Going Down......Under!!!

So after fun and frolics that was Japan. It was off to Auckland to start our run of shows with the Big Day Out Festival. First up was Mt Smart Stadium in Auckland, New Zealand which is one of my favourite countries in the world.

The BDO has always had an extremely strong line-up and this year is no exception with Tool, Muse, The Killers, Jet, Violent Femmes, My Chemical Romance, The Streets, The Vines among the almost 90 acts over 12 stages in one day. The main stage area is 2 stages side ny side so as soon as one band finishes another begins straight away adding up to almost 12 continous hours just in that part of the festival.

On a day off in auckland we decided that a bit of a fun excursion was in order to kick start our Summer/January tour, a rarity being this warm just after christmas for most of us. So a day of Quad Bike ATV action was hastily arranged. Here i am about to come down what in fact was a pretty steep hill indeed. Even if it doesnt look it.

We had about 2 and a half hours driving about throught Forests and down to the beach just before sunset for some serious speed before heading back to camp.

After waving goodbye to Auckland it was off to Australia for a show at The Gold Coast Parklands, again same travelling bill with the New Zealand loacl acts being replaced by Australian ones.
The Gold Coast is basically Australias biggest beach party resort and the weather is always great here. So off to the beach it was for us.

And a little after dinner fun on the Dodgems became dangerous.....Dont tell me im a bad loser!!

I already know!!
Show day came and it was back to work, we've been seeing a couple of new changes in the set list lately with the inclusion of "Why do i keep Counting" making its debut recently.

I hung around after the show to watch another great performance by Muse who have been amazingly good on this run, i highly recommend seeing them to anyone who has the chance!! They will blow your balls....or boobs....off!!

Anyway its time to leave The Gold Coast behind....next stop Sydney!!!

Turning Japanese

After a week at home following the New Years Show, it was time to jump back on the airplanes again. First of all i had to fly to London, collect my passport from the New Zealand embassy and head straight to the airport to fly home again. I spent longer travelling to and from London then i spent in it.
12 hours later it was back to the airport to fly to Tokyo via Paris to restart the tour. First up was Japan, and shows in Tokyo, Nagoya and Osaka. I like Japan, everything is incredibly efficient and people are for the most very friendly. After ariving, it was straight down to a production to meet all of the Japanese crew who would be travelling with us for the next couple of days. A quick look out my hotel room window showed that i had what i consider to be a lasting image of Tokyo.....The busy pedestrian intersection.

Our first night was spent in the Roppongi district in various bars etc, one of which was The Cavern Club where we watched Silver Beats, who are a Japanese Beatles tribute band who dont speak any english at all but can play every Beatles song perfectly.

After a show at Tokyos Zepp club it was off to the bullet train to Nagoya where we got to see Mt. Fuji as we passed by

After soundcheck it was off to see the sights of Nagoya as i`d never been here before. First up was Nagoya Castle

After that it was over to Osu Cannon Temple

After the show again it back to the bullet train and onwards to Osaka.
After the show here we went to the legendary bar Rock-Rock where i decided it was time to try and drink my own body weight in Jack Daniels and Jagermeister and then decide to vomit my way to New Zealand, but more on that later!!

CHECK THIS OUT!!!

This is Hilarious!!!!!

New Years and Warm Beers!!!

30 hours travel and 12,000 miles to do a 45 min show. Sound crazy?? .......It was!! We had a show to do at midnight on new Years Eve at Midnight playing on the New York backlot set at Paramount Movie Studios.
Here is a brief recap of my weekend

Sat : Dublin-London-Los Angeles
Sun: Show at Paramount Studios
Mon:Los Angeles-London-Dublin

Here is a bit of video from soundcheck of the guys doing Read My Mind


And yes...Ronnie has shaved off the 'tache!!

Another Year Over.....

So after probably my busiest and best year thus far here we are at the end of the year and after 198 shows in 28 countries on 5 continents and 139 days travelling twice around the world and only 28 days at home. This is how it looked. Big thanks to all the members of band, management and crew of the following acts ive worked with this year - Arctic Monkeys, Kanye West, The Killers and We Are Scientists who opened a whole load of shows for Arctic Monkeys in Europe,America and Japan.

January
ARCTIC MONKEYS
23 Dublin Ambassador Theatre
24 Dublin Ambassador Theatre
25 Belfast Ulster Hall
27 Glasgow Academy
28 Edinburgh Corn Exchange
29 Newcastle Academy
31 Nottingham Rock City

Feburary
1 Leeds University 

2 Liverpool University 

4 Manchester Academy
5 Manchester Academy
7 Sheffield Octagon
8 Birmingham Academy
9 Norwich UEA 

11 Cardiff Great Hall
12 Cambridge Corn Exchange
13 Bristol Academy
15 Portsmouth Guildhall
16 Brighton Dome
17 London Carling Brixton
KANYE WEST
19 London Hammersmith Apollo
20 London Hammersmith Apollo
21 London Hammersmith Apollo
22 Cardiff Arena
24 Dublin Point
25 Dublin Point
26 London Theatre Royal
28 Birmingham NEC
March
2 Milan Alcatraz
3 Zurich Xtra
5 Berlin ColumbiaHalle
6 Cologne Palladium
8 Rotterdam Ahoy
9 Paris Le Zenith
10 Brussels Ancienne Belgique
12 Barcelona Razamatazz
16 Auckland, St James
20 Brisbane Convention Center
23 Melbourne Festival hall
26 Sydney Horden Pavillion
29 Adelaide Thebarton
April
2 Sydney Opera House
5 Yokohama Blitz
6 Tokyo Studio Coast
9 Honolulu Blaisdell Arena
ARCTIC MONKEYS
April
13 Nottingham, Rock City
14 Glasgow, Academy
15 Newcastle, Academy
17 Bournemouth, BIC
18 Plymouth, Pavillions
19 Wolverhampton, Civic
21 Newport, Centre
22 Sheffield, Magna Centre
23 Blackpool, Empress Ballroom
24 Rotherham, Magna
26 Cambridge, Corn Exchange
27 London, Brixton Academy
29 Bourges, France
30 Lyon, Transbordeur

MAY
2 Paris, Batacian
3 Nantes, Olympic
4 Mannheim, Delta Connection
6 Cologne, E-Werk
7 Amsterdam, Paradiso
8 Munster, Jovel
9 Dresden, Alter Schiachthof
11 Munich, Gr. Elserhalle
12 Modena, Vox
13 Milan, Rolling Stone
14 Marseille, Le Theatre du Moulin
16 Barcelona, Razzamatzz
17 Madrid, Sala Heineken
18 Lisbon, Garage
27 Vancouver, Commodore
28 Sasquatch Festival, Washington
29 Portland, Roseland
31 San Francisco, Warfield

JUNE
2 San Diego, Soma - CA
3 Los Angeles, Wiltern - CA
4 Tempe, Marquee - AZ
6 Dallas, Granada - TX
7 Austin, Stubbs - TX
8 Houston, Warehouse – TX
10 Atlanta, Roxy - GA
11 Norfolk, Norva - VA
12 Baltimore, Sonar - MD
14 New York, Roseland – NY
15 Boston, Avalon - MA
16 Montreal, Le Medley
17 Toronto, Kool Haus
23 Hurricane Festival, Germany
24 Columbia, Berlin
25 Southside Festival, Germany
30 Belfort, France

JULY
1 Werchter Festival, Belgium
2 Roskilde Festival, Denmark
4 Quart Festival, Norway
5 Accelerator Gotebourg, Sweden
6 Accelerator Stockholm, Sweden
8 Oxegen Festival, Ireland
9 T In The Park, Scotland
KANYE WEST
11 Johannesburg Coca Cola Dome
14 Capetown Belleville Velodrome
16 Rotterdam North Sea Festival
17 Lisbon jazz Fest
19 Vienne Cotes Du Rock Fest
20 Stockholm Jazz Festival
21 Pori Jazz Festival
23 Nice Jazz Festival
ARCTIC MONKEYS
28 Auckland, St James Theatre, New Zealand
30 Perth, Metro City, Australia

AUGUST
1 Adelaide, Thebarton Theatre, Australia
2 Melbourne, The Palace, Australia
3 Melbourne, The Palace, Australia
5 Brisbane, The Arena, Australia
6 Brisbane, The Arena, Australia
8 Sydney, Enmore Theatre, Australia
9 Sydney, Enmore Theatre, Australia
12 Summersonic, Osaka, Japan
13 Summersonic, Tokyo, Japan
18 Frequency Festival, Salzburg, Austria
19 Pukkelpop, Belgium
20 Lowlands Festival, Holland
23 Citrus Rooms, Barnsley
24 The Forum, London
26 Carling Festival, Reading
27 Carling Festival, Leeds

SEPTEMBER
THE KILLERS
08 Blackpool Ballroom
15 Cologne
16 Berlin
17 Bolgna MTV Day
19 London Camden Ballroom
20 Paris
22 Webster Hall, New York
23 V Festival, Baltimore
25 MTV New York
26 MTV New York
28 SNL Rehearsal New York
30 Saturday Night Live, New York


OCTOBER
2 - Jimmy Kimmel, LA
3 - Jimmy Kimmel, LA
4 - Jimmy Kimmel, LA
5 - Jimmy Kimmel, LA
6 - The Wiltern, Los Angeles
7 - The Wiltern, Los Angeles
8 - Warfield Theatre, San Francisco
9 - Warfielfd , San Francisc
10 - Roseland Theater, Portland, Ore.
11 - Orpheum Theatre, Vancouver
12 - Paramount Theatre, Seattle
14 - The Great Salt Air, Magna, Utah
15 - Fillmore Auditorium, Denver
17 - Congress Theatre, Chicago
18 - State Theatre, Detroit
20 - Koolhaus, Toronto
21 - Borgata Event Center, Atlantic City, N.J.
23 - Electric Factory, Philadelphia
24 - Madison Square Garden, New York
25 - Madison Square Garden, New York
26 - Orpheum Theatre, Boston
28 - Sam Boyd Stadium, Las Vegas

November
01 - Vega, Copenhagen
02 - MTV Awards, Copenhagen
04 - Grosse Freihiet, Hamburg
05 - Huxleys, Berlin
06 - Tonhalle, Munich
08 - Rollingstone, Milan
09 - XTRA, Zurich
11 - Razzamatazz, Barcelona
12- Jools Holland, London
14 - Ancienne Belgique, Brussels
15 - Bataclan, Paris
16 - Paradiso, Amsterdam
18 - Wolverhampton Civic Hall
20 - Manchester Apollo
21 - Hull Arena
22 - Glasgow Academy
23 - Newcastle Academy
25 - Nottingham Rock City
26 - London Brixton Academy
27 - London Brixton Academy
28 - London Brixton Academy
30 - Dublin The Point

December

02 - Vh1 Awards, LA
04 - Billboard Awards, las Vegas
06 - Atlanta, Phillips Arena - Postponed
08 - Bill Graham Civic, San Francisco
10 - Universal Ampitheatre, LA
12 - Monterrey Arena, Mexico
13- Sports Palace, Mexico City
15 - Madison Sq Garden, New York
16 - Electric Factory , Philadelphia
18 - Philips Arena, Atlanta
31 - Paramount Studios, LA


PHEW!!!!

HAPPY NEW YEAR TO YOU ALL!!!

R.I.P.

Seems every Christmas has to be tinged with sadness as music legend James Brown passed away today, Christmas Day after taking ill with pneumonia earlier in the week. I met him very briefly a couple years back and he was a very nice guy and after a 50 year career as the ultimate showman i can imagine he would love to bow out on possibly the biggest day of the year. he`s prob laughing at it all right now wherever he is!!!

GET UP!!!

Crimbo!!

After listening to The killers christmas song for the last couple of weeks, a friend of mine ended up deciding he would write as well. And of course i ended up playing some guitars on it so check it out at

www.myspace.com/frankingband

and while youre there, be sure to check the rest of his songs from the album "Beautification"

Merry Christmas To All And To All A Good Night

HOPE YOU ALL HAVE A GREAT CHRISTMAS AND A GREAT NEW YEAR !!!!

"Flying Home For Christmas...."

Well here i am, back in Dublin for Christmas for 10 days before flying back out to LA for our New Years Eve show in Hollywood.
So to recap the last week or so.
After the shows in Mexico we headed for New York for the Z100 Jingle Ball at Madison Square Garden. This time around we played the Arena instead of the Theatre like last time. The Garden has always been one of those venues that i always wanted to be part of a show at and although we only played 5 songs it still felt like a landmark achievement. Hopefully we will play a full show there sometime but who knows eh!!
Also tonight i had a brief encounter in a corridor backstage with 'The Boss", Bruce Springsteen, seems like a very nice guy!! Unfort i missed a chance to meet Jon Bon Jovi who was in the bands dressing room before the show, oh well..maybe next time. After the show it was off to see The Lemonheads at Irving Plaza perform a good 2 hour set where they seemed to be having more fun than i've seen em have in a long time. They even played theyre version of "Mrs Robinson" which i've never seen them do before...albeit with an audience member singing it. The guy they picked was that drunk and intent on being a Rockstar that he managed to forget the words and fall backwards off the stage.
After this show i headed to the Annex on The Lower East Side for the NME USA launch with a late night show from my good buddies in We Are Scientists. After a little walk around NYC and its new Christmas look such as Ice Skating under the tree at Rockerfeller Center

It was off to Philadelpha for a rescheduled date at the Electric Factory. This was a make up for the show we cancelled in October.

After a couple hours sleep we were off to Atlanta for the last show of this run. Upon arriving in Baggage Claim we were bemused by the large red ants climbing around the ceiling over our carousel, nowhere else just over our one. Bizzarro!!
When we got to the hotel we discovered we had huge corner suites each. My hotel room was bigger than the downstairs of my house. Crazy!! After a few drinks and dinner at FAT MATTS RIB SHACK we tried to hit a few bars but there was nowhere open at 11pm on a Sun night so i headed back and started to get into the Christmas Spirit with an Egg Nog and a viewing of the classic Home Alone. Of course it isnt Christmas until you watch Santa Claus The Movie with Dudley Moore as an Elf, a longtime tradition of seeing it every year has lasted since i remember it coming out in 1985. A new classic has emerged in BAD SANTA with Billy Bob Thornton though. Show day in Atlanta came along and we discovered we couldnt hang any of our set due to it being a radio show so we decided to go all out Christmassy and spend a couple thousand Dollars on Christmas Trees and decorations for a one off stage look.
It was Merry Christmas' all round as we headed to airport for our various flights home and after 15 hours from Atlanta to Dublin via Newark, i looked out the window to see the sunrise over Dublin,Its good to be home.........................For Now!!

I Cannot Wait!!!

Childhood returns on July 4th 2007 when the new TRANSFORMERS Movie opens!!

?????

I think you'll agree with me that some advertisements just arent fit for everyone!!!

EH GRINGO!!

After the LA show we were off to Mexico for the first time. First up was a show in Monterrey Where Brandon won over the crowd with a new choice of headwear.

Good show was had by all and then we were off to Mexico City, which app is the biggest city in the world and i dont doubt it at all. The place is massive. Upon arrival we saw the Mexican version of the Taxi!! I just hope you dont need to travel to the airport with another person. Theres not all that much space in there.
Another funny thing about Mexico is that they are allowed to sell "Bootleg" merchandise outside any bands gig as US Trademarks dont apply in Mexico so they set up a little market of fake shirts and various bits and pieces, there is some pretty good stuff. Really nice designs and great quality.
So onto the show. It was at the cavernous Sports Palace Arena along with 18,000 of the bands close friends. Brandon was thrown a Mexican Flag which ended up on the piano all night. The crowds down there were crazy. Extremely loud and knew every word to all the songs. Unfort 5 hours after the show ended we were on the way to the airport for our 7am flight to New York which is where you find me now so we didnt get to have a look around Mexico City but maybe next time eh!!

Back In The USA

So here we go again. After cancelling the Dublin show a while back and 3 days off at home, it was time to go back out for the last pre Christmas run of shows. At 4am on the day i was leaving for Atlanta i got a call to say that Brandons voice was still acting up and we had to postpone the show, so it was off to San Francisco for 3 days off and waiting to see if his voice would recover in time. So after a couple days in my favourite city in the world spent walking around, shopping and eating at one of my favourite resturaunts The Stinking Rose (Its an all Garlic resturaunt....MMMMMM!!! Garlicy!!!)

It was time to do some shows again,
First up was the Not-so-silent-night gig in San Francisco with Modest Mouse and The Raconteurs.
You could hear Brandon was getting tired towards the end but he sounded good most of the way through.
I also found it really strange to be seeing Christmas Trees and fake snow under a clear blue sky and nice temperature...Im not saying i couldnt get used to it though!!!
So on towards LA for the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas with Foo Fighters, Evanesence, Panic! At The Disco, Angels And Airwaves and Beck. Foo Fighters were great and played an acoustic and electric sets. Beck brought his puppets and The guys played "A Great Big Sled" for the first time in America.
Outside the backstage area, KROQ had photoshopped some images of all the bands in Christmassy type poses. Here is the one of the guys.
Also today the gig was next door to Universal Studios Theme Park
I managed to blag my way in next door and have a look around and go on a couple of free attractions.
Before heading back to do our show and watch Beck and Foo Fighters, who made use of the revolving stage that was used to get bands on and off quickly to play acoustic and spin around while Dave was playing solo to start the electric show.

Oh by the way, if youve ever wondered what i would look like as a South Park character, app this is it!!

Huh???!!!

And for anyone who has been living under a rock and hasnt seen what happens when a stand up comedian loses it onstage!!


He obviously surprised everyone including himself judging by this apology he gave on Letterman the next day


And here is what the guys on the recieving end had to say


How bizarre eh??!!!

Roll on January!!

Soon my addiction to 24 will be back in full effect!!

Well, Where the bloody hell have you been....

Oops!! Just realised how long its been since ive updated this auld thing. Im currently in Dubin getting ready to fly to Atlanta tomorrow. Its been a long couple of weeks but as they say " A picture speaks a Thousand Words"...that`ll save me a whole lot of typing thankfully!!
Beautiful Copenhagen

Strange Street Dancers



Well i guess some religious groups would see it that way....Reeperbahn, Hamburg

Check out this video from The Xtra club in Zurich, Switzerland where the club had a bubble machine over the dancefloor. I decided to use it and not tell the band. Brandon was laughing so hard he could barely sing the song.

I`ve no idea what this is...but i like it!!

The Fat Lady never sings here....She`s always a little confused (Brussels, Belgium)

This is one of the many beautiful buildings in Brussels, we spent 2 days off here while the band hightailed it to London for a TV shoot and to record the forthcoming christmas single "A Great Big Sled" for Bonos Product Red Campaign. All the crew were dressed up as elves for the video except for me as unfort i didnt get to be in it as there was no need for a lighting guy in the studio so i had to stay on in Brussels instead. Oh well...maybe next time eh!!

I dont know where they meet but im signing up!!

Yes that is a real bar of Toblerone!! Just for posterity and comparison, lets see it next to a can of Coke.

And yes that is a full size can. Never thought i would have to eat chocolate with a steak knife




SO with our European adventure over, we headed back into the UK. Bunch of gigs around the country. Most of which were relatively uneventful.
We played at the not so world famous Hull Ice "Arena".
Which i think must have the lowest roof of any arena ive ever done. Check out the lifesize version of mousetrap over FOH


Another day of fun was had at Nottinghams Rock City club, which is a major pain in the ass to get a couple of trucks worth of gear in and out of but always a great show.
Went rummaging and found some costumes. Check out our truck driver as a Teletubby


And this guy.....



Well who else did you think it was?!!!


So after that it was off to London for 3 nights at Brixton Academy.


All 3 Brixton shows went really well, we filmed the last night of it for an MSN broadcast at some point. Who knows when though. Unfort it was a bridge too far for Brandons vocal cords as midway thru load in in Dublin at about midday we got the news that the show was cancelled due to Brandons Bronchitis. Such a shame as i was really looking forward to ding this show at what is a venue where i used to be on the crew and where i basically started out but im sure thats not as bad as the disapointment of the 8,000 people who had lined up in the rain months earlier to buy tickets. i know the band were absolutely gutted to have to cancel this show as Ireland means a lot to them and thay count Oxegen and the Olympia as some of theyre favourite ever shows, as well as it would have been the biggest headline show in Europe yet. But what can you do eh!! The chance you take with Live entertainment i guess. Hopefully they will find a way to make up for this unfortunate event but i know they dont cancel shows on a whim. in the 2 years i`ve known them they have only cancelled 4 shows. none of which were avoidable and all were made up for so im sure this will all get sorted out soon enough.
So there you have it. Off to America now for 2 weks of radio station shows and some gigs in Mexico which i cant wait for.
Speak to you soon