In the middle of my other shows going on i recieved a phone call that the Killers were going to play another show. This one would be for charity so they didn't want to say to say no to this one. So we rounded up the troops and headed to London. The show was part of an evening in aid of ARK, which is a childrens charity and took place at waterloo station. It was a good night and millions of dollars were raised by ticket sales which were rumoured to be almost $25,000 per person so needless to say there was quite a bit of money in the room, particularly from the financial sector. There was the usual smattering of celebs there and i did get to meet one of my favourite actors, Kevin Spacey..... as well as Uma Thurman. There was also an auction and the band donated the original 'K' keyboard stand and rumour has it, that it sold for over $200,000 although i can't confirm the final amount.
So that really is the end i guess. Almost 2 years on from designing the K and sketching it on a scrap of paper i got to see my little idea sold at auction and a lot of money go to a very worthy cause.
Bye bye 'K', before you know it. It'll be time to think of your successor
After a little bit of time at home re-establishing my relationships (girlfriend, family, friends, playstation). It came time to earn some more money so off on tour i went with a band called JAMES for a few weeks in the UK and 2 shows in Greece. The shows went well and it was a big departure from the Killers as the JAMES guys have quite a big back catalogue and like to mix up the setlist every night (sometimes in the middle of the show). Here is a couple of shots from the tour.
After that ended myself and a friend i work with quite a lot got a call to go and help out a tour that wasnt going so well so we had one day to redesign a show and get it out on the road. Its always interesting to go to a country that is so close to home and see an artist you've never heard of playing to big adoring crowds. The person in question is CHRISTOPHE WILLEM. He was the winner of the french version of pop idol 4 years ago and has built the years between recording and touring and building up a huge fanbase. It was a little strange for me as pretty much the entire show was in french So after shows in Marseille, Montpellier and Paris, i am home again for 2 weeks before heading out on a european tour i have been looking forward to for quite a while.
After all the problems beset by the Asian leg of the tour, everyone was excited to head to Australia and end the uncertainty surrounding the bands future to play the last few shows. So, bag in hand off i left from Dublin - Hong kong - Sydney. Upon my arrival in HK i learned that the first 2 shows would now not be happening either. So i went onward to Sydney anyway to wait and see what would happen. There was a weird athmosphere around the people who had already travelled as we flitted between disappointment that the shows were not happening to being glad of a few days off to guilt because of what Brandon was going through. After 2 days in Sydney we received the tragic news that Brandons mother had passed away and that he would be joining us immediately after the funeral to perform the last 2 shows of the tour. I was a little surprised to be honest as i don't think i would be interested in playing a show if this had happened to me but it is testament to his determination to end the tour on a high that he was able to attend the funeral and straight after get on a plane to the other side of the world to play a concert.
You see how trivial some things really are at times like this but he was determined to not disappoint any more people after the initial cancellations. Unfortunately the rest of the tour could not be re-arranged as the Australian dates were festivals and a lot of the Asian dates take months and months of planning due to strict visa applications and paperwork etc etc. a lot of effort was put in by everyone involved to find alternate venues and timings but alas nothing came of it. Trying to organise this show is not just a case of turning up with a guitar and away we go. There is a lot of equipment that the band own and also that we rent from companies that go into making this happen as well as all the crew who have to be transported around the world. The band were willing to take on all this cost by themselves to get these shows re-arranged so any one who said on Facebook/Twitter etc that they took the easy way out by not re-scheduling needs to take their head out of their ass and realise they weren't the only ones inconvenienced because everything that could have been done was done. Unfortunately sometimes this is just how things happen, but they will be back, they are not breaking up and will reconvene for another album after some time away to do whatever they want to do whether it be spend time with family, lay by the pool, make music with other people or just do absolutely nothing.....quite frankly after 7 years of touring/recording almost constantly, i think they deserve it.
They will be back as the Killers....recharged and ready to roll on for another 7 years im sure
So here we are after 151 shows in 36 countries the Day & Age tour has finally ended
Thanks to everyone who came out and supported the shows over the past 18 months
So after our long Christmas break it was time to pack our bags and head off on the final tour for this album. Or so we thought, just 5 mins after i checked in for my flight to singapore i received a message with the terrible news that one of the band had a serious family illness to contend with so I had to get my bag back and head home as the shows were cancelled. But unfortunately there is nothing that can be done in this situation. They can't be expected to travel half way across the world when this is going on. It was actually so last minute that quite a few people from the crew and band had already travelled to Singapore.
I am however quite disgusted by some of the things i have seen written online by some so called "fans" of the band. I understand some of you were travelling to these shows and have lost out on some money but unfortunately thats what travel insurance is for. The band don't make money off cancelled shows and do not take it as an easy decision to cancel shows. The quite simply horrible things i've seen written on various websites such as facebook and twitter are absolute lies and if you wrote it you should be ashamed of yourself. If you were a true fan of the band or even just a person with a passing interest and the ability to feel then you should have nothing but sympathy for the band member who is going through an incredibly difficult time right now
So after the long overnight flight we landed in Johannesburg a little worse for wear but glad to be off the plane. For the day off we were off to Johannesburg Zoo. A couple of us went and rented a golf cart which allowed us to get around the zoo quickly. Unfort it was a rather hot day so most of the animals were being rather lazy and hiding in the shade and rightly so. Although the gorilla decided he wanted get up and wander around a little for us. And a big guy he was too
Our hotel was quite remote unfortunately so it was off to Nelson Mandela square and shopping mall for some dinner and browsing about.
Next day was the first show day so we were off to the Coca Cola Dome on the outskirts of town for the first of 2 shows. I have been to this venue before with another tour and always had great audiences and this time was no different. We had 2 great shows especially as this was the first time the band had ever played in South Africa. On the second show day we had a little time in the morning so we went to a Lion Park in Gauteng, a province just outside of Johannesburg. It was a little like a safari where you get to drive through the park and get up close with the Lions and other animals.
We also got to go into a pen and see some tiger cubs up close.
Next day we were off to Capetown which is one of my favourite cities in the world. We had very little time off here so as soon as we landed we took a trip up to the top of Table Mountain which overlooks Table Bay.
The peak is only accessible by cable car but the view is well worth the trip.
I was quite happy to be able to do this as the last time i was in Capetown it was winter as was incredibly foggy so we were not able to go up to the top. On the way back down we passed through an area of bars and clubs where people apparently just park and crank up theire car stereos and have dance parties in the street.
I did find a local beer with a rather unusual sign on the side..... ....It is you know!!!
A couple of us wandered out for a few drinks and ended up in a "rock" club. Unfortunately i felt more like i was being trapped in a mix of a 30 Seconds to Mars video and the club from the Matrix movies. Felt like when i used to bluff my way into rock clubs when i was underage back home. Oh well, my good friends beer, jack Daniels and Jagermeister took care of the festivities for us.
Next day was show day at a winery just outside of town about 45 mins drive from the hotel.
Although it was a beautiful venue, it wasn'tt the most cleverly considered as there was only one dirt road in and out of the venue for 25,000 people in approx 18,000 vehicles. Myself and a couple of the rest of the crew left the venue within 20 mins of the show ending and it took us over 3 hours to get back to the hotel. The rest of the crew didn't get back until after 4am when the show ended at 10pm. we sat still in the car park itself for over an hour and a half. This was also possibly the worst catering we had for the whole tour. So bad that a few of us wandered out to the vendors in the crowd for a burger for dinner.
Oh well, the show was still worth it. A magical setting and a great crowd gave us great memories of South Africa to take home. Next day we were off to the United Arab Emirates but not til late in the evening so i spent the morning wandering around the Bay area and hanging out at our fantastic hotel. Check out the Apartheid Chess Board i found
We also had lunch at a belgian beer cafe where if you wanted a large beer in the custom glasses you had to surrender your left shoe as insurance that you would not steal the glass.
So after a rather uneventful 10 hour flight to Dubai and a 2 hour drive to Abu Dhabi it was straight off to the venue for load in. The day went by pretty quickly in a jetlagged blur tho i do remember it being rather strange that 25 mins before showtime there was maybe 2,000 of the expected 12,000 in the venue then all of a sudden out of nowhere the rest of them turned up just before the band went onstage.
I did have to take a trip over to the band hotel to take a look around as it is the most expensive hotel in the world, apparently costing 2 billion dollars. Next day we had a day off in Abu Dhabi so we decided to have a trip out to the deserts and go on a desert jeep safari where we could ride camels, snowboard down the sand dunes and have a barbeque and take in some local entertainment.
So thats the final Day & Age shows of the year were over and i had to go to San Francisco for a day before heading home. Only 3 flights including the 3rd longest direct flight in the world from Dubai to San Francisco (16 hours 25 mins). Touch down in San fran for 30 hours then off to Dublin via Chicago for our Christmas break. Next stop Asia
So after a few days off in Punta Del Este, Uruguay with some R'n'R at a resort by the beach it was off to Argentina for a show in Buenos Aires. But not before a trip to one of my favourite steakhouses in the world. Cabana Las Lilas in Buenos Aires, if you are ever in town you should try it out. So with a belly full of steak and wine it was showday and as always it didnt disappoint. The audience were as fantastic as we've come to expect from an Argentinian crowd despite the heavy rain which bombarded the venue all day.
Next day we were off to Santiago, Chile for the final South american show of the tour. I always love the flight in Santiago as you come in over the Andes mountains and its a spectacular view. Another great show was had at a venue we played on the Sams Town tour a couple of years previously. After our quick stop off there we were headed for South Africa. A 4 hour flight to Sao Paolo followed by a 2 hour layover then a 10 hour flight to Johannesburg. And off we go.....
For anyone who was at the Brazil show and was seemingly a little put out by the fact that the "K" keyboard stand didnt light up during the show. You may have a couple of little rain clouds that passed during the day. well that good old downpour fried some of the equipment we need to run different aspects of the show. We got everything switched off and hoped for it to dry out. We tested the "K" right before the band went on and it seemed like it was going to work but during the first song it blew again and that was it dead for the night.
These are the risks you take with outdoor shows im afraid
So after our Caribbean fun we were off to South America for our ever visit to Colombia. The show was in Parque Jaime Duque about an hour outside of downtown Bogota. After load in was done we went for a little stroll around the area and saw just how seriously the local police take the security of the venue. All the regular security guys were armed guards and the Police outside were dressed up like something out of Robocop.
We also saw some nice quaint taxi's
and some rather "tasty" looking local BBQ
The craziest part about this show was that the doors to the venue opened at 6pm and The Killers didn't go onstage until 11pm with no opening bands and just a DJ to entertain the crowd for the 5 hours. It did nothing to dampen the audiences spirits though and they were well up for the show once the guys hit the stage.
We were a little perplexed after the show to find the bottle of Vodka on the bands dressing room rider came in its own studded leather case. Just a little bit odd if you ask me
After the show it was back to the hotel where i was slightly confused as to why my hotel desk had a large 1980's style calculator on it.
Next morning i was given a rather unique wake up call as even from my 7th floor room it sounded like this old steam train was about to come in through my window
Next day we were off to Lima, Peru for a couple of days R&R before the next show. As this was our first trip to peru we were a little hesitant as to what the reaction would be but from the people who were at the airport to the fans camped outside the hotel for the 4 days we were there.
Across the road from our hotel was a shopping mall with various resturants and shops as well as a cinema and a club called Gothica where we all went to a gig by singer/songwriter Donovan Frankenreiter. It was however a little weird seeing Christmas decorations so early in the year.
Also around the area were a bunch of the cow sculptures that are now dotted all around the world. Here is a couple of my particular favourites
The next day was spent going around the Old Town part of Lima and taking in the sites.
Another Day.......another Day Off!! Easy Life on Tour eh!! So off to the skies we took Thats me Paragliding over the roof of our hotel.
Next up was some lunch......Manwich anyone???
All washed down by Peru's national soft drink........Inca Kola....and yes it really is that colour. Its quite tasty though
We were getting closer to show day so there was only time for last tourist sight and so off i went to Parque De Reserva to see the fountains.
My particular favourite was the walk through one.
They also do a fountain light and laser show every 45 mins after dark. Unfortunately my camera died so i had to track down some other footage on youtube
So finally we had a show to do, crazy idea eh!! It was in a pretty cool location tooked into the side of the mountains just outside Lima.
And the show lived up the setting with the best audience so far....which is really saying something after the previous bunch of shows.
The peruvian fans also sent this rather great gift backstage for the band. Apparently it is a traditonal gift called a Ayacuchana
So after all the Pisco Sours we could handle at the aftershow party it time for some sleep before we headed off to Sao Paulo, Brazil.
This turned out to be one of those days where sods law says if you play outdoors its gonna rain.....not in Brazil tho surely?? Unfortunately so. The rain was so heavy on the after noon of the show that by the time it stopped the site resembled a mud pile and not a concert venue.
Some of that mud and water was up to 10 inches deep but those people stood in for 4 hours before the band took to the stage and wouldnt you know as soon as they did it started raining again but every one stayed and battled through the elements for another great show.
So after getting back to the hotel and attempting to dry off and warm up a little we were off to Punte Del Este in Uruguay for 4 days at a resort while we waited for the next show to roll around. Or were we????? After driving an hour to the airport we discovered that our flight had been cancelled and the next flight wasnt for another 10 hours. Luckily the airline had managed to secure us some rooms in a local hotel so we sat there and waited to head back to the airport to try it all again. Luckily there was only a minor delay to the later flight and we managed to get on our way. So after a 3 hour flight, customs, immigration and a 90 min drive we finally arrived at the resort at 5am. Just a little later than our original projected time of 8pm. Oh well, what can ya do eh!!
