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Karl's Irish Tour blog, part 2 Apologies for the late additions to the web-site regarding the "Yes I Know Godzilla tour" in Ireland this past July, this has been due to my relocating from the West coast of the US to the East Coast; California to New Jersey to be precise. There will be a blog on this later when I've got all the video footage together.... so stay tuned Any how Day two of the tour.. After the previous nights heavy drinking and festivities I awoke around 9.20am and proceeded to wake Andrew as breakfast was only being served until 10.00. I met Nick in the Breakfast room and we proceeded to discuss the events of the previous night. We were joined by Andrew and later by Brian, Rachel, Becky and Dan.. Abbz had already eaten and had gone for a walk around the town of Kilkenny..
This sounded like a plan; so Nick, Andy, Becky, Dan and myself decided to checkout out the town. We headed down the main street and and window shopped.. There's a lot of pubs in this town we noticed. The shops were full of Harry Potter fever and we decided to checkout Kilkenny castle. Very impressive grounds, full of tourists and school kids from all over Europe.. After checking out the buildings it was time to rendezvous with the rest of the crews of Carrier VW and Lollipop. The route was planned to Cork, with a slight diversion to see where we should have played the night before... This was abandoned when we got lost in the country lanes of Kilkenny... However the crew of Lollipop did spot a five legged donkey..(If you get my meaning) This was to be the source of much laughter for the day aboard Lollipop. Carrier VW and Lollipop headed for Cork... It is said "Revenge is a dish best served cold" Or as we say in the States "pay back is a bitch".. When Nick was attacked by the apparition flatulence, Ed was in his direct line of fire... Today it was the exact reverse... Eddie had been drinking late into the night with Andy ..  He was drinking Guinness!!!!.. If yesterdays apparitions were lung stripping, these were tongue swelling, lung stripping and eye watering.. and the crew of Lollipop were to face a barrage of attacks from the ghastly apparition... Captain Bailey assisted by copilot Abbz struggled to keep Lollipop on a straight course.. The warning lights flashed and the abandon ship order was given,, However the resilience of the crew of Lollipop proved too much for the odoriferous apparitions. Be warned Ladies and Germms too much Guinness can have severe consequences... It was mid afternoon when we finally arrived in Cork at the hotel. We quickly abandoned Lollipop at the dock and checked in and chilled out before heading down to the venue. Ed was to have a room all to himself...  We all boarded Lollipop along and headed down to the venue. All port holes had been left open to allow fresh air to flow through her.. We arrived at the Half Moon theatre and were anxious to get set up. Fans Val and Pete met us there; they were traveling on their own to see all the shows except Belfast. The set up was slightly chaotic and seemed to take forever.. However, the backdrop was raised, the sound check was complete and the Merchandise was set up. It was time to eat. Dr Michael Conway had organized dinner for us at an Italian restaurant around the corner. Here we met Mike and Julie Lace two of Diamond Heads most Loyal fans. These too had decided to see all the shows on the Irish tour.. It's so humbling to see fans spend their hard earned money following you around. They were having dinner with members of their family. It was great to see them.. We joined the X brothers and We're all gonna die for dinner and promptly ordered as we needed to get back to the hotel to chill and shower. Once back at the hotel we all did our own things to prepare for the show. I did some pad work and headed to the steam room.. It was 9pm and time for us to head back to the venue. We were stoked to be finally playing. Owen, driver of Carrier Mercedes took us to the venue. (Thanks Owen for all the running around you did for us) We headed straight for the dressing room to prepare. A few fans had managed to sneak in to the dressing room and we obliged with autographs and photos. The show was getting closer.. The room was filled with excitement and nervous energy.. I was pacing like a caged tiger and psyching myself up with some Stone Sour. Nick was doing warm ups and practicing his poses in the mirror, Abbz and Brian were warming up on spare guitars and Ed was exercising using his rubber band technique...  The Five minute curtain call came in... This was it.. For the second time in the bands history we were about to take the stage in Ireland.. We made our way down the stairs... The intro was playing and we gathered at the side of the stage between two doors for the ritual band hug when the odoriferous apparition struck again.. This time it was Andrew...We all literally fell about laughing... Pure Spinal Tap After the hug we took the stage to rapturous applause.. I counted the band in and we were off... The band played one of the best sets I have seen from my perspective that night . I/we really enjoyed ourselves and locked it down. Some one from the main theatre complained that it was too loud to which a tort response of "what do you expect it's a f*&^%$# Rock show" was heard. The crowd were in great form and were very appreciative of our performance. In addition to our set we added Thin Lizzy's "Black Rose". This was to be the icing on the cake for the show... I was absolutely soaked in sweat when I came off stage.. It was very hot on stage.. We were slightly concerned for the show as Brian was nursing a damaged left wrist which was causing him some considerable discomfort. However he played like a trooper. After the show we returned to the hotel bar were we had a few beers and hung out and chatted about the show with Soloway and Dr Michael... Ed did not hang with us he went to bed.. Too much festivities... By the time I stumbled into my hotel room it was 2.30 am Breakfast was at 9... and then off to Limerick. Peace from DHQ. |
