|
Tuesday, May 29th, St. Petersburg
The next shows will be the England tour of Stick Men, but first... we have an unusual situation here; a few days off on the road!
Couldn't be a nicer place to enjoy them than here in St. Petersburg - here are some shots from walking around:
Here are a couple taken around midnight, wandering around after dinner - it's still light out
Much of the day was spent organizing our upcoming fund drive, for the new Deep cd and deluxe edition release next Fall.
In Markus' room, we filmed a video of each of us talking about it
and had lengthy meetings about how to organize the project...
Thursday, May 31st, London
We flew to England, where we have yet more free days before our first show in Manchester.
This tour of England will be along with another band, Gavin Harrison & 05 Ric. Gavin is our band mate in King Crimson, so there's a strong
connection.
We'd considered doing some joint Crimson material for encores, but the stages in the clubs we'll be playing arent big enough to set up
both drum kits at the same time(!) so it won't be possible - and the 'turn around' time between acts might be longer than we'd prefer, because of the
same drum kit issue.
Anyway, backing the equipment van into Gavin's driveway was quite a squeeze...
but packing the van was even more of a squeeze
Had to leave out some of Gavin's equipment.
Then we realized that 6 of us need to be in that van, amid the luggage... I don't think I have a way to show in a photo what the drive to
Manchester was like, because Markus and I had to squeeze into a seat before more luggage was packed in between us and the door...
Here's Gavin and Mike, our driver. Hey, what's Mike doing out there? Let's get moving, guys!
Sunday, June3, London
Finally, in Manchester and at the venue to do our first England show.
To explain the confusion that might follow, all the venues of this tour are named "Academy" ... so when I say 'we pulled up in front of the Academy', it won't
be for the last time.
Trouble right off the bat -- we pulled up to the Academy, and the back door of the van was stuck. Then we broke the key trying to open it...
so two bands here, ready to set up, and we cant get at any of our equipment!
Setup and soundcheck finally started, a couple hours late - just what you need on the first show of a tour leg with new equipment (and the first gig ever
for Gavin't band.)
But eventually we did get set up, and the show was pretty darn nice.
Tomorrow is a shorter drive, to Birmingham. But we'll also try to pack the back of the van tighter, to give us a little more breathing room up front.
Next tour page
|