Now, we all know that Jason Hill of Louis XiV has never been known for impeccable taste (the jacket alone is testament to that)
But what the hell is this video all about
Tuesday, August 25, 2009
The Beginning Of The End......
After a couple days off its was out for another weekend of shows, this time in Europe. First up we were off to Krakow, Poland for the Coke Live Music Festival with UK acts The Streets and James on the bill, it was an eclectic bill for sure. The show was good with a good loud crowd turning out for the guys first headline show in Poland ( We were here in 05 opening for u2)
The band also pulled out a great show despite being in a rather solemn mood pre-show due to a trip to visit Auschwitz but they hit the stage and pulled it all together
The real surprise of this trip was the city of Krakow itself. Contrary to visits to other places in Poland over the years i found this to be a very nice and welcoming city. Definitely one for a weekend break if you have the time to kill.
Next day we were off England for the 2 V festivals....first stop.....Chelmsford.
The crowd at Chelmsford were slightly more muted than we are used to lately but overall i think the guys won out
Next day we were off to Staffordshire for the final UK show of the Day & Age Tour. Even though we still have quite a lot of touring left to go we're done with Europe now for quite some time as there is still plenty of places we havent been over to yet in years and some new places to be won over also.
There was a much better crowd in Stafford and the altered setlist helped re-invigorate the band a little too and they gave a performance worthing as a goodbye kiss to a part of the world thats been very good to them over the last 5 years. It was one of those nights when anything was possible, hell, if you look at this picture closely, i could swear Brandon is levitating
Dave almost looked like he was about to be consumed by a cloud of smoke ( What a way to end the show......Mental Note for next album Tour!!!!)
So there you have, its a little bittersweet to have finished 1 part of the Day & Age touring schedule but we will battle onwards after a few days off we are off to America and Canada for the bands biggest headlining tour thus far on hometurf.
Thanks Europe, you've been great, see you again.......sometime!!!
Monday, August 17, 2009
Random
Enough Said!!!!
Now im all for people doing whatever they can to preserve their jobs in this tough economic climate but do you reckon this guy hid the last post to hold that tensabarrier so he could keep his job.......I do
And Lastly, always be careful what you write on Facebook
Weekend Warriors
So after a couple of weeks at home awaiting a newborn, everyone was full of congratulations for Brandon as he welcomed his new son Gunner into the world. No rest for the wicked though as Daddy had to return to work for a few days
First up we were off to Elizabeth, indiana for a show at the Horseshoe Casino.
We flew in Louisville Airport at 930pm on a Friday night, now i've been to a lot of small airports but have rarely seen one this empty.
Still, at least they sent us a flash ride to the hotel.
I have to admit to feeling a little ridiculous getting out of this thing outside the hotel.
Oh well, what can you do.
I was a little perturbed by the offer of ice cream "by the pint" at the cafe in the lobby though.
Now, i know i'm by no means the finest physical specimen but c'mon.....put down the spoon and find a treadmill if you're buying this in a cafe and not storing it in a freezer for consumption over a period of time
I did also see a very big caterpillar outside the hotel strangely
Anyway, after the show that night we made the short drive up to Chicago for a stiflingly hot day at Lollapalooza the next day. This is the 2nd time the band has played Lollapalooza in the time i've been with them and they were honoured to be asked to headline and close the festival especially playing opposite Janes Addiction who feature the founder of Lollapalooza Perry Farrell as their vocalist. This was a great show and the band had a blast up there and i think that was plain for all to see
Next day i spent a little time walking around this fantastic city before heading to the airport. If i ever have kids and go on a family holiday and get some matching t-shirts printed for us all to wear then you all have my express permission to shoot me in the head on site cos i've obviously lost my mind. You know the ones i mean.........
Oh dear!!
Anyway, off to the airport i go to find that my flight has been cancelled but i manage to get on another flight leaving an hour later but ends up being delayed over and over until by the time i board i was at the airport nearly 7 hours before an 8 hour flight. But thats nothing new for me at O'Hare airport really.
Anyway, a quick trip to London was in order for me to see Pearl Jam play an intimate gig to 1000 people at Shepherd Bush Empire. And what a gig it was. No gags, no fancy tricks, no opening act......just 5 guys playing for 2 and half hours with 27 songs and still leaving you able to rattle off at least 10 great songs that they didn't play without even thinking hard about it.
But now its home for a few days before the trip to Poland next week
First up we were off to Elizabeth, indiana for a show at the Horseshoe Casino.
We flew in Louisville Airport at 930pm on a Friday night, now i've been to a lot of small airports but have rarely seen one this empty.
Still, at least they sent us a flash ride to the hotel.
I have to admit to feeling a little ridiculous getting out of this thing outside the hotel.
Oh well, what can you do.
I was a little perturbed by the offer of ice cream "by the pint" at the cafe in the lobby though.
Now, i know i'm by no means the finest physical specimen but c'mon.....put down the spoon and find a treadmill if you're buying this in a cafe and not storing it in a freezer for consumption over a period of time
I did also see a very big caterpillar outside the hotel strangely
Anyway, after the show that night we made the short drive up to Chicago for a stiflingly hot day at Lollapalooza the next day. This is the 2nd time the band has played Lollapalooza in the time i've been with them and they were honoured to be asked to headline and close the festival especially playing opposite Janes Addiction who feature the founder of Lollapalooza Perry Farrell as their vocalist. This was a great show and the band had a blast up there and i think that was plain for all to see
Next day i spent a little time walking around this fantastic city before heading to the airport. If i ever have kids and go on a family holiday and get some matching t-shirts printed for us all to wear then you all have my express permission to shoot me in the head on site cos i've obviously lost my mind. You know the ones i mean.........
Oh dear!!
Anyway, off to the airport i go to find that my flight has been cancelled but i manage to get on another flight leaving an hour later but ends up being delayed over and over until by the time i board i was at the airport nearly 7 hours before an 8 hour flight. But thats nothing new for me at O'Hare airport really.
Anyway, a quick trip to London was in order for me to see Pearl Jam play an intimate gig to 1000 people at Shepherd Bush Empire. And what a gig it was. No gags, no fancy tricks, no opening act......just 5 guys playing for 2 and half hours with 27 songs and still leaving you able to rattle off at least 10 great songs that they didn't play without even thinking hard about it.
But now its home for a few days before the trip to Poland next week
Euro Festivals Pt2
After a little break at home we were back off to finish off the European festivals. First up was the obligatory club warm up show, this time at the Rockefeller club in Oslo.
Before we headed onwards to the Hove festival where we played after the fantastic Fleet Foxes. Back in January in rehearsals, the band were messing about with a cover version of "He Doesn't Know Why" by Fleet Foxes but never got around to playing it since they were already leaving out some of their own songs but since Fleet Foxes were on the bill and didn't play the song, our guys decided to break it out for one night.
Next day we were off to London for the big show at Hyde Park. While i was programming the show on the Thurs night i was talking to a friend who was just back from Los Angeles where he had been working on the new Micheal Jackson show. Needless to say say we were both a little shocked when not even an hour later the news came through about his death. You can say what you want to about his later years and the controversy but you cant deny the quality of his early work such as "Off The Wall" and "Thriller".
Anyhow, after the opening sets from Howling Bells, Passion Pit and The Kooks. The guys hit the stage for what was a brilliantly received set for one of the biggest headline shows that the band have played.
Of course with this being London, there was the usual VIP liggers etc hanging around including Tom Jones, Natalie Imbruglia, Justin Timberlake (who in a bizarre twist was put the guest list by yours truly) and Prince Harry (3rd in line to be King Of England)
That's him on the left meeting the band right before the show.
Also wandering about during the day were Spinal Tap, very strange seeing them in person
Next up we were off to Athens, Greece for a couple days R'n'R before the next show.
Tis a hard life sometimes!!!
Little did we know we should have def made the best of the good weather cos as this have a habit of doing, come show day it'll all change.
When we arrived in the morning everything was nice and calm, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, bees were trying to have sex with them.....as is my understanding!!!
But just as we were getting ready to return to the hotel rafter set up was finished, the skies turned grey and the heavens opened unleashing some sort of precipitatious wrath of the Almighty upon us (Whoops, got a little too Old Testament on you there...sorry bout that)
In other words, shitloads of rain
Just check out the video of the backstage area
Needless to say after that downpour it wasn't possible to allow people into the venue and the gig had to be cancelled unfortunately. By the way, there is a myth i'd like to dispel, we dont like cancelling shows. Generally, once all the gear is loaded in the hard part of the day is done. if the show gets cancelled we still gotta take it all back out. I would much rather just do the easy part (the show) and then move on as planned. There is nothing like the uncertainty that a cancelled show brings with it.
Unfortunately this time there was no way around it, the venue was flooded and a lot of our gear was absolutely soaked.
So onwards we went to Romania for another rain soaked show at the B'estfest in Bucharest. We did however come across some of the weirdest translated chinese menu's we'd ever seen.
Have a read through, my particular favourites were
Sheep with Onion
Pork With Wood
Soup with Com
and last but by no means least
ANTS IN A TREE....(HOT)
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Anyway, off to Belgium we go for one of the best organised festivals in the world....the Werchter rock Festival where were on the bill sandwiched between Bloc Party and Coldplay . We did get the magic spot on the bill that i love when the show starts in daylight and ends in darkness.
I did get to meet a hero of mine at this festival also.....Henry Rollins
After a quick trip on the Eurostar train under the sea( Yep) we were off to London for a 2 night DVD shoot at the Royal Albert Hall. The band chose to shoot the dvd here after the show here last year. In addition to the 2 gigs we also shot a plethora of extras as possible extras so just like you im looking forward to seeing the finished product.
We also did some crew interviews so we'll see if they end up on the DVD, during mine there was a box of Jack Daniels bottles that the director was giving out to people to say thank you and daring little scamp is caught on film stealing one....we'll get you : )
After the frolics of London we were off to the Hultsfred festival in Sweden, unfortunately there was no commercial flights for us to take so we had "Air Killers" for a couple of days which was good times.
After that we off to T in The Park in Scotland which has always been a great gig for the band with this being the 4th time in 6 years that they've played at the festival and the scottish crowd didnt dissapoint as ever
Although when i arrived on site on the friday night i was most perplexed to see only maybe 3000 people watching the fantastic Nick Cave and The bad Seeds while 65,000 thronged the main stage for the very average Kings Of Leon......for shame Scotland!!!
And before i get a bunch of hate filled comments from KOL fans, i like em too and loved the early albums but they pale compared to someone like Nick Cave.
Anyway, next day it was my almost home town show at the Oxegen festival since i live about 15 mins from the site on a good day and as ever the crowd did me proud.
Check Out Brandons attempt at my native tongue
and of course i had to slip in the Irish flag at the end
UNfortunately there is never enough time at home and next day it was off to Rome for the Roma Rock festival alongside White Lies and Franz Ferdinand as well a trip around the wonderful city itself. if you ever get a chance i highly reccomend the Coliseum, im not posting pictures cos you really need to see it for yourself
So we were almost on the home stretch now, France was next to fall as we played another show with Bruce Springsteen before high tailing it to Lisbon, another of my favourite cities but unfortunately i was very ill for the whole time here. The load in the night before the show was particularly interesting to say the least with very high winds making it impossible for us to hang our screen until the next day .
But nevertheless a great show was had and we were off to Benicassim in Spain for the last show of this leg, we were lucky to be able to play after high winds and storms had hit the site all weekend forcing the cancellation of Kings Of leons set on the Friday night but we soldiered on on the makeshift stage and masde the most of what was there.
So there we have after it. After 15 shows and 26 flights in 30 days it was time to head home for a few weeks and relax!!! PHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Before we headed onwards to the Hove festival where we played after the fantastic Fleet Foxes. Back in January in rehearsals, the band were messing about with a cover version of "He Doesn't Know Why" by Fleet Foxes but never got around to playing it since they were already leaving out some of their own songs but since Fleet Foxes were on the bill and didn't play the song, our guys decided to break it out for one night.
Next day we were off to London for the big show at Hyde Park. While i was programming the show on the Thurs night i was talking to a friend who was just back from Los Angeles where he had been working on the new Micheal Jackson show. Needless to say say we were both a little shocked when not even an hour later the news came through about his death. You can say what you want to about his later years and the controversy but you cant deny the quality of his early work such as "Off The Wall" and "Thriller".
Anyhow, after the opening sets from Howling Bells, Passion Pit and The Kooks. The guys hit the stage for what was a brilliantly received set for one of the biggest headline shows that the band have played.
Of course with this being London, there was the usual VIP liggers etc hanging around including Tom Jones, Natalie Imbruglia, Justin Timberlake (who in a bizarre twist was put the guest list by yours truly) and Prince Harry (3rd in line to be King Of England)
That's him on the left meeting the band right before the show.
Also wandering about during the day were Spinal Tap, very strange seeing them in person
Next up we were off to Athens, Greece for a couple days R'n'R before the next show.
Tis a hard life sometimes!!!
Little did we know we should have def made the best of the good weather cos as this have a habit of doing, come show day it'll all change.
When we arrived in the morning everything was nice and calm, the sun was shining, the birds were singing, bees were trying to have sex with them.....as is my understanding!!!
But just as we were getting ready to return to the hotel rafter set up was finished, the skies turned grey and the heavens opened unleashing some sort of precipitatious wrath of the Almighty upon us (Whoops, got a little too Old Testament on you there...sorry bout that)
In other words, shitloads of rain
Just check out the video of the backstage area
Needless to say after that downpour it wasn't possible to allow people into the venue and the gig had to be cancelled unfortunately. By the way, there is a myth i'd like to dispel, we dont like cancelling shows. Generally, once all the gear is loaded in the hard part of the day is done. if the show gets cancelled we still gotta take it all back out. I would much rather just do the easy part (the show) and then move on as planned. There is nothing like the uncertainty that a cancelled show brings with it.
Unfortunately this time there was no way around it, the venue was flooded and a lot of our gear was absolutely soaked.
So onwards we went to Romania for another rain soaked show at the B'estfest in Bucharest. We did however come across some of the weirdest translated chinese menu's we'd ever seen.
Have a read through, my particular favourites were
Sheep with Onion
Pork With Wood
Soup with Com
and last but by no means least
ANTS IN A TREE....(HOT)
???????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????
Anyway, off to Belgium we go for one of the best organised festivals in the world....the Werchter rock Festival where were on the bill sandwiched between Bloc Party and Coldplay . We did get the magic spot on the bill that i love when the show starts in daylight and ends in darkness.
I did get to meet a hero of mine at this festival also.....Henry Rollins
After a quick trip on the Eurostar train under the sea( Yep) we were off to London for a 2 night DVD shoot at the Royal Albert Hall. The band chose to shoot the dvd here after the show here last year. In addition to the 2 gigs we also shot a plethora of extras as possible extras so just like you im looking forward to seeing the finished product.
We also did some crew interviews so we'll see if they end up on the DVD, during mine there was a box of Jack Daniels bottles that the director was giving out to people to say thank you and daring little scamp is caught on film stealing one....we'll get you : )
After the frolics of London we were off to the Hultsfred festival in Sweden, unfortunately there was no commercial flights for us to take so we had "Air Killers" for a couple of days which was good times.
After that we off to T in The Park in Scotland which has always been a great gig for the band with this being the 4th time in 6 years that they've played at the festival and the scottish crowd didnt dissapoint as ever
Although when i arrived on site on the friday night i was most perplexed to see only maybe 3000 people watching the fantastic Nick Cave and The bad Seeds while 65,000 thronged the main stage for the very average Kings Of Leon......for shame Scotland!!!
And before i get a bunch of hate filled comments from KOL fans, i like em too and loved the early albums but they pale compared to someone like Nick Cave.
Anyway, next day it was my almost home town show at the Oxegen festival since i live about 15 mins from the site on a good day and as ever the crowd did me proud.
Check Out Brandons attempt at my native tongue
and of course i had to slip in the Irish flag at the end
UNfortunately there is never enough time at home and next day it was off to Rome for the Roma Rock festival alongside White Lies and Franz Ferdinand as well a trip around the wonderful city itself. if you ever get a chance i highly reccomend the Coliseum, im not posting pictures cos you really need to see it for yourself
So we were almost on the home stretch now, France was next to fall as we played another show with Bruce Springsteen before high tailing it to Lisbon, another of my favourite cities but unfortunately i was very ill for the whole time here. The load in the night before the show was particularly interesting to say the least with very high winds making it impossible for us to hang our screen until the next day .
But nevertheless a great show was had and we were off to Benicassim in Spain for the last show of this leg, we were lucky to be able to play after high winds and storms had hit the site all weekend forcing the cancellation of Kings Of leons set on the Friday night but we soldiered on on the makeshift stage and masde the most of what was there.
So there we have after it. After 15 shows and 26 flights in 30 days it was time to head home for a few weeks and relax!!! PHEW!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Thursday, August 13, 2009
Europe Festivals Pt 1
So, after getting home from Morocco i was off to Brighton for a friends wedding. I even scrubbed up ok, even if i do say so myself
First up on the festivals we were off to Amsterdam to play the make up show for our show that was cancelled back in March due to a bomb threat. It also saw the debut of our new improved stealth LED screen
Next day we were off to the PinkPop festival where we were sandwiched between Chris Cornell and Bruce Springsteen.
Here I am hard at work for our daylight show : )
We managed to hang around and see Bruce Springsteens set as well
This was also a unique gig as Brandon joined Bruce onstage for a rendition of Thunder Road
After a show at the Colour Line Arena in Hamburg we were off to the Skive Beach Party in Denmark. This festival definitely had one of the strangest VIP dining areas i've seen
After strapping into the seats
You are lifted 100 feet into the air to enjoy your dinner
Our buses were parked right beside the stage and you could actually watch the bands from the back lounge. Here is Bloc Party viewed from the back of the Bus.
After that we were off Germany for shows at Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park festivals.
Next day at Rock Im Park, the site is on the site of the Nürnberg Rally where Hitler made some of his famous speeches. very strange to be standing on the same spot as the most disliked person who ever lived.
Still at least his is far in the past and the current generation of lovely germans were treated to a fantastic show.
Afterwards we were off to Lubjiana before heading onwards to Verona for the last show of this leg of the tour.
The show was in a fantastic venue.
Verona is also remarkable for the best dressed runner (local person who runs errands for the tour on a daily basis)
as well as having some very guys with some homemade jackets
We also filmed this show for posterity. Maybe some of it will be released one day. Who knows......
Since i bought a new guitar while back i had to figure out how to get it home so i ended up having to buy a seat on the plane home, it even got its own boarding card for Mr Guitar Guitar
Btw at the airport i saw an example of possibly some of the worst fashion sense i've ever seen
White shoes, white jeans, pink jacket with white elbow patches........nice!!!!
First up on the festivals we were off to Amsterdam to play the make up show for our show that was cancelled back in March due to a bomb threat. It also saw the debut of our new improved stealth LED screen
Next day we were off to the PinkPop festival where we were sandwiched between Chris Cornell and Bruce Springsteen.
Here I am hard at work for our daylight show : )
We managed to hang around and see Bruce Springsteens set as well
This was also a unique gig as Brandon joined Bruce onstage for a rendition of Thunder Road
After a show at the Colour Line Arena in Hamburg we were off to the Skive Beach Party in Denmark. This festival definitely had one of the strangest VIP dining areas i've seen
After strapping into the seats
You are lifted 100 feet into the air to enjoy your dinner
Our buses were parked right beside the stage and you could actually watch the bands from the back lounge. Here is Bloc Party viewed from the back of the Bus.
After that we were off Germany for shows at Rock Am Ring and Rock Im Park festivals.
Next day at Rock Im Park, the site is on the site of the Nürnberg Rally where Hitler made some of his famous speeches. very strange to be standing on the same spot as the most disliked person who ever lived.
Still at least his is far in the past and the current generation of lovely germans were treated to a fantastic show.
Afterwards we were off to Lubjiana before heading onwards to Verona for the last show of this leg of the tour.
The show was in a fantastic venue.
Verona is also remarkable for the best dressed runner (local person who runs errands for the tour on a daily basis)
as well as having some very guys with some homemade jackets
We also filmed this show for posterity. Maybe some of it will be released one day. Who knows......
Since i bought a new guitar while back i had to figure out how to get it home so i ended up having to buy a seat on the plane home, it even got its own boarding card for Mr Guitar Guitar
Btw at the airport i saw an example of possibly some of the worst fashion sense i've ever seen
White shoes, white jeans, pink jacket with white elbow patches........nice!!!!
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