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Abbz' tour blog - UK Tour with Europe Feb 2010 
What a rush!!!! At last, back on the road doing what (I feel ) we do best, making a big sound in big halls to lots of people and maybe even win a few new fans in the process.
From our own admission 2009 was a little errrm lets say sparse with activity, due to various reasons, so we all felt we had a bit of catching up to do.Aug 09 we did a couple of warm up shows in the UK (which were fantastic…thanks to you guys) then went to Poland to headline a festival which was brill, we all had a great time and met some wonderful people and made lots of new friends, apart from the airport baggage handlers who managed to lose our guitars, luckily after a less than comfortable nights sleep the welcome sign of a courier at our respective doors with our long lost musical instruments meant everything turned out for the best. It was about this time that we were offered the Europe tour, set for Feb 2010, although until the papers are signed and the deal is struck you never know what can happen, so it was fingers crossed for a while, but sure enough the ink dried and the dates started to include DH on posters and press adverts so it had to be true! Having experienced this kind of tour once before (Thin Lizzy 2007) although not a veteran, I was more aware of what to expect, and what was expected of me. As the week s rolled by nearer the end of the year the excitement began to build. 'Its all in the preparation' I kept telling myself, I even got my trusty Marshall cab recovered with new black tolex, this tour was going to be great if I had owt to do with it ! Karl would be in the country a week or so before we were due to start rehearsals, for some time I had been rehearsing on my own to an old live recording taken off the mixing desk at one of our shows, although not ideal if you do it enough times you start to get the feel and you do sharpen up to some degree.I spent a whole day going through my gear making repairs, checking leads and much to the excitement of the neighbours firing my whole rig up in my front room at concert volume ! Well, maybe excitement isn't the correct word if you know what I mean ! Tube amps...I love em ! We have been aware of various comments and suggestions for the set on the DH forum so with a flurry of emails between us all, we put our suggestions forward for a set that would excite us and more importantly you Guys & Europes (considerable) following, how would they react? Had they even heard Am I evil? Having only 45 minutes the set had to have light and shade, punch but subtlety, but still DH power, and obviously Am I evil? 
'How about bringing your Black Flying V out of retirement?' asked Brian, 'I think it would sound and look really good' he added, with a smile, a second glance and I knew he wasn't kidding so who was I to say no. I had had that particular guitar since 'gulp' 1981!! (Am I really that old?) and wasn't really sure what cupboard I'd retired her to, (she appeared in the Skin on Skin vid and you may have noticed Brian playing her on the cover of his book, I knew she would be famous one day) After a little rummaging and some new strings I thought maybe Brian was right, but doesn't 2 Flying V's on stage make 1 flying W? What other band can claim that?Full band rehearsals sounded great, like Poland had only been last week instead of 6 months ago. The mood was up, the V was great and I'd even got some new stage clothes!!! Bring it on I thought. How about Alimony? Was a throw away remark towards the end of the first day……..panic!!! I hadn't played it since my debut 4 gigs and to add to the pressure I play the solo!!!! Preparation out the window just wing it, it sounded great although I would take a wee bit of time to re-do the solo before the first show. We were ready. Lolly pop/choc ice (or whatever iced dessert Karl calls them) picked me up last as we were headed north, to sunny Leeds. Driving was our secret weapon…….ladies and gentlemen please welcome Shirt! Of all the 'music business' people I've met since joining DH he is the one I can call a professional, a gentleman a grafter a looney and most of all a friend, he knows everything and everybody and if he says my guitar sound is crap then I start to change my settings around until he gives me a reassuring thumbs up! Or not! And no my Les Paul isn't for sale. Only just missing an accident on the motorway going to the gig in which both sides of the carriageway were shut to allow the air ambulance access we arrived quite late, Europe were still sound checking, Andy our 6th member was there to greet us and local crew were on hand to help with the load in, so all was good. Having been issued with our tour passes we made our way to our dressing room. This tour would be slightly different to Thin Lizzy as there was no catering; we would be given our food money (Pd's) everyday to procure what we felt like…… Crisps pop and chips would be our unhealthy tour habit I guessed! Although beer would be provided, which in times of mal-nourishment counts as your five a day ….doesn't it? A knock on the door heralded our first encounter with Europe, Hi my name is Tord started the conversation 'like turd but with an o' ….what a brilliant way to break the ice, Tord was the merch seller for Europe and graciously offered to include our portfolio of DH goodies, what a lovely guy, someone I liked from that first encounter as we all did, 'will you get Brian to sign my am I evil book?' he was a fan to boot which was fantastic. Although Europe and crew were around, for that first few nights we only really exchanged nods of welcome, I guess they were watching to see how we performed both on stage and off, it would have been disappointing to me personally if we hadn't hit it off. I needn't have worried, with a few dates under our tour belt both bands &crews had made the effort to break the ice, and I can say that they all were fantastic to work with and spend time with.  With Leeds over with, we turned our gaze to the nearest gig to home…..Birmingham, all manner of friends and relatives would be around judging our every move, although very welcome it does add a little to the pressure, again we felt our performance was worthy of the surroundings although I fluffed Alimony which is very annoying as I'm my worst critic. After load out I said my goodnights and went home to bed, the joys of hometown gigs….your own bed….bliss. Next on the tour was the big smoke...................................................................tbc |