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by Michael Friday 12th May 2006 We’re travelling to Manchester this morning, tony’s taken control of the tv and is insisting on watching Pirates of the Caribbean fuelling his obsession with Kiera Nightly ………I think he’s seen it before but it appears to make him happy. Last night was a great gig for us, it made the weeks hard work well worth going through. We arrived at the venue around two to begin the final soundchecks, running through a few songs in a full and then sections of the others. Being such a sunny day some of us headed out of the venue and across to air organic for a few pints of shandy in the sun. It was a great feeling returning to the venue and seeing a few people already beginning to gather at the doors. We had a bit of food and headed to the dressing rooms to relax. It’s a nice feeling before the gigs when people turn up to wish you well before the show. Andy dokery (front of house sound) usually arrives and has a quick glass of wine, in this case his wife Lynn was with him and having recently given birth was indulging in her first drink since the birth. Twenty minutes before the show everyone begins to change into their stage clothes, having a good laugh at each other in the process (did anyone see allys cravat????) ten minutes before showtime everyone but the band leaves and we listen to some music and have a few drinks…….then its time to make our way to the stage. The noise coming from the crowd is immense and when the lights go down and Ally and Eddie make their way to the opposite side of the stage its just seconds to the start of the show. The Paris Texas sample starts and the crowd start to roar…….it sounds amazing from the stage side. We walk on half way through and take our places (I have to say the view from the drums is an improvement on that from the keys) and its time to start the show. I’m tempted to go through this song by song but I think for diary entry number one I’ll leave it…….maybe talk a bit more about them in the future. The sound off I had with Eddie went well – he does a good Bowie and I thought he’d pipped it for sure but as it turns out the crowd went for Elton John! We’ll see how it goes tonight – I have a good feeling x After the show I felt completely exhausted – I have a new found respect for Neil and his stamina…….but its nothing a few glasses of champagne won’t fix and before long we’re out to the aftershow to see my family who’d travelled down to see the concert. All in all it was an amazing start to the tour and great to see so many fans out in force for the first night. It always amazes me how commited you guys are to supporting the band – it’s a real reassurance at the gigs. Anyway – its back to Tony’s movie and the journey to Manchester – if anyone has anything in particular they’d like to know about the shows just ask and I’ll see if I can answer them. Saturday 13th May 2006 Suffering a little from last night this morning……..being the morning after the Manchester show. Last nights show was great with the added bonus of the crowd going particularly crazy for Peter Kays appearance on ‘Sleep’ (played twice by request) and at the end of ‘Say what you want’. He was dressed as a character from Phoenix Nights – ginger curly long haired wig and prosthetic nose……from a distance I could have sweared it was Mick Hucknall. My favourite part of the night was when Peter called Gareth (the monitor engineers assistant) Peter Jackson……I’d never thought about it before but he does have a real likeness to the lord of the rings director……and some of the characters from lord of the rings to boot. Prior to the gig we’d soundchecked, eaten and watched a disappointing deal or no deal – the woman on it was so annoying Tony nearly punched the telly at one point – he’s pretty tough like that!! It was a good crowd in Manchester, despite the fact it was seated……although seats being there didn’t seem to bother everyone by the first beat of ‘I don’t want a lover’ when they jumped up and rushed to the front. The more soul influenced songs seemed to go down better tonight and there was a definite reaction to the slower songs. I’m not sure if that’s because of the venue size that the faster songs get lost in the room space (if that makes sense) regarding the play-off between me and Eddie tonight all I can say is I wasn’t at all pleased with myself. I think choosing the same song two nights in a row was a mistake ……that’ll change. Eddie was a clear winner and when shar mentioned my song there was the occasional boo from the audience, I was clearly going down like a shit sandwich in Manchester. Post gig we went backstage and had a small aftershow – my relations who I haven’t seen for years were at the concert and it was nice to catch up with them…..my two young cousins had photos taken with Shar and promised to take them to school on Monday to prove they’d been to the gig which was sweet. It was a short trip to the hotel where we sat in the bar and played piano until three or four in the morning (not sure exactly what time we went to bed) neil was a rubber man by the end, he can’t remember a thing past singing ‘we are the champions’ in a falsetto voice at the piano……classic. As I say at one point I’ll go through the gig with a fine tooth comb from my vantage point on the stage…….but as I suffer slightly this morning I think I’ll just go for a lie in my bunk and dream of beating Eddie in Cardiff x Sunday 14th May 2006 It’s a day off……in Birmingham. Didn’t actually see much of Cardiff – I was half expecting to bump into Charlotte Church…..I have a soft spot for her – she has two very attractive qualities but alas she was nowhere to be seen. Its quite funny how little you see of the places you visit unless you’re staying overnight or taking a day off there. When I think of Cardiff all I see is the back of an arena, a couple of trucks and a security man with an enormous arse…..I’m sure there’s more to it than that though. First thing to do was eat after the hangover from Manchester, the catering has been amazing on this tour and todays lunch was heartwarming and stomach lining shepherds pie. There was a lot of fuss over the football ……half the crew being of Liverpool origin (scousers) were surrounding the tv and Mark the scouser (previously mentioned in the diary) had actually taken the time to go to the match…..leaving Peter Jackson (Gareth) at the helm for the soundchecks. Neil set off for the soundcheck to run through his drums followed by the rest of the band, the on stage sound was great and the sound check lasted little more than fifteen minutes. From then it was the wait to show time, I managed to kill forty minutes by hiding in a wardrobe waiting to jump out on Tony – Neil and Ally were in on the joke and Ally had a special set of guitar chords worked out to play when Tony walked in. I didn’t want to jump out on some unsuspecting old person with a heart condition (Eddie for example ……I’m joking). After a good forty minutes I heard the secret chords and jumped out of the wardrobe – and he didn’t even flinch!!! Total waste of time. It was a really good laugh back stage before the gig and I think everyone felt great walking down the corridor to the steps of the stage. There was a lot of familiar faces in the front row of the audience and during the first song the security tried to force people back to their seats but were soon put to rights and told to lighten up. I keep promising to go through the set song by song from my viewpoint so here goes: Lover – amazing start for me…..I love sitting up at the drums and I love the song. It feels and is a song I’ve known most of my life so to be playing it is still a buzz for me, and its great to hear Eddies piano solo – its such a great part of the song and an excellent point to get right into it, the dip after the solo is great – you know its not going to last for long and all you can do is wait for the drum fill into the last few chorus’s ……the fill is always a bit scary – getting it in perfect sync with Neil is tough. Getaway – obviously this is a favourite of mine – when I first joined Texas this was the first song I worked on and I’ve seen it go through lots of development stages. I like playing drums in it too – but if I’m honest I miss singing the backing vocals . the ending of getaway is great fun – the drum part sounds great and Shar belts out the Getaway lines. Once in a lifetime: it’s a bit of a dash to get to my keyboards before the song starts, a drum fill and we’re all in. it’s a nice song to play – and singing the chorus is great fun…..its all over pretty quick though as on this tour the last chorus has been cut out to keep the shows pace moving. Ok – I’ll do the rest tomorrow I promise. I get the feeling Birmingham will be a great show and give me lots of inspiration to write about the songs I won the play off tonight – I pulled Tiny dancer out of the bag (and if I’m honest I should have shortened it…..by the end I was getting pins and needles in my fingers. Tuesday 16th May 2006 Last night was Birmingham – whoever said that Birmingham was a grey, boring and dangerous city………well they were right. (I’m joking) Sunday as a day off was great though. We arrived from Cardiff around half one in the morning and without haste I checked my bag into my room, placed my tanktop lovingly on a cedar hanger and took an express lift to the bar which considering the city and the fact it was so late in a hotel bar was surprisingly busy. In dribs and drabs Eddie, Claire, Tony and Kevin joined me and we spent a good hour or so winding down from the journey from Cardiff. The following morning I got up and sorted out some dirty laundry (which although I won’t bore you with all the details was ruined by the hotel laundry department. Okay I’ll tell you. The pink shirt I was wearing, well I had two and when I got my shirts back from the laundry I neglected to take them out and check they were ok – it was only the following day I realised a big iron shaped burn on the back of one of them!! I think it was coco the clown running the laundry because when we stayed there on the last tour they washed my dry clean only trousers, they’re so small now I had to give them to tony). Anyway – following this I went for a swim with Neil (the sauna had a tv in it) then went into town to meet Ally for some lunch, he was in Selfridges shopping for cowboy shirts. Leaving the bullring we met a couple of the crew guys, PK and Chris who were out enjoying their day off. PK walked with us to EAT (its like a prêt a manger) and pretended to steal sandwiches from the counter telling us that this was the way of the crew, how they lived. Very funny guy. Later that day we went to play pool along from the hotel stopping for a curry en route. The pool hall was a little scary, they’d squeezed a hundred tables into a space suitable for two and we spent three awkward games rubbing shoulders with guys that looked like they would rather stab people than play pool. I wasn’t scared but I think Ally, Tony and Neil were pretty shaken up by the whole thing. We left the pool hall and decided on a quiet drink in the hotel. Andy Dockerty called us and asked if we wanted to join the crew in their hotel for a drink so I headed over with Ally. Our hotel was dead – they’re hotel was absolutely jumping, there were ex brookside cast members, hollyoaks girls and sayed from the apprentice. Not to mention girls from Atomic Kitten and that guitarist guy from Texas. We stayed for an hour or so and I promised Mark (the monitor engineer) the I would meet him at nine in the morning and go to the venue to see how it all went together (needless to say I didn’t make it) You know at this point I think its about time I mentioned the crew guys. Without whom no concert would be on. Where do I start – okay stage crew guys (the country club as they’re known) ; Mick: Mick is the keyboard tech for me and Eddie. He’s a tall guy with mega tattoos. Skinny jeans and peroxide spikey hair…..he’s a real looker. Micks very experienced and techs and tour manages loads of bands. He’s been with Texas for ages (a lot longer than me) and he’s extremely funny, but I have noticed he’s got a bit of a girly laugh! Alisdair (big al number one) – Al is the drum tech and looks after Neil and me now as well (sometimes). He’s a big guy with an almost Mohican. I knew al before I was in Texas because he recorded in the studio I used to work in. he played for a band called ‘Nerve’ who had an amazing song called “* off and die” which I loved. I went to one of their shows and shouted that all the way through until they played it – I think everyone thought I was a complete nut job. He’s a great drummer though and if I’m truthful he scares me x Wolfie (joe gormal) - Wolfie is the guitar tech for Shar and Ally and not only techs guitars but makes them too. The name comes from the fact that prior to this he was a wolf biologist and there’s not much he can’t tell you about them. Wolfie is on a massive weight loss purge at the moment and went from being well over 16 stone to less than 12 …..he’s mega fit now. Its quite a transformation and although I hate to admit this my girlfriend has a soft spot for him! Can you believe that?? He lives in the highlands in a village called inch which as the name suggests is very small. Chris: Chris is the guitar tech for Tony and Johnny. He’s a mystery – he used to have a goatie beard but he shaved it off recently and he looks younger than me now. He drives a fast car and he gives me funny looks during the shows (kidding) he’s a great tech though and I feel for him when he has to run and un-tangle Tony when his leads get wrapped around his tiny feet. PK: Is pk technically crew?? I’m not sure as he’s technically a production manager, meaning he deals with everything and oversees the entire show. But that aside he’s a bit mad. I don’t mean in a nasty vindictive way i mean in a hilarious left field way. He has a nitro boost on his motorbike and an arsenal of fireworks under his bed……that kind of funny. Pk was the ringleader in most of the assaults I endured from the crew on the tour. At the moment I’ll leave it at that – there are many more to mention but I should spread that out a bit ……..so many characters (not really they’re all the same) Anyway getting on to the gig. I never realised just how far out of Birmingham the NEC was, the drive there seemed to take forever, the way I gauge that is I had three cans of fanta so when the NEC finally appeared on the horizon I couldn’t wait to get in to relieve myself from the gas and fiz high I was burping my through. As always we headed straight to catering for a snack and Neil began the arduous task of soundchecking his drums. I normally take a walk out to Andy's position in the venue and bother him while he tries to work, its surprising how easy ignoring me comes to him (joking of course). Then everyone filters onto the stage, progressively soundchecking through the band. The NEC seemed enormous from the stage although I was a little disappointed to see the seats there (not that many of them were used through the gig though) A deal or no deal after soundcheck took us to dinner and following this it was the hard task of killing a couple of hours before the show. Being so far out of Birmingham there was nowhere to run to to get away from the venue so we made our own entertainment backstage. Post show Tony would kick me to the ground and give me a friction burn on my chin which is evident in all the pictures from this point of the tour onwards. It was good fun though – I did manage to soak him with a bottle of water in the process. The gig itself was great and as always the front rows made it all seem like it was more fun to dance and jump than to actually play on the stage, I’m going to try and jump for over an hour and see how I do – I’m sure it won’t be a pretty sight. Following the show it’s the brief aftershow where I meet some friends of Allys who are in a band and tell us if we’d only called them the night before they could have taken us to all the coolest places in Birmingham!!! We meet some of the fans out by the bus and have a good laugh about the gig with them before embarking on our trip to London. I can’t wait to get there as the hotel bar we’re heading for has a tendency to party late. Wednesday 17th May 2006 Did I say that the bar in London was going to party until late? I take it all back…….when we arrived at the Shepherds Bush hotel the bar was full of guys with little to no hair one of whom was staring at me for over twenty minutes while Eddie pointed out that he looked as though he wanted to kill me. I wasn’t keen on hanging around to find out and after two or three drinks we all made our excuses and headed to bed long before the expected late curfew. We were due to stay at the hotel for a few nights so I methodically unpacked my clothes and placed them on the appropriate hangers while listening to German mtv. I do love that song die eine by die firma…. German rap at its finest I would say. An early night ensued and before I could say thank God we’re in London I was asleep. The next morning I found myself awake early and on the phone to Neil wanting to meet up for breakfast which I duly declined and opted on a long shower and a little ‘me time’. read into that what you will. I did however five mintues later meet Neil for a coffee around the corner while Tony eventually joined us for a greasy English breakfast made by a Turkish lady. We weren’t due to travel to the gig until the back of two so we passed the hours in the pool hall around the corner. I was on form today and for a change had tony up against the ropes, he hates to lose and it was evident in his crumpled face, that was until he clawed it back and went on to beat both me and Neil. The cars arrived around two and Eddie met us in reception to make our way to the gig. Todays weather was pretty crap and by the time we reached the venue the rain had started to come on, what made this even worse was the fact that the catering building was a short outdoor walk from the dressing room so breaching the outside world was a must. As always we congregated on stage for the soundcheck. I should at this point mention something. Last night on the bus from Birminghamd I’d been a little careless and at some point had managed to allow Kevin the tour manager to film me calling the crew monkeys, and in doing this specifically mentioning names and being in a cheeky humorous was fairly abusive. I know what you’re thinking – what a dick. And you’re right. It was mistake to let him film me. So in due course and much to everyones amusement Johnny persuaded Kevin to show the crew the film. I knew this was the end for me and while on one side of the stage they gathered (looking scarily like extras from planet of the apes) to watch the film I sat on the other cringing and thinking of the fastest and safest way to exit the building. It was too late – by the time I’d made my way to the edge of the stage and jumped I could hear Tony shouting “where are you going??” and they were on me. Eight guys with more body mass than a small whale colony were in hot pursuit and leaping the very stage edge that I’d previously jumped seconds before. I made my way past the barrage of barriers and looked for a suitable escape. Fire escape seemed the obvious choice and I pushed my way out and ran past the reception where two ladies looked at me as though I was quite mad. God knows what they thought when the crew followed me. I opted to run back into the auditorium thinking that I could out fox them by running into the dragons den. It didn’t work. As I crashed through the doors Big Al was waiting just steps away. I could only assume he was only there as he was too slow to follow me into the foyer. He launched himself at me and I came down like a ton of bricks onto the sticky stinking floor of the venue. I could have cried but people were watching. Big Al held me and licked my face as the rest of the crew made their way into the hall. I had a bad feeling about the following few minutes. They called for gaffa tape and pulled me up and onto one of the crowd barriers where they managed to tape my arms and legs to the cold metal posts, much in the style of a good old fashioned crucifixtion. Andy Dockerty, previously mentioned respsonsible man, joined the crew and proceeded to pull down his pants and rub the crack of his arse into my face. Compared with the smell of the guys holding me down it was like a breath of fresh air. Then the obivious next logical plan was put into action and my jeans and boxers were pulled down and I was left to dangle alone while they ran off. Shar and the band watched from the stage pissing themselves laughing and I fought to pull my arms free to get my boxers back on. It was all in the name of fun though and the truth be told I got off lightly. Time to mention some more of the crew I think: Mark: mark is the monitor engineer and works with Andy, he’s a scouser and is an extremely funny bloke but he doesn’t let that get in the way of his constant moody behaviour (kidding) he does monitors for loads of cool bands and more often than not of late we can’t get him because he’s in such high demand. The first ever gig I went to (Del Amitri in edinbugh) Mark was doing the monitors. What a boring fact. Anyway he’s a very cool guy and I have to say when he’s not around I feel a little blue. Yeh right - it’s a total vibe when he’s off. Andy Dockerty: Andy as I’ve already said a million times is the front of hosue engineer and is responsible for mixing the wave of noise that comes from the texas stage. He’s been doing this for texas for ages – I think I was about fifteen or even less when he started doing it so needless to say he knows the music better than anyone. He calls me a keyboard owner instead of player though which is annoying. Andy owns the pa company and has a really cool place in Liverpool that myself and Eddie had the opportunity to visit prior to the last tour. He’s one of those modern cool bosses who’s friends with all his staff, at least I think he is, that’s the impression they gave off when we were down. When we did go down I remember Andy was showing us around the place and we went into one of the workshops where I stood beside a huge flightcase and was saying hello to some of the guys when Mark jumped out from that very case. Eddie nearly had a stroke and as did I. I do love people from Liverpool though. Gareth (Ga): I call Gareth Ga as I think Liverpool folk like it when you shorten their names down as short as they can possibly go. Mark told me that. Gareth is Marks assistant and is the guy that Peter Kay accused of looking freakishly like Peter Jackson. He’s a boxer though so I always make a point of being nice to Ga, and in addition to that he works on the program Hollyoaks when he’s not doing any live stuff and managed to get me a signed girls of Hollyoaks calander. Its amazing and has pride of place in my work room at home – they’ve all written things like “to Michael you naughty boy” on it – its great. Ally got one too but I don’t think his wife is too happy about it. Anyway – onto the gig. London is a bit of a strange one because there are always so many people backstage which I personally love. Its like a little pre show party and it gets me in the mood for having fun. Johnny’s brother Gerry shows up and he’s always good at taking the mickey out of all of us, and vice versa I have to say at times. It seems like a long time before we finally get the call to get ready and everyone but the band filters out of the dressing room. Ally had been watching some rubbish dvd with George Harrison in it and that’s left playing while we take the short walk to the stage. I keep meaning to talk more about the show but I remember that for most of you reading this you were probably there. Tonight was an especially good show and when we finished everyone was in extremely high spirits as we headed back to the hotel following a small but extremely pleasant aftershow. Saturday 1st July 2006 I’m skipping about a bit here but its fair to say that if I didn’t catch up with myself at some point then I’d begin to forget the very things that I intended to write about in the first place and who wants to read the memories that have become rose tinted? So I leap from the London show of the tour, past the Brighton and Paris shows and onto the Hyde park concert…….if that’s ok. On Wednesday I got a call from Johnny to say that we’d be leaving a day early to have a meeting regarding the upcoming proms show in Antwerp, we’d be travelling on the train to London and the boys would be flying down the following day to meet up with us. This in mind I packed the additional pair of socks I hadn’t accounted for and made my way to the station the following morning. Thursday following we met with an extremely pleasant Belgian man and talked over possible songs to perform and listened to some of the other acts that were due to appear on the bill alongside us. I left Shars house and made my way to the hotel for a shower and a lie down. Then I called Ally. On Friday I woke early. My head was sore, my mouth was dry and my clothes were strewn across the room. I met up with Ally and his wife in Hampstead and somehow had managed to convince them to come back to the hotel for some drinks……I knew I would be away for over a week and had that insatiable urge to get the ball rolling early. After a bit of breakfast and a cool shower I went to the bar for a coffee and met Eddie, Tony and Neil there fresh from their flight down. They dumped their bags and we made our way into the oppressive London heat and to the rehearsal studio. When we arrived there a group of young girls were waiting outside peering at the blacked out windows of our van, I couldn’t help but pre-empt their disappointment when they would see four guys they wouldn’t recognise or care for. Although in saying this one girl shouted and pointed out the fact that Tony looked like preston from the Ordinary Boys…….but smaller. The crew were already in and had all the gear set up and ready. Rehearsals are strange because we rehearse on a full stage with all the gear set up just as it is in a gig and to stand, or in some cases sit, and play with just the crew watcing is weird. It makes you realise how important it is to have the vibe from the audience. There were two gigs to rehearse for today – Hyde park and the GAY night at the Astoria. Two completely polar opposite sets. It takes a while to get going as everyone goes through the hello process and we watch some videos of a strange Chinese man being launched from water rockets on PK’s computer. The set is run through and the songs for GAY are planned and tried out in various formats, tony is Reluctant to sing sleep as he can already predict the state he’ll be in by half past one in the morning following the Hyde park show. He gets told to do it. Back to the hotel, pizza express and into town for the Astoria soundcheck. The Astoria is a cool venue – I like it a lot. Its got a kind of shabby vibe that I only really ever feel in small run down venues so to feel the same way in a bigger venue feels great. Everything looks as though its been painted black until chipped and then painted black again, this process lasting until it falls to pieces and is then taped up and painted black. The crew are there and have a look on their face that syas they would really love to get out of there as quickly as possible so we speed through the soundcheck and make our return journey to the hotel where we get ourselves into all sorts of trouble. And I have a fight with Kevin our tour manager…….but that’s a whole other story. The following morning I rinse my mouth out from the tap and wish that I’d a) not picked fights with our tour manager….. even if I was right b) not signed so many rounds of drinks to my room. But I live and learn. Its still dark in my room but I know that behind the heavy cream drapes is a blistering London heat and two shows to be played, and I can’t do that whilst avoiding booze. As usual I meet Neil and head out for lunch in Shepherds Bush and after a quick greasy bite and a shower I sleep again for an hour before getting ready to travel to Hyde park. The car has to stop on the outskirts of the park and wait for a small golf cart to lead us through a path full of weird looking people. There’s a guy on rollerblades acting up big time and everywhere you look there are semi naked women (and men unfortunately) the driver tells us that on more than one occasion today he’s nearly ploughed the van into the trees while watching the ladies go by. As we pull towards the gates the football starts on the radio and I feign interest and go with Ally and Neil to the catering tent to watch the first half. Andy Dockerty and young Kenny (Marks assistant today) are in the catering watching the football and have a genuine interest in the game as opposed to the majority who like me seem to be faking it a bit. Within ten minutes andy and Kenny have to leave to rig the stage and I’m suddenly reminded of the fact that we’ll be on stage soon. Time for a beer. The backstage area is pretty cool today and there’s a lot of folk hanging around – I can never recognise anyone though. One time last year I was with Shar and Johnny in London when Johnny thought he’d spotted Keira Nightly in a deli. I was sure it wasn’t her and I headed in to pretened to buy a can of real lemonade (which was disgusting) and stood right beside her. When I came out I said “no – no way its her” and it was (ok …..crap story but it makes a point) Not long after I settle I’m pulled up again and we’re on our way to the stage. It’s a big stage today and walking on feels great – until I see the big screen at the back of the park and realise the football is still on. But its not going to ruin an amazing experience for us all and in the front row some real Texas fans spur us on in the heat. The gig goes as would be expected and just before nevermind England lose and are out of the world cup – I feel a bit for them but remind myself its only a game and whats all the fuss about. During the last song I take in the sight of at least 60,000 people as I walk back to my drumkit for the end of Say what you want. Then some twat throws a shoe at Shar and it all kicks off. I’ll be honest and say that I think the whole shoe incident was reported in a typical tabloid way – Shar didn’t storm off stage and throw down her mic – she just acted the way anyone would if someone randomly threw a shoe at them. The guy looked like an idiot – I could see him from where I was sitting and despite his girlfriend trying to calm him down (who he later pushed to the side) he swore back and stormed off in a huff. I wish that PK (production manager) had been able to get over the barrier he was trying so hard to get over (security guys) and beat him up. Actually no – I wish the guy had got on stage and I could have seen Tony doing his kung foo for real. Now that would have been funny. Like an angry Ronnie Corbett When we came off stage little was said apart from how good the show had gone. We had time to relax and while some headed off to shower and wind down others stayed to watch the most boring show of all time. I stayed to drink and snooze briefly. Before long the time had come to gather everyone together. I was sitting eating a burger kindly purchased by Neil when Yony and Eddie stumbled towards us. Tony looked a little lob sided and I started to fear for his performance at the Astoria. We got Ally and a few others backstage and headed in convoy to the Astoria. It wasn’t as easy as usual, the roads were blocked off for the euro pride marches and we were forced to walk at least 100 metres to the backstage door. It doesn’t sound that bad but the smell of pee could have made anyone of us sick and while Tony was rattling from wall to wall I was sure he would be found lying in it were he left unattended. The dressing room finally beckoned after six or seven flights of stairs and we hung around eating jelly sweets and drinking vodka and red bull until we got the call for stage. Backstage the heat was unbearable and I’d started to wish that I’d wore a little less clothing. Perhaps the tank top and tie were more of an autumn winter get up. As the music faded down I walked with Eddie onto the stage and to our keyboards. It had been a good day and by the reaction of the crowd it looked like things were only goind to get better. (oh and while I wanted to finish the entry there I must add that Tony performed without fault) Also check out Ally's Behind the scenes photos from the tour. |