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Karl's Irish Tour blog, part 4 - Galway It's day four of the Irish tour and today Lollipop will steer a North Westerly course for Galway. The day started off literally in a blaze of smoke. The fire alarm was loudly making itself heard as myself and Andrew made our way out of the room. Nick and Abbz were passing when we opened the door. The whole floor was making it's way down to the lobby.. We were somewhat lazy in our exit-probably due to the previous nights heavy alcoholic beverage consumption. Just as we were about to make our way into the next elevator a security Chap came out and said that the alarm was due to a faulty toaster.. The bread had apparently gotten stuck and had caught fire, he gave us the all clear Nick, Abbz and Andrew made there way down to the breakfast room in one of the glass elevators whilst I decided to stay and have breakfast in the executive lounge on our floor.
I had the entire lounge to myself; only the kitchen staff and the guilty toaster for company. Looking down out of the window I could see all the hotel guest who were amassed outside.. If looks could kill I would not be here.. Some of the expressions on the faces of the guests were clearly asking. what the F*&^ is that guy doing on the fifth floor drinking and chewing on a muffin..?? I can only assume that we must have been first inline to get the all clear.. Once the hotel was given the all clear the duty manager came and took the guilty toaster under arm for what appeared to be a prompt execution. Another wonderful breakfast finished and it was time to collect Lollipop and amass the crew in-front of the hotel ready for embarkation.
Lollipop today was captained by Nick with Abbz as his co-pilot. Abbz was also in charge of the DJ ing. Once again we were in convoy with carrier VW and all was moving along nicely and the mood was festive.. However this was about to change. About an hour into the journey a new a odoriferous apparition made itself known.. I looked at Abbz and Abbz looked at me. What the *&^% ..? Lollipop was on fire... Captain Nick promptly pulled her safely over and we all jumped out to see what was happening. masses of smoke were coming from Lollipops port bow (passenger front tyre). Carrier VW pulled in behind us and called Lye hire.. We had deduced that the front brakes on the port side were binding. We started to rock Lollipop literally back and forth to hopefully free up the brakes. Looks of nervousness passed amongst the band. We were determined not to miss the show. After allowing the brakes to cool down we made the decision to continue onto Galway. Nick retired himself from steering Lollipop and so I took up the controls with Andrew as my co-pilot.. We took it slow and easy to Galway paying close attention to Lollipops condition. Once we arrived in Galway we found the Warwick hotel which was to be our resting place for the night and also the venue.. We arrived in the hotel lobby and were greeted by a health warning sign. Don't drink the tap water, brush teeth with tap water and a whole host of other things that can lead to a severe health issue, marvelous..... Well we checked-in and unloaded Lollipop into the venue.. Tor and Steve were setting up the PA and lights whilst we set up the back-line, backdrop and finally sound-checked. Once this was done Andrew, Eddie, Abbz and myself had lunch at the hotel. We were joined by Julie Lace; Mike was resting and Nick. With it being such a beautiful day we all decided to have a walk down to the sea-front and a walk along the promenade..Brian and his family had already headed for the town. On my way back to the hotel I picked up a few litres of water for obvious reasons. Night was drawing in the show getting closer. With the Venue being at the hotel I was actually going to get to hear all the bands tonight..
The venue looked like one of those old school rock venues..It was going to be warm in there tonight. Soloway kicked off the show. They flew into their set with a teenage angst that took me back to my youth. Next up was 'We're all gonna die' These guys get down and dirty and were great to watch. Then it was the turn of the X Brothers. I caught the first few numbers then headed back to my room to warm up. The band made it's way down to the stage.. The hotel was like a maze with staircases leading here and doors leading there. We had the band hug and I departed to the room at the back of the stage as I had to enter the stage from there.
The sets which we were playing were filled with classic DH tracks along with tracks off 'All will be Revealed' and a selection of tracks off our new album 'What's in your head?'
The band was on fire again and we "Let-'em have it" New tracks 'This Planet, Skin on Skin went down a storm and were fast becoming favorites.. We finished this show with encores 'Black Rose and 'Wild on the streets' .. Another show over, we were all drained and the crowd was fantastic.. we'll be back More photos and autographs were signed and it was time to chill.. Although I was still on CA time once again I was hungry.. Andrew, Ed and I searched the town for a sandwich. With this was accomplished it was time for one last cup of tea before retiring.
We had a long drive to Dublin tomorrow and we had to be careful with Lollipop. Peace. DHQ, |
