NV @ Montbleu Resort Casino & Spa
23 Del Mar, CA @ "San Diego Street Scene"
OCTOBER
12 Athens, GA @ 40 Watt Club
13 Fairburn, GA @ "The Echo Project"
19 Mexico City, MEX @ Foro Sol
21 Zapopan, MEX @ Auditorio Metropolitan
27 Rio De Janeiro, BRA @ "TIM Festival"
28 Sao Paulo, BRA @ "TIM Festival"
31 Curitiba, BRA @ "TIM Festival"
NOVEMBER
02 Buenos Aires. ARG @ Estadio de Valez
04 Santiago, CHI @ Pista Atletica
09 Brisbane, AUS @ Entertainment Centre
10 Sydney, AUS @ Entertainment Centre
11 Sydney, AUS @ Entertainment Centre
13 Melbourne, AUS @ Rod Laver Arena
14 Melbourne, AUS @ Rod Laver Arena

Me?? Im off to London to start rehearsals for a quick tour with Babyshambles for 2 weeks so i guess i'll be talking to you soon!!

Helter Skelter!!

Here is the video from Sydney of the Killers, Vines, Louis XiV and Howling Bells version of Helter Skelter

And on and on and on!!

So, after the fun and games of Rio it was off to Sao Paulo for the next leg of the festival. This was so poorly organised that our sceduled stage time of 1am ended up becoming 4.15am and by the time we got loaded out and got taxis back to the hotel it was 8.30am. Was very nice of the promotor to decide not to bother sending transport back for the crew and to leave us walking around this sort of neighborhood at 8 in the morning carrying laptop bags etc with us.



Hard to believe that people still have to live like that in the 10th richest country in the world. Onwards we went to Curitibia for the last Brazillian show of the tour and then we were off to Buenos Aires, Argentina for one of the biggest shows of the tour at the Estadio Velez football stadium with Starsailor and Travis opening the proceedings.

They certainly raised the stakes in the show intro when they entered through the crowd wearing boxers robes to the Rocky Theme and climbed the centre walkway to reveal everyone wearing Argentina football shirts. Dammit!!

After a great show from all 3 bands we were off to Santiago, Chile for our final South American stop.
Its a very nice city just in the foothills of the Andes mountains and the view as you fly in to land is amazing. It was also crazy at the airport with hundreds of screan=ming kids waiting for the bands as they arrived. It was a similar scene outside the hotel too!!



Here is some random pictures from downtown Santiago!!



It was very strange to walk around a south american city and see a lot of irish names, apparently Santiago has a history interwined with an irish priest named Bernardo O Higgins. Very strange indeed!!


We had a good show at Santiago Arena and a long night at the afterparty where i was accosted in a photo with 2 very drunk members of Travis!!

These guys are one of the nicest bunch of people i've ever met.

Next day we were off to Australia. We were supposed to fly Santiago to Auckland to Brisbane but ended up being delayed due to technical malfunctions on the plane in Santiago so we ended up flying Santiago to Auckland to Sydney to Brisbane taking over 30 hours to do it too. I was that tired that i didnt even mind only spending 1 hour in one of my favourite cities in the world in Auckland. Oh well, onwards and upwards we go to Brisbane for a day off full of good steak and sleep.
Though i did quite like these random statues i saw all over town for some reason.


Next day we had a 5am load in for the show and then finished load out at 2am, got back up at 5.30am to fly to Sydney and then load in as soon as we got there. Oooh, the glamour eh!!
We were doing 2 shows in Sydney so that meant no load out to be done which meant a night on the town was in order so i didnt get to check in the hotel until late so i didnt see my view until the morning when i opened my curtains.

It wasnt bad!!

The 2nd show was a weird day for me as i had a group of about 20 people come down from the Australian Lighting Institute who wanted to come and ask me questions and have a little class. Was quite a strange thing but it was kinda cool to be asked nonetheless. The second show saw a break from the normal setlist and saw some songs from the bands new b-sides album "Sawdust" being played as well as a big jam session version of the Beatles "Helter Skelter" with all the members of Howling Bells, Louis XiV and The Vines joining our guys onstage for the Finale.

Next we were off to Melbourne which is where you find me now sitting in the production of the Rod Laver Arena waiting for showtime. Only 2 shows left and SAMS TOWN will be done!!

On the Copa, Copacabana........

So after 8 hours of turbulance we landed in Rio De Janeiro. Ive heard all the horror stories about the crime, the poverty etc etc and im here to tell you thats it all a load of........Truth!! This place is not friendly, what do you expect when one of your party is robbed at gunpoint 2 hours after you land in the country.....by the police!!! Yes, you heard me!!
Our hotel luckily has a private beach with machine gun armed guards or else we wouldnt be able to go anywhere as its not really safe to walk around on your own and at least 6 of our party including me has had to change rooms, some up to 4 times for a variety of reasons from no drainage to flooding from the room above to Cockroaches!!! And this is at a Sheraton!! So its equally worrying when you see a hotel named The NO-GO Hotel.
I also have a great view of a Favella, which is one of the many slums in Rio.

The only good part of the trip so far was going up to Carcovado mountain to see the Christ The Redeemer Statue that sits atop the mountain overlooking the city.



I have to say the view is pretty amazing from up there.

You can see the entire city and it looks quite nice from up there. You also get a great view of Sugarloaf mountain which was the site for the cable car chase in the James Bond movie MOONRAKER.


So, here i am sitting backstage before our show in Rio tonight with Juliette And The Licks again before we fly to Sao Paulo tomorrow for the 2nd leg of the TIM Festival with Bjork and Arctic Monkeys also playing and then onward to Argentina next week where i am quite amused to see that on my Work Visa i am named as


An "ILLUMINADOR".
I Like the sound of that, i think it will have to go on all my paperwork from now on.

STEVEN DOUGLAS - ILLUMINADOR

Heading South!!

So after the fun of a few days off in LA and going to see a great album launch show from Jimmy Eat World at the Wiltern, it was off to Mexico for a couple of shows but first up was a trip to the the pyramids at Teotihuacan just outside Mexico City.

There are 2 pyramids here which are 3rd in the line of biggest pyramids in the world after Cheops in Egypt and the Pyramid Of Cholula which is also in Mexico.

The Sun Pyramid


And the Moon Pyramid


And in between the two runs the Avenue Of The Dead which according to legend is where in just one night over 80,000 human sacrifices took place to the Sun/Moon Gods!!


And yes i got the obligatory cheesy tourist picture


Next day was the MTV Latin Video Awards which we werent playing at but blagged into the parties anyway.
After that we had the show at the Foro Sol Baseball stadium.

This was the place where U2 filmed theyre PopMart Live DVD, its quite a big old place and there was a great crowd of 50,000 people there going nuts.
Also on the bill were Incubus


But i think our lot stole the night tonight as the crowd went crazy during the set


Next it was off to do a show in Guadalajara which was probably one of the loudest crowds i've ever heard almost drowning out the band at a couple of points(which is no mean feat).

After that it was a couple of days off so we were treated to 3 days at a resort in the rainforest in Panama, another tough day at the office eh!!

This was the fantastic view from my room!!

We took a few day trips during the few days we had including ones to see some Monkeys


And Toucans

And besides spending the rest of our time sipping Pina Coladas and playing Extreme Pool Volleyball. We also took some time to visit the Panama canal whcih runs from one side of the country to the other which is about 50 miles long.


And we also took a day trip to visit the Embera Indian Tribe dep in the rain forest. First they took us to a waterfall for a swim and some rock diving.


And then onto theyre village for some lunch and some traditional dancing.


Here I am with our guide.


So after a great few days we are now headed to Brazil!!!