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Goes Blog It's Sunday morning I think and we're recovering from the early morning shin dig in our luxury apartment.... A cup of tea is the first order of the day, followed by breakfast a la Nick Tart's breakfast cafe... Gherkin was still crashed out on the sofa when breakfast was in full swing.. I think it was more of a brunch than breakfast.. With Ed knowing there was football on he made straight for the TV controls when he finally woke and breakfast was much enjoyed with the sounds of chatter from the previous day and Ed shouting at the TV such things as "pass the ball", "that was never a foul" and "look at the rack on that centre half" which caused those of us who were not watching to quickly have a look at the TV.. Gerjan explained that we had another long drive ahead of us and that we will be leaving shortly...another 3-4 hour drive he told us and we were not amused...however we were all in good spirits and agreed a time for us to depart.. The show was to be a matinee show in Goes... When a band tours it tries set up shows so there is the least amount of travel between each show, all I can say about these three dates in Holland is that we have literally crisscrossed the entire country of Holland. We arrived in Holland at Eindhoven airport, to drive NNW to Hoorn. Then we drove east to Hengelo to the eastern border of Holland and today we are driving to the west coast of Holland to a town called Goes... The town looked like fishing town and was rather quaint. This was to be my first matinee show with DH and I was quiet looking forward to it... When we arrived the show was all ready progress with a local band(I think).. the crowd were in fine voice and the band was fired up to deliver a better show than last night.. We made our way to the dressing room which was actually a small movie theatre It was definitely the biggest dressing room I have ever been provided with, no toilet or mirror though; we had to use the venues facilities. . Gerjan quickly arranged our drinks rider and food and headed to set up our merchandise... Gerjan(aka Gherkin) turned out to be a real gem... his choice of music was a little to be desired but other than that he was a real trooper and has since become a good associate of the band... After Defender had finished their flame throwing set it was time for Andrew and I to rearrange the drums again for the last time...and a quick sound check took place and headed back to the dressing room for one last chance to make ourselves look pretty. The intro rolled the group hug took place and out to the stage we went. I hit the first crash cymbal and immediately there were no drum monitors, great. I signaled Andrew and asked him to tell the monitor guy but it was to no avail. I had no monitors at all for the whole show and played the whole set from memory as I could not hear any of the back line due to the cacophony I was making...I have done this a few times and the last time was in Milan on the Megadeth tour.. It actually forces you to focus on what your doing and you really have to stamp the time for the guys in the band due to the fact that you can't hear them.. During one song in the set Nick came to the side of the drum riser behind the cabs for a rest and quickly left due the fact he wouldn't know where he was in the song due to the fact all he could here was drums...It was a very funny moment and I almost dropped a stick.. I'm not sure if it was due to fact that we were now getting used to Defenders gear ( thanks again guys) but we really kicked ass at this show and we thoroughly enjoyed ourselves... The after show party was very nice, the bar Chap closed the doors pulled the curtains across the window and after hours drinking took place..The venue closed early due to it being Sunday... Gerjan once again told us that we had to drive to Eindhoven which was.. yes you guessed it long another long drive..We would be heading back to the Rock and Roll safe house again... We managed to find a fish and chip shop in Goes and with food, gear and ourselves intact we loaded the van and headed for Eindhoven... The mood in the van was very festive and it was very noticeable to see how close the band was becoming... I have been a member of Diamond Head for 17 year and this is the best line-up the band has had in a long time..We really work for one another both on and off the stage...nuff said. We pulled into Eindhoven around 1-am and loaded the guitars into the house.. The house belongs to a guy name Neithan who's real name is John who is a serious metal head and writes for Vampire magazine...A real swell guy and his lady.. Brian and Abbz headed for bed whilst the rest of us hung out with John and his lady.. Obviously as we were in Holland there was some of the magical green tobacco around and a smoke was in order along with a fair suck of the sauce bottle to round off the day..Gerjan said we would need to leave for the airport around 6-30am for an 8-am flight to Stansted. I think it was around 2-am by the time I hit the mattress on the floor and went straight in dreamland.. The six o clock alarm seemed to arrive very quickly and before we really knew what was happening we were on the plane heading home.. Once at Stansted we promptly collected our things and headed for the cars.. Brian, Nick and Eddie drove down back home with Abbz whilst Andrew drove me to meet my folks on the M6 before heading up to Chesterfiled. I think I arrived back at my folks home around 1-pm and promptly fell asleep.. What a weekend.. Three shows-270 minutes. Two flights-180 minutes and Twenty hours of driving.. I love this band.. Next the 'Skin on Skin' video shoot...with Hard Rock Hell.. Peace from DHQ. |