Killing Time....

So after the show in Nimes, i drove to Nice and was unfortunately dropped at the wrong hotel by the driver who took off before i found out and the hotel wouldn't allow me to use the shuttle to take me to the other hotel even though it was another Novotel hotel so i had to walk 3 miles with my luggage at 4am not sure i was going in the right direction. I saw the big blue Novotel sign across the highway and decided to make a run for it. When i got to the hotel they told me that my room wasnt available as it got so late they sold it as they thought i wasnt going to show up. When i eventually got the room, i had 2 hours to relax before showering and heading off to the hotel for my flight to New York via Dublin.

First up was a couple of days rehearsal in Weehawken, New Jersey before a secret club show at the Highline Ballroom in New York where the band debuted 2 new songs (Spaceman, Neon Tiger) from there new album which we should see before the end of the year!
Next up we were off to Mashantucket, CT for a days rehearsal and a show at the MGM Foxwoods Casino


Next up was a show in what is fast becoming a regular venue for the Killers at the Borgata Casino in Atlantic City


After that it was to the Download Festival in Camden, New Jersey which saw us playing directly after Iggy and the Stooges which was pretty cool.


Next day we were off north of the border to the Osheaga Festival in Montreal.


So thats the end of the US dates for this run, off to Germany we go next, talk to you all soon

Monaco baby!!

So onwards we went to a 5 day holiday in Monte Carlo, Monaco!! Oh apparently there was a show or two in there somewhere too. We spent most of our time off driving cars around the F-1 street race track.

We also hired scooters and drove to Nice and then onto Italy for dinner taking in a few beaches and sights along the way.




Unfortunately all good things must come to an end so it was back to work for 2 shows at the Sporting Club.

Its quite an unusual venue in that the audience stay seated and eat dinner during the show and have to wear suits and evening gowns.
Crew aren't allowed out to the front of house position without a collared shirt and jacket on, very strange indeed!
Hence....



After a final night off watching the fireworks over the bay and enjoying a nice meal, it was off to Nimes for my final show with Alicia at the Nimes Arena, which a beautiful roman coliseum.



I did manage to see one of the best/worst haircuts i've ever seen at the show too!



So, thats my pop show finished for a while, now Alicia heads for Asia with a friend of mine looking after the lighting for me while i head to New York to start a month of shows with The Killers.



Current Listening: Vampire Weekend - Vampire Weekend

And on and on and....

So after the rest of our US run which finished at Madison Square Garden in New York and a day off which i put to good use watching a great show from R.E.M. it was off home for a week before flying to and from the states again in the space of 3 days with a one off in milwaukee in the middle. After another day or two off it was off to London for a couple of days of rehearsals before a show at the O2 Arena.
There was an unfortunate incident when one of our Audio Techs broke his finger and of course which one did he break???

It did make any answers to questions easy though!!
After the show there it was off to Manchester and Paris before heading to Amsterdam to start our festival run. 2 days off in Milan followed before a show in Locarno. Which is one of the best loactions for a show in an beautiful city.


I did manage to snap a rather cool picture during the show of Alicia's reflection in a window from the big screen
After a show at Montreaux Jazz Festival it was off to Perugia in Italy for a day off before shows in Perugia and Lucca. I did manage to find a resturaunt with a bizarre take on English translations.

Not quite sure what "spaghetti to the cheek of Pig and Truffles" is or
"Bits of wild boar to the perfume of juniper" but they sure were delicious

Well Hello There...

Howdy, i know its been a while but there hasnt been all that much to talk about to be honest. The tour has been moving along well and we're into a decent rhythm now but as with everything it has its problems. After our little midwest run we started heading west towards the big LA show at the Staples Centre before heading back east with stops in Vegas (where i stopped off to see my former employees THE KILLERS to say hello and hear some new demos from the next album which looks likes it shaping up pretty well) and Texas and onwards to 3 days off in New Orleans where we went on a little boat ride to look at some crocodiles in the swamps and Bayou's.



After that we headed over to Florida for a couple of shows in Tampa and Miami before heading North into Atlanta where since we had a day off after the show and couldnt get into the hotel rooms early we stayed and had a carpark party and barbeque until 3 in the morning where i somehow managed to get elected Chef for the night
Oh well, i managed not to poison anyone so i guess a good night was had by all.

We continued heading north and had a quick stop off in New Jersey for a quick 20 min show as part of Summerjam at Giants Stadium


A day off in one of my favourite cities Montreal where i got to ride some pretty good rollercoasters at La Ronde before an evening of watching oddball theatre pieces at the Montreal Theatre Fringe Festival launch night. It was....intersting to say the least.

Next up were the 2 loudest audiences of the tour at Montreals Bell Centre and Torontos Air Canada centre, this is to be expected afterall the canadian audience is a lot more like a european one and are always very loud. After that we headed to the 2 worst union houses in Detroit and Chicago, they are always a challenge to deal with but this time around they werent as bad as they can be. I did spend all day in chicago dodging low flying aircraft as the venue was just over the fence from O'Hare Airport.


So now you find me in the middle of an 18 hour drive to Boston for 2 whole days off.
Other than i've been doing anything to keep sane by watching the latest season of House and going insane by watching the latest season of Lost. I swear everytime i watch i think "this is great but i have no idea what the f**k is going on"

Oh well, maybe there will be some sort of answers next year.....i doubt it!

Wow!!!

Check this out!!


How can you walk away from this with only a broken ankle and hoe does he not hit that other car

Across The Pond!!

After 2 weeks at home in my own house driving my own car it was time to head off to the US for over 2 months of dates with Alicia. We started rehearsals in Hampton, Virginia before moving onto Philadelphia and then onwards to pittsburgh which was where it all started to go a little odd. Just as doors were due to open we got word tthat Alicia had lost her voice and was gonna be unable to perform so we headed onwards to Cleaveland for load in and load out again without doing a show and then head to Columbus for a day off then shows in Columbus and St Louis before driving to Minneapolis for 2 days off which is where you find me now. Im sure there will be more updates to come soon

Ssssh!!! Stagehands need theyre sleep!!

So after that we were off to Spain and a show in Madrid where the stagehands are notoriously lazy and slow. These 2 guys got a rude awakening from me when i found them asleep during load in.
This was after a great show in Barcelona when i was lucky to make it through the day after the day off we had which was also the last day of the 6 nations rugby cup which meant pretty much all day spent in a pub before some late night Tapa's.
I was confused by this photo i saw on the Metro system in Barca.
I can understand that i may have to give up my seat for the pregnant woman, the woman with a baby or the O.A.P. but why do i have to give up my seat for a ski instructor on the top left????

Next we were off to a day off in Lisbon and dinner at a great resturaunt called KAIS. If you ever get to Lisbon you should def try it out.

The gig itself is an unusual building, it is basically the upturned shell of a boat
After that we were off on a massive 25 hour drive to Marseille before moving onwards to Rotterdam and a day off on Easter Sunday where the hotel sent around the staff in Easter Bunny outfits with Chocolate eggs for all the guests.

After shows in Rotterdam and Antwerp we were off to Paris for a show at the Bercy Arena before a long drive to Milan where a little bit of rock n roll was in order as some friends of mine were in town with The Editors to do a show so we ended up at the show with lots of beer consumed and some dodgy roadside Hot Dogs at 3am it was time for another show at the Fila Forum which is an old sports arena on the edge of town which can be an incredibly bad venue with more dodgy stage hands but this time it wasnt that bad thankfully. Next up we returned to Paris to play a smaller venue this time around but luckily we just managed to fit the whole show in.
We had a day off first and i spent it wandering around Paris taking a few pictures
The Eiffel Tower

The Champs Elysses and Arc De Triomphe

The Louvre


I also paid a visit to the paris opera House








Which was slightly more elaborate than most of the theatres i've worked at.

We also had a special guest show up and jam with Alicia .....
...Lenny Kravitz!!

Was good fun to do something rock....even if it was only one song.

After a long load out it was back to the hotel for the flight home and 2 weeks off!!!