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Epic Venues

If playing at Carnegie Hall, The Fillmore or a clifftop outdoor theatre in Costa Brava weren't enough to fulfil a musician's dream to play epic venues, our recent gig in a bus depot in Bremen certainly was. As with many of the gigs we do, we weren't sure what to expect from the 'German street gig', as it was billed on the schedule. I had pictured a quaint stage next to an ice rink and assorted stalls selling waffles and wooden stuff... I was wrong. We spent the day in the 'repair area' of the depot, nestled amongst countless jacked-up bendy buses. It's hard to know how to pass the time in these sorts of places. Happily, they had thoughtfully provided a table football table which we duly utilized until we were all tired and stressed. Rory, who was beyond tired having been the last of us to make it home from Australia, spent much of the lead-up to the show trying in vain to find somewhere to sleep. His verdict that there was, "literally not a soft surface in the place" was diva-ish but fair. All of this, in addition to JC inexplicably referencing the song, "The wheels on the bus" onstage, must make it one of the oddest days I've spent with this band.

Quite seperately from that drivel, we are now four gigs into the UK tour, and enjoying everything about being here. That is of course a lie, as anyone who has visited a service station in Great Britain will attest. But it is nice to wander British streets again and hear a new and more ear-shrivelling accent each day. The venues are great too. They vary from city halls to grand old theatres such as the London Palladium. Bit of a step up from the depot.