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Abbz' tour blog - UK Tour with Europe Feb 2010 part 3 With Karl doing the majority of the driving (it's the only comfy seat) and the sun now beaming in through the windows (and gaps in the doors) the feeling was again of great togetherness, Brian's turn came for a cd choice to which he brought forth one of his famous compilations. My abiding memory of this trip was us all singing along to whatever came on next from Stevie Wonder to Steely Dan…it was again….. just one of those special moments. There was however one sobering moment on the journey as we passed a sign for Wotton Bassett…nuff said. The Bristol venue was I thought, very similar to Nottingham Rock city, being quite wide but not too deep (if you've never been to either of these venues I apologise as you won't have a clue what I'm wittering on about) and the dressing room was just big enough for a feline rotary game or 2, (I must be getting ideas above myself as before DH the only dressing rooms I was used to was the toilets oh and a fire escape one time). Getting from the dressing room to the stage was quite a jaunt and could have ended up with us experiencing a Spinal Tap good evening Cleveland moment if it hadn't been clearly signposted. The sound man was indeed a very sound man and by all reports did a great job, the crowd again was fantastic and lapped up the addition to the set of 'call me'. 
All through this tour I had noticed a growing number of our T shirts on show, lots of recent ones but also lots of really old ones from long ago, some thread bare and some not so, but all worn with pride, its great to see when you look out over a crowd, the DH logo staring back at you.After the show and once we had packed away we again needed some fodder, this seemed to be the habit of the tour, to eat after the show rather than before as bringing up your dinner on stage can be a bit messy and makes it hard to see your wah wah pedal. 'Sod the £6 dp's tonight guys, the band can afford to pay for our dinner' shouted Karl, nobody could (or would) argue with that. After walking into one Chinese buffet with no one in and more congealed food than you can shake a chop stick at, we found an eating establishment that although still a buffet offered various cuisines from around the globe…..we filled our boots. We had one scare when Nick thought he'd just eaten the un cooked prawns (will they make me ill? Eeerrrr yes!)But as it turned out they were indeed cooked and a nasty latrine moment was avoided. Having said our goodbyes to Europe and crew who by now were ready and willing to make jokes about our (refrigerated ice cream ) transport, we set off for home and a day off. Batteries fully re-charged and some home cooked food (not a chip in sight) fuelling our enthusiasm, we set sail for the 3 remaining gigs of the tour, Manchester-Newcastle-Glasgow, although not wearing the traditional ice cream mans outfit Shirt was back behind the wheel of the float, giving us even more of a boost, although by now we knew that we had so far done the biz and made lots of new friends and dare I say even won over a few sceptical old ones. As we arrived at the venue only Shirt had played there before so it was all new to us (most of the whole tour had been new to me!) The gear had to be taken via a lift to the gigs level, the stage was going to be let's say eerrrm even more compact than Oxford. After soundcheck we were met by DH's most loyal and long suffering fans Mike and Julie, (rumour has it they've been to more DH gigs than Brian) when I played my first gig with the band in Leicester it was Mikes approval that would be needed if I was to remain in the DH camp, on that night in a truly Caesar'esque moment his thumb was raised and I was in, narrowly avoiding the lions ! (Sorry Mike for the terrible grammar in my blog by the way…private joke !) Also in attendance was Steve Guard and his wife Julie ,another in the list of unsung heroes who have helped the DH cause over the years, long time friends Rollin Thunder who have played lots of shows with us over the last few years came and said hello, its always good to have a catch up with these friends. The venue was packed which unfortunately was also true of the stage, it was decided that on stage left (Edd's and my side) we would have to take it in turns to snap the limelight while the other would have to stand behind Europe's keyboard rig like a real session player ! Very cool, but not adding much to the DH on stage antics. This worked although from out front I imagine it looked a little pants ! The crowd was again totally with us from the first to last note, Nick was on fire and with Mike and Julie again giving me the thumbs up I knew I would finish the tour and not be sacked !!! After the show the load out was a little strange as once all packed down we had to sneak all the gear round the side of the gig and into the lift while Europe were still playing. It was at this point that I realised I still hadn't seen Europe perform 'that song' (you know which one -de de der derrrrr etc) I only really had one last chance to catch the said song, as on the final night we would say our farewells early as we had a long long drive home (and we'd run out of flakes for the 99's) Once our goodbyes had been said and the obligatory remarks about our 'Mr Wippy' transport from Europes crew had died down we set off for our hotel on the outskirts of town and a few beers to toast yet again a brill night,our loyal mr softy wagon had now developed quite an alarming whine in the gearbox, which was a little disconcerting but we found if we turned the cd volume up it was less noticeable! Machine Head had also been playing in town and as we stopped for the eeerrrm chips I heard some MH fans saying they too had had a great night, so I guess Manchester must have had ringing ears on Saturday morning. We may be a rock band on the road but our Hotel 'antics' usually boil down to having a wind down beer and bed, and tonight was no exception, I guess its our age that stops us throwing TV's out the window (or just the fact that we like to watch the news or cartoons on the following morning) to sum it up its party party party……not ! With the news already on in the background and the tea on the boil I awoke to find both my companions (Bri and Nick) wide awake and eager to get on the road to our penultimate show in Newcastle. With a few miles ahead of us we all decided that motorway food on the way would be the best option (the only food in the hotel was a chocolate vending machine and even I draw the line at confectionary for brekkie !) Shirt again decided to drive the stop me a buy one machine (the secret of the only comfy seat being the drivers was now out and seeing as Shirt is bigger than the rest of us no one argued,) this would have consequences a few miles up the motorway as he adjusted the side wing mirror, his thumb broke through the glass of the mirror resulting in a cut along his thumb of some considerable size. Like a real trooper he held it together until we got to a service station where Karl played nursey, although the idea to dress up in the outfit was not taken too seriously. Shirt had indeed done some serious damage with a wound very similar to the Nike logo, infact before being strapped up, he took a snap of it and posted on his facebook page with the heading 'just do it!' sound familiar? Never let it be said that we use half measures on health and safety on the road, Karl did a fantastic job using bog roll and gaffer tape !! just do it indeed ! We easily managed to find our way through the car park back to the bus, we just followed the trail of blood, Shirt really does think of everything. Our vehicle now only had a passenger side mirror, which is all very good but one either side is much more comfortable and dare I say more in line with the highway code, we ripped the interior rear view mirror out of its position and gaffered it to the broken fitting which as I was to discover was less than useless, but at least we had a mirror of sorts (officer !) The venue was quite old but full of character (that means load in and out would be in the street) with a good sized stage, time to break out the long lead I suspected, and a fair sized balcony, with any luck we could continue our roll of 100% shows. Although we had chatted with Europe and their crew, we had never really made it a social occasion, that was to change in Newcastle. Steffen the road manager had suggested that we all get together after the show for a drink and chat, which sounded just fine with us. The show was fantastic, the crowd was great (again) and I felt I played really well, as I suspect we all did, although on bigger stages you are never really sure what everybody is up to , even with good monitoring. The character of the building really came to the fore during load out, indeed it was in the street, in the rain and in the (relative) dark. This is always a worrying time for us as things can and do go walkies while your not watching, that's where Karls Mom Val and step Dad Pete (add these to the growing list of un sung heroes) stood guard, no one was having my long lead ! As usual food would be a priority while Europe delivered their set, and I can honestly say Newcastle on a Saturday night was manic and (to me, a small town boy) a little intimidating with thousands of party goers all intent on partying till the wee small hours. 
Having got split up in the masses of people, a few of us wound up at (yet) another fried food emporium, no salad no veg and no fruit, bang went my five a day routine !
Once fed and watered we headed through the crowds of Newcastle back to the venue where Europe were just playing the final chords of their final song which spookily enough was called 'The Final Countdown' From backstage it sounded like the crowd had really enjoyed watching their heroes judging by the amount of noise they made demanding an encore, which they were rewarded with after a few minutes.
Europe and crew were true to their word and once they had showered and the crew had cased up all their gear ready for load out, they poked their collective heads round our dressing room door. For maybe a couple of hours or so we chatted and drank and chatted and drank, they really were as nice and friendly as we had suspected.No inflated egos or anything like that, just a bunch of friendly down to earth guys who really enjoy doing what they do, a bit like another band I could mention ! With our little social evening drawing to a close, we said our goodbyes, amazingly Europe still had fans patiently waiting in the drizzle for a photo and an autograph, I took command of the good ship Neapolitan slab (and the comfy seat) to find our hotel for the night. With sat nav all logged in I drove through Newcastle city centre which was still in 'full on' Saturday night party mode, I had forgot all about our side mirror made from the internal rear view mirror, oh what fun you can have driving round a big city on a Saturday night, unsure where you are going with no mirrors. Nick came to the rescue by sticking his head out the window and shouting when I came close to cutting someone up ! Hotel found we parked up next to another touring bands bus, we stared on in envy, theirs had blacked out windows mirrors in all the right places and (more than one )comfy seat, although there was no sign of any Feasts or Fabs for sale ! Once unloaded it wasn't very long before the sandman sent us off to slumber……. Sunday morning arrived and again with no breakfast facilities available, it was decided that a suitable feeding establishment would be found once we had logged a few miles. Edd seemed nervous for a change on the trip, could he be getting stage fright? Homesick? Nah, it turned out his beloved Aston Villa were playing Man Utd in some sort of final later that day, which sort of explained it. Shirt elected to sit in the comfy seat again which put him in first place to do the driving he also had his selection of music to accompany the journey….The Ruts, although not my first choice it did make a welcome change. After stopping for lunch at a little chef in the middle of nowhere Brian played a master stroke with his choice of sounds…..Gentle Giant ! The look on Nicks face as this eccentric ensemble twisted their way through their repatoire of mad English prog was a picture, with both Brian and myself grooving in 7/8 time (if that possible) Shirt was firmly in Nicks corner and threatened to throw the cd out of the window if it wasn't taken out of his reach ! What a laugh. As Glasgow Academy came into view it was clear it would be another load in through the front and up two floors using a small lift. Once parked, Brian was greeted by some long time fans, this gave the rest of us a chance to 'sneak' the gear in without too much delay. The venue was much bigger than most we had played on this tour and if full could be a great way to finish the tour. Our dressing room was on the far side of the stage (left) and was accessed by a walk way behind the stage shrouded by a curtain, with our sound check completed we knew we would have to say our farewells to everyone before the show as we would be heading home as Europe were playing. This was quite a sad task as we had all had a fantastic tour and had made some great new friends. The inevitable 'we'll keep in touch' conversations, hopefully our paths will cross again in the not too distant future. Show time arrived and we were greeted by a packed house. Nick again played a blinder as we all did. With the crowd joining in at various points during the set, it was with mixed emotions we played Am I evil? for the last time on the tour. Once all the gear had been packed into 'cornetto' we were each greeted by Joey from Europe(I think we'd earned the right to call them by their first names by then) brandishing his cam-corder saying his farewells whilst capturing the moment, what a really nice guy. Once Europe hit the stage we tip toed out from behind the curtain, it must have looked a bit odd from the audience because there was a bit of a gap in the drapes and to see us making our way out with bags and stuff may have seemed rude, which was far from the truth, we had a 6 hour journey home and there was no crushed nuts or juice left for our 99's ! Shirt again opted to drive, and as we clocked up the miles the atmosphere calmed to a quiet reflective mood. I think we all had the highs and lows of the tour in our heads; personally I had a ball, I played some of the best shows of my life to some of the best crowds. With that in mind as a group we have so many people to thank for this experience, Europe and Crew, their loyal fans who every night gave us a chance to win them over and of course our friends and families that put up with us 'gallivanting around' oh and yes, you guys, our fans………to quote Makin Music…………….'its for yoooouuu its for yoooouuu! Abbz |