So, after our Christmas break it was off to Los Angeles for rehearsals at Sony Studios in Culver City. We were rehearsing and building the new show in Studio 30 which has seen such movies as Ben Hur, War Games and Hancock but most importantly the mighty Spaceballs. Once the show was built i spent a good few long days and nights programming all the lighting and video cues for the show which is now based on a list of 35 songs spanning all 4 albums, of which probably 16 or so songs will be be played every night. These will mainly be the bulk of the new album and the Hits from the other 3 albums with the remainder of the show being 4 or 5 songs picked from the rest of the list on a nightly rotating basis.
After a week or so of rehearsals we flew off to Colorado for 2 shows. Rob, our drum tech and sometime live percussion player and Chris, one of our PA techs were wearing the same shirt and quite funnily ended up sitting together on the flight. Dont they look cute!! The first of which was a small warm up show at the Fox Theatre in Boulder. This is the 2nd time we have played at this venue, it is quite a nice, small intimate venue, perfect for a warm up show. It was a crazy night as during the show somebody stepped on a cable and unplugged it accidently meaning that the bands monitor rig, which allows them to hear what they are playing and allow them to hear each other. While this was being fixed Brandon didn't realise that the PA was still working and that the audience could still hear them, or maybe he just decided to try something different, so he and Dave played a version of Tidalwave without anything plugged in or any microphones. Needless this was something that will probably never be repeated.
Next day it was off back to Denver for the first arena show of the tour with the full rig at the Magness Arena.
Considering this was the first night of the tour, it went pretty well but as always there will be changes to be made. next up was a 15 hour drive to Minneapolis and the first freezing cold snow of the tour. it was not a lot of fun to load in during -25 degree weather This was a considerably smaller venue than this show was meant for so we had to basically shoehorn the show in and we just about managed to. Apparently the day took its toll on some people as Geoff, my Front of House Lighting tech proved an innate ability to be able to fall asleep during the show Next day we were off to Chicago for a show at the UIC Pavillion which had us in Chicago on the day of the hometown hero Barack Obama being sworn in as the next president of the United States. Here's hoping he gets a chance to prove his worth before people start complaining that he isn't changing things. it's going to take quite a while to change and correct the mistakes of the last 8 years.
Here is a few of my favourite random pictures from the last few months
This was on the door of our production office everyday of the Alicia Keys tour
This fridge magnet was on the fridge of our bus on Alicia keys all year
I've always liked this sculpture in the Port Authority Bus Terminal of immigrants arriving
This was my laminate photo from Alicia Keys, i've no idea why i like it, think its my slightly Jedi-esque look
I have to leave you with one of my favourite signs from a Mexican place in Toronto. They sold 3 things. Beef, Pork and Chicken.
So if the Pork and Beef are raised humanely without the use of antibiotics and are fed a vegetarian diet then how are the chickens raised, fed bits of other animals, ritually abused and drugged out of their minds? It didnt taste that tough i have to say
So 5 days after i was in New York for the Britney show i found myself back in JFK for a record 19th time that year waiting for a connecting flight to Seattle for an appearance at the KNDD Christmas radio show. There was a local Seattle act opening the show who can make any band with any level of success happy with their lot. They had just played to maybe 900 people in a 5,000 capacity room at 5pm and were loading all of their gear into Dads car but couldnt have been happier.
Next day we were off to San Francisco for 2 shows, one at the Oakland coliseum with Bloc Party, Death Cab for Cutie and Franz Ferdinand also on the bill and the other at the Warfield Theatre which was a make up show for the show that was cancelled a few months back.
After that it was off to LA for the by now almost traditional end of year show at the KROQ Almost Acoustic Christmas with Franz Ferdinand, Death Cab, Snow patrol and Paramore also on the bill as well as the headliners, The Cure.
And of course no trip to the KROQ show is complete now without a trip next door into the Universal Studios Theme Park. This year the new Simpsons ride was open so of course i had to go and have a look.
It was well worth the intrigue and i highly recommend it.
So that is the end of 2008 then. Hope yours was as full and interesting as mine
It was starting to seem as though doing TV show appearances was never going to end as i prepared to head out for some TV shows with Britney Spears in promotion of her new album "Circus". First up was an appearance at the Bambi Awards with Keanu Reeves and Meg Ryan in the front row before heading back to Paris for a show on the French version of Pop Idol which i think Britney enjoyed more due to there being a really enthusiastic young audience as apposed to Berlin where people were just eating dinner whilst watching the show. Very strange indeed
After that we were of to New York for a 2 song performance in the Big Apple Big Top on Good Morning America which was also Britneys 27th birthday. Nice cake eh?!!
It was a very weird experience to have doors for the venue opening at 6.30am and having the soundcheck at 5am as the show was going out live at 8am on TV. It was even stranger to see people eating CandyFloss and popcorn at 7am. Not even sure what exactly is in this "cake" but it definitely looks very bad for you
So that was my whirlwind time with Ms Spears. Off home for a few days then more Killers shows to go before Christmas
So i figured its about time i caught up on this thing and since im at home on the couch with a dose of the flu i figured nows as good a time as any eh. The last few months have actually been incredibly busy but i will attempt to fly through it over a couple of posts tonight. First up...
Alicia Keys September US Tour First up was my second visit to the brand new MGM Grand @ Foxwoods in Mashantucket, CT in just over a month. A lesuirely couple of days of rehearsals followed to blow away any cobwebs before embarking on a run of more intimate venues than we had previously been playing. Out went all the fancy video and backing dancers and the show reverted to much more soulful and arguably better performance based show. Next morning we were off to the airport at 5am to fly to Chicago for a show nearby in Hammond, Indiana before heading onwards to Cinncinati, Ohio before a long travel day to Denver for a day off. Denver is a great city to have a day off in and we headed off to see a baseball game and had dinner as always at the Buckhorn Exchange where i found this bottle of Hot Sauce. Guess the label says it all eh.... The Denver show was at the Wells Fargo Theatre which is a venue i'd not been to before but had unwittingly walked past a few times before as i'd always seen the distinctive statue of a bear looking in the windows of the venue, i've no idea why its there but i kind of like it. After that it was off to Salt Lake City and Seattle before crossing the border north for a day off in Vancouver and also 2 shows at the beautiful Orpheum Theatre.
I did like the sticker on the snowboard bought by our production manager Jason. Just where is near Canada, is the US economy really that bad that they have to pretend stuff made in the states is Canadian?? Next up was a quite alcohol filled 26 hour drive to Santa Barbara, Ca during which we did manage to make a truckstop purchase of random crap while my lighting crew proved just how mature they are, please bear in mind this is 5am somewhere in Washington state.
I did in particular quite like our 'Lions Head' that someone bought
We also bought a female companion for our wardrobe girl Tish as she is the only girl on a bus of 9 guys. Lucky her, some of you might say
When we eventually got to SB, there was a day off to enjoy which we filled with a day at the beach and by having a barbeque in the car park of the hotel that we were staying at. Next day was the show at the Santa Barbara bowl
Onwards we rolled for 2 shows in Arizona, the second of which was at the Valencia Amphiteater in Tucson in baking heat before 4 days off which i spent in New York where i hooked up with The Killers for a 2 song performance on Saturday Night Live as well as an extra performance after the show ended
After that i was off to Bermuda for my final show with Alicia Keys, and what a place for me to end. Bermuda is a beautiful place although i did kind of feel like i was on an episode of LOST as everyone kept asking me if it was my first time on "The Island" I did get to visit some underground caves whilst i was there which was pretty cool
As well as spending a lot of time at the beach and driving around "The Island" we actually did a show somewhere in there....i think.
So that was the end of my 9 months or so with Alicia as they went onwards to Eastern Europe, Dubai and Australia but it was time for me to head back to the Killers for the start of the promo for the new Album.
After a week at home it was off to rehearsals in Las Vegas for a week before the first show at the House Of Blues @ Mandalay Bay.
It was quite a relaxed schedule of rehearsals and i managed to squeeze in a few shows including Blue Man Group, Cirque Du Soliels "KA", which was spectacular and some good old cheap comedy and quality magic from Penn & Teller. Also managed a little time at the pool, well, when its this nice...who wouldn't!!
Finally the first show came along and went well up to the last few songs when Brandon was starting to feel some pressure on his vocal chords and unfortunately we ended up having to cancel the next days show in San Francisco so off to New York we went for a day off and a show at the Hammerstein Ballroom.
After that we were off to Europe The french do like their porn and sex shops and are not backward about advertising it whether it is a "Sexy Shop"
or Having condom machines on the streets in case the heat of the moment strikes We first had a tiny club show in Paris at the Nouveau Casino
and a TV show at Taratata, do you like Clarkes view of the band? What should we do with the monitor guy? Just chuck behind that bit of set. it'll be fine
Next morning we were up very very early to fly to London for a taping of the Johnathon Ross Show but just after we had pushed everything up the hill and into the studio we learned that Ross had been suspended for making some dis-tasteful jokes on air so back into the truck we went . We were able to use a night off to take in a Slayer show at Hammersmith Apollo, but somehow Ray actually managed to fall asleep briefly . A couple of days rehearsal followed in London before our show at the Royal Albert Hall but due to the TV and radio performances being cancelled the band were faced with almost a week with no performances before the RAH show so we hastily arranged a show at the 250 capacity Bush Hall as a warm up show. The show initially was to take place at the Water Rats pub but unfortunately the venue was just too small for the show so off to the ever so slightly bigger Bush hall we went and a great night was had by all i think. I had practically no lights to use so an easy night was at least had by me.
Next day was the real show at the Royal Albert hall which is an extremely prestigious venue in London. The show went really well and it went out live on BBC radio for the first airing of more than of the new songs from the album.
I was very lucky that day in that i got to play the Grand organ that you see at the back of the stage. Its usually locked away but Brandon was toying with the idea of playing it on the show but couldnt find a place for it unfortunately. bu i couldnt resist jumping in there to play a few notes on one of the oldest pipe organs in the world So since this was such a prestigious venue, myself and the FOH guy James thought we would forego our usual 'jeans and a t-shirt' uniform for something slightly more in keeping with the location Needless to say there was more than one or two double takes done by the band and crew that night
Next day we were back at the BBC for a performance on Jools Holland and this time we got to load in and even play the show that night.
Also on the show that night were the fantastic Fleet Foxes, Pendulum, Monkey and the legendary Al Green During this trip i saw an incredible sight!! A completely empty tube station at 6pm on a Saturday evening.
After that we were off to Liverpool for a performance at the MTV awards, this one had a little bit of a twist as you can see...
...i think it worked out ok in the end
After that it was back to London for a secret special guest apperance at the Little Noise Acoustic Sessions including a slightly quirky cover version
Next we were off to Germany for a show in Berlin and a TV appearance in Cologne. The Berlin aftershow took place a slightly unusually named bar
Next up we were due to fly to madrid for a show at Pacha but unfortunately Brandons aversion to cold weather took its toll on his voice again and we had to cancel and fly straight onwards to Toronto for a couple of days off before the show at Massey Hall. During the couple of days off i had to time to go up to the top of the CN Tower for the first time. The view from up there is pretty spectacular
Even the Air Canada Centre Arena looks small from up there.
It is pretty high up Actually so high that i needed a little nap on the glass floor Next up for me is a 2 week promo tour with Britney Spears while the guys have a little time off before we do the usual pre-christmas run of radio shows in the US
