Troubles a brewing....

Have a look at this video from Oasis' show in Toronto last night. Watch about 1 min 29secs in.





I guess this guy wasnt a fan of the early stuff, watch how Liam suddenly becomes the tough guy once the 4 security guys have the attacker under control or was that more for the attackers protection : )

More Random

Random Stuff

Here's a few more random pictures for you


Here's a lumber company for women in comfortable shoes and lumberjack shirts everywhere in Weehawken, New Jersey


Here is some novel lightswitches that were in the rehearsal hall, personally i kind of like the bathroom knob lightswitch thing


I was a little disturbed to see these posters all around New York but apparently they are for the new HBO series "True Blood"


Looking forward to seeing it though

Excellent!!

So i'm sure everyone is tired of hearing me eulogize Rage Against the Machine on this blog lately but they deserve respect for their appearance at the recent Republican National Conference in Minneapolis. The plan was to play an unannounced show outside the convention but the local police kept the band from getting to the stage until just at 7pm when the license for the show finished. Unabated the band decided to address the crowd with a couple of megaphones and make their feelings towards the republican party and John Mc Cain well known.


on a side note i saw Chris Rock perform stand up in Dublin recently and needless to say he had some political points to make.

My 2 personal favourites being...

"John Mc Cain, he's 72 years old....72. You don't start no job at 72...The only thing you start at 72 is a sandwich... and it has to be cut up into small pieces"

"Is America ready for a black president?.....I don't see why not...We already have a retarded one"

Something, Something, Something....Dark Side!!

I cant wait until this airs in October as part of the new Family Guy season

Random Stuff

Here is a few random things i found while flicking around the internet recently or else saw on the recent travels

A nice new Homer Simpson 1 Euro coin that was recently found in Spain. Nice homemade job


im not sure what hotel i saw this doorstep in but i need to find one for my house




I know for people in the Washington DC area this isnt unusual but i just cant help but laugh when i see sign for "Chevy Chase Bank" probably because i just picture Clark Griswald from National Lampoons movies in charge of a bank

The big ones...

So after a late night of programming and a few hours sleep it was back to site for the headline show at Reading festival which is the last major festival The Killers have left to headline in the UK. We played here in 2005 when they were second on the bill to the Pixies so to come back as the only "POP/MAINSTREAM" headliner this year (with Metallica and Rage as the other headline acts) is quite a big deal.
Also these are the first Killers shows in the UK for over a year.

But first there was a great supporting bill on the main stage that day with

Editors


We Are Scientists

Raconteurs


Bloc Party


Amongst the bands on earlier in the day before The Killers took the stage.
Here is a couple of videos from the show with our funky new pyro and confetti that we used for the night





The show went really well and next day it was off to Leeds for a repeat performance the following night.
So thats it done, 3 Killers shows that grew into a month is over and its homeward bound for a little break while the band return to the studio to finish on the new album which i believe is now titled "DAY & AGE"

For me its 2 weeks off before i return to the pop world with Alicia Keys for a couple of weeks ad we wait and see when the killers thing starts up again.

Take soon

Killing In The Name Of.....

First up was a secret club show in Dublin at the Academy which holds 700 people. There was a huge line outside the venue as early as 3pm with some of the fanclub members from all over europe arriving as early as 7am to claim a front row spot for the bands smallest show in Europe in 5 years.

A good night was had by all with a very loud audience and a great performance by the band watched by Tenacious D who sped down to the club from theyre own show opening for Metallica. Unfortunately i couldnt hang around for the aftershow party as it was straight to site for the next show so i could program the lights while there was some darkness instead of trying to do it during daylight.
Next day was the proper Dublin show in front of 32,000 people at Marley Park, which is a public park bout a half hour outside the city. its also about 10 mins from my house.



It was a great show with Louis Xiv and Bloc Party on the bill and luckily the weather stayed pretty good considering the rain that we had the night before while i was programming.

After a long night at the aftershow party it was off to England for the Reading Festival and after a 4 hour ferry and 7 drive we got to the hotel in time for a bit of food and then off to site for some overnight programming again, but not before watching possibly the only band i was interested in seeing on this whole summer of festivals.

RAGE AGAINST THE MACHINE
I had managed to blag my way up onto the stage and watched the show from side stage.
The band made their entrance onto the stage with their hands cuffed, wearing orange guantanamo bay prisoner jumpsuits with bags over there heads as a political statement against the current U.S. administration.

Before launching into a note perfect rendition of Bombtrack complete with the bags still over their heads which doesn't allow them to see anything.


After shedding the boilersuits they continued the show in regular clothes. It was just amazing to see a band with no fancy production tricks, no light show. Just a pure performance show by musicians who believe in what they are doing. Agree or disagree with the politics they present( Frontman Zach De La Rocha called for George Bush and Tony Blair to both be tried as war criminals from stage), you cant deny the level of performance they provide.



Its very rare that a band and audience connect completely on a level that makes it all seem as if its all on the same wavelength and this was definitely one of those occasions where that happened. The fact that people were cramming the side of stage to watch it including Matt Bellamy from Muse who had to resort to climbing scaffolding to see should sum up the interest in this show. I think what i loved most was that it was the first time in a long time i felt like a fan. it reminded me of the power that music can have over you. For once it wasnt about the cool new video screen or latest lighting technology, it was purely an emotional response to music. Thats a very rare thing for me nowadays as working in this business you can get a little spoiled in how much you get to see and experience and can become very blase about it, but this was something different for sure!


So off to work i went with screaming music and passion coursing through my veins. A good night was had by all. We and everyone else have there work cut out for themselves this weekend!!

Euro Tour

After the show in Cologe, it was off to Brussels for 4 days off, which were spent mostly walking around this great city and eating and drinking some great food and wine.


One particular favourite is the "Circeuil" bar which has coffins for tables and skulls for drinking out of.
and the "Celtica" irish bar which has 1 Euro beer for happy hour from 1pm 'til midnight which sounds pretty good to me really.
Not sure what this store is though


After our little holiday came to an end it was back to work with a show at the Pukkelpop festival where i had probably the biggest lighting rig i've had for some time


Was a pretty good but the crowd were a little dead, prob due in no small part to the 1.15am stage time.
Also on the bill was Serj Tankian of System Of A Down

And Henry Rollins amongst others


After that it was off to Erfhurt in Germany for the HIghfield festival where i had a double gig looking after Bloc Party for a friend of mine who couldnt be there


Towards the end of the show i couldnt figure out why the stage started to disappear until i realised that there was a mist coming in off the lake beside the stage.
Next up was a show near Salzburg in Austria before heaing on to Budapest in Hungary, where i found a resturaunt promising "Romantic gypsy music"


After the show here which was our second year in a row to headline the Sziget festival it was time for a 2 day drive to Dublin but not for me. I'm flying home for a day off

Deutschland

After our flight from Montreal to Cologne via Munich we had 2 days off before staring rehearsals at the E-werk club. Very weird to go back to a club you played less than 2 years ago with so much gear that you have to take up the entire floor of the venue.




Here we are having a little production meeting and listening to some new songs which are shaping up nicely, my particular favourite being "Joyride" which will blow your mind when you hear it.


We had a friend on last years Sams Town tour by the name of Will Yapp who was one of my lighting techs and on one of our off days we got bored and started a facebook group called "Will Yapp is Gay" so we figured we needed to send him a message since he couldnt be on the tour this time around.



I did manage to snap a rather nice picture early in the morning


After we finished rehearsals we had a show right beside the Dom Cathedral in the middle of Cologne. It is a fantastic location for a show

There is also some great views from the top of the cathedral spire


We spent most of the day walking around and found some pretty random stuff, not sure what this picture of Hitler and Stalin is about but it is pretty random.
If you ever get a chance to go there and have a look around, dont miss it


And before you say anything i know its immature and purile but so am i and i couldnt help having a little snigger at the name of this pub.

I was impressed with how the local forklift driver decided to keep himself cooled off during the day though.

I was less than impressed with the crew room they provided for us. No seats, no drinks......classy stuff


I dont think Ray was too impressed either.

Ray is the newest member of the tour having come on board to replace Ted as our extra musician when Ted decided to return to school a while back.

The show went well that night and the locaton looked fantastic during the show and it would be a great place to shoot a DVD one day.
Next up....Brussels!!