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Thin Lizzy Tour Blog: Cardiff As arranged last night we met at Brian's place and made our way to St Davids Hall, Cardiff. The weather was starting to turn and the clouds looked ominous... This show was to be one of a few on the tour where we would have no crew.. So it was to be all hands to the pump when loading and breaking down... As the tour came upon us so quickly some of our crew had already other plans and it left us in the lurch a little... However we rose to the task and everybody mucked in; somewhat... The weather had turned into severe rain as we were on our way to Cardiff.. Everyone was in fine fettle and Nick once again was in charge of DJ'ing much to the consternation of the back row who were hoping for something a little more musically inclined... Once again the moans came "What no Genesis" to which a rebuke came along the lines of "if you want Genesis bring some" That was it.. The gauntlet was thrown and duly picked up.. I sensed some Genesis next time out... Any way, I took over the driving as the rain was getting very heavy and Brian need to rest and have a sandwich.. I know I harp on the closeness of the band but it is true.. Having been in the band now for almost 19 years I have seen a lot of changes and witnessed many different atmospheres and I must admit this line-up is the most cohesive of all the line-ups.. We have our moments and our own personal idiosyncrasies but on the whole we look after each other.. The Venue was in the heart of Cardiff and it was very difficult to locate the load-in area. After consultations with the front of house staff we finally had directions to the back of the building. There was so much construction in the city that it was easy to miss a turn.. The local crew were waiting for us to load in.. And thank goodness they were; as it was an elevator job and stairs. Ugh!! Nick went to park the van and the rest of us made our way to set up. Lizzy had finished their sound check and the tour crew were waiting for us. We immediately started to set up.. After sound checking we made our arrangements to eat after the show although Brian chose to eat something before the show... Brian had an interview to do which he had pre-arranged and one of the funniest moments on the tour was to spring from this interview. We were all in the catering area sitting at a table and the crew were at another table when one of the local crew came in and asked if anybody was named Brian or if we knew where Brian was as there was a guy looking for him.. Without any hesitation Stan our FOH (front of House) engineer and a few of us immediately started to shout "I'm Brian, no I'm Brian , No he's Brian.." What a moment, pure comic inspiration I don't think there was anybody in the room not laughing... The show was another sit down show and it was a wonderful venue...These kind of gigs make all the toilet shows worthwhile. I don't use the term toilet in a derogatory manor, it is what is used to describe small club show tours.. and we just had some brilliant toilet shows. However you have a sense of feeling it's real when your on a stage like this.. It was great to see Abbz's face as we entered some of these venues. He and I have been friends for many years and have been a band together before (Chase - more on this later) and to be part of a band with him again was great.. Our greatest moment on the tour as friends would be Hammersmith ..We had both seen shows there together and individually and were very excited about the lead up to our final show of 07. The band played another great set and seemed to be going from strength to strength. After the show we quickly changed and started to break down before Thin Lizzy went on stage. The local crew loaded the elevator while we made our way to eat... it was good to be eating food finally.. I was feeling positively ravenous.. We chilled for awhile before heading for the van and making our way home... I'm normally the designated driver after shows as: I'm usually wired from the show and I'm normally still on US time.. Day off tomorrow... Then Glasgow... Peace from DHQ |