Also for some reason that night we found that the streets of Baden Baden were all laid out in carpet for the festival.
Anyway, next day we were off to Cologne where we finally took delivery of the new stage set for the tour. Particularly happy with how the new drum riser turned out.
Also tonight was the debut of the desk mascots for this tour. Every tour gets a new one. This time its Doctor Who and a Dalek from the TV Show Doctor Who
Tonight was an OK show though the audience didn't seem to be very responsive, maybe it was the sunday night thing. Who knows
Anyway, it was over and off we went to Brussels for show 2 of 4 in a row at the Ancienne Belgique, which was a much more receptive crowd
After a walk around Brussels we were off to the Port of Amsterdam for a show at the Paradiso club. Always a fun venue to play at and usually a good crowd.
And after the fun and frolics of Amsterdam we were bound for Paris for a show in a somewhat unusal venue, the Cabaret Sauvage resembles a circus tent more than a venue.
But after some intial worries that it may be a little cold inside the Parisian crowd made sure it was a fantastic show and were in great voice throughout.
Next up was a day off in Berlin after a long drive from Paris where we had time for some dinner and a stroll around before catching a showing of The Town, the new Ben Affleck movie. All in all it was a good film, if maybe a touch too long, but for some reason there was some bizarre commercials shown before the film, which i managed to find on good old youtube.
Can never watch X-Men without laughing at this now.
Anyway off to the show we were the next day where we finally had a decent lighting system so i managed to snag a couple of pictures
We also had a guest backstage in the form of the very nice Fran Healy, lead singer of the band Travis, who has just agreed to drag his guitar along and play some shows opening for Brandon in the US IN November, looking forward to that very much.
Next up was a day off in the fun that is ridiculously expensive Zurich (12.50 for a Big Mac Meal). A quiet day was had by all and then it was off to show before heading onwards to Italy for shows in Milan and Rome. Rome was by the far the smallest show of the tour with a capacity of around 450 squeezing into a tiny room for a great show.
The next day was spent doing a little sightseeing in Rome, the Coliseum, Trevi Fountain as well heading to the Vatican to see the Sistine Chapel amongst other things. We were a little dissapointed to a line of people which had to be over a kilometre long as we drove to the gate but the ever resourceful chaps that we are we slid into the line unnoticed at the top (well, more like stepped over the knee high barrier in the hopes that no one would protest....and they didnt....SCORE....we were inside within 10 mins. I'll find out eventually if that one is going to come back and bite me on the ass i guess.
Anyway, that night we were off to Barcelona after a 15 hour to a night in a hotel where i found it a little strange that there was a welcome message written on my bathroom mirror for some reason
A little strange but what the hell, at least i had a good view from my window
next night we were off to the show at the Razzamatazz where we got off to a great start but then we had 2 massive power failures with the sound equipment. After tracing the problem to a faulty amp belonging to the venue, we were back up and running. Luckily this didnt kill the athmosphere and a great show was had. next night in Madrid we had a fantastic crowd and the band were on great form also for the final mainland europe show of the tour.
After a 14 hour drive to paris for 9 hours in a hotel, its now nearly 2 in the morning and im waiting on the bus to pick us up again for the last part of the journey north to Glasgow, hold on UK....we're coming!!!
2 comments:
Didn't think you'd be so quick to update, thanks.
I laughed at the comment about worrying if the Paris "tent" would be cold inside. It was roasting!
You look quite fetching dressed up like a pope, maybe it's your "papal aura" that helped you get into the Vatican so quickly. ;)
Hope you had a good few hours in Paris yesterday, at least the sun was out. Good luck with the UK and US shows. Looking forward to seeing what antics you all get up to there!
Glad the Paris crowd were responsive. When I saw The Killers at the Brittany concert last July the French were distinctly lukewarm. There were our little crowd of Brits singing along and the French just stood there like lemons.
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