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The 'best' and the 'worst' of the STP tour
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This
list was originally drawn up by the band, in the dressing room at the gig in
Munich and seems to me, to be pretty faithful to our general feelings towards
the 'highs' and 'lows' of this recent (yet so distant) MK tour |
| Worst
catering |
Nashville, New Orleans and Birmingham and Alabama (New Orleans and Birmingham ALL were the same promotor) |
| Worst Promotor | Porto Allegre (thanks for the dressing room furniture) |
| Worst hotel | Hilton Nashville (bad and no breakfast?) also the Blue Tree Towers in Porto Allegre, Brazil (simply rubbish) |
| Worst limo drivers | Sao Paulo (mad and rude) |
| Worst Road crew injury | Colin’s feet after the football match in Argentina |
| Worst attitude in hotel bar | Westin Palace, Madrid (see diary entry) |
| Worst crew drive | St. Petersburg to Moscow where everyone was 'thrown' out of thier bunks and pretty quickly gave up on the notion of sleep |
| Standout after-show meal | Any one of Marek's (Germany) |
| Shoes | Richard’s white (can be seen in the 'making of STP' gallery) |
| Jacket | Mike’s blue mariachi jacket (only occasionally worn) I'm searching now for photographic evidence |
| Trou (trousers) | Mike’s silver streak’s at the Albert Hall (see diary photo) |
| Hat | Mike’s Viking hat in Helsinki (idea origin - a crew bet) |
| Guitar most lusted after | Mark’s Blonde ’59 Gibson ES335 |
| Keyboard ? | Guy’s blown-up Hammond XB2 (broken and for sale) |
| Best run Hotel | 4 seasons Berlin |
| Best American caterer | Connetticut (Wallingford – Oakdale Theatre, these guy’s introduced us to 25,000 year old Glacier - bottled mineral water, if you haven't heard of it..you will) |
| Best European caterer | OURS ‘Eat your hearts out’ |
| Best Caesar salad | 4 seasons Paris (expensive though) |
| Best Steak | Cabana las lilas, Buenos Aires, Argentina (best steak known to humanity) |
| Best Hotel | Hotel Russie(Rome) and the Lowry(Mancester) |
| Best Hotel Gym | Conrad Hotel Brussels |
| Best Hotel Internet connection | Nordic Hotel Stockholm where Broadband IS broad |
| Road crew moment | Eddie’s replacement of Chad’s snare during Chad’s drum solo - Money for Nothing intro (Frankfurt) |
| Saddest stage moment | the Pyroman Bass finally breaking in Oslo |
| Best bit of touring Kit | Gulfstream G4... or on a smaller scale, the Apple Powerbook G4 |
| Ugliest shirt | Any one of Paul Crockford’s |
| Best Car | Mercedes S500 |
| Best show | unfair to answer this |
| Greatest onstage achievement | Richard - making it through 'Who's your baby now' without breaking a string --- Mike performing with severe stomach cramps in Sao Paulo also Glenn, making it through the show whilst in the throes of a quite severe migrane. |
| Standout musical moments | Recording 2 Hank Williams tunes with Emmylou Harris during tour rehearsals in London, then performing them with her at the Grand old Opry building (Ryman Auditorium) in Nashville on the tour. Paul FRANKLIN HONORARY BAND MEMBER AND BEST PEDAL STEEL PLAYER ON EARTH, SAT IN WITH US ON THIS show as did the sublime Gillian Welch and partner Dave Rawlings on the two songs that they sang backing vocals on on the album. |
| James Taylor sang STP with Mark in Boston, which was fab, as did Jackson Browne in LA., where Bonnie Raitt put in a sterling spot with Mark playing slide and singing on Prairie Wedding and Pyroman. | |
| Sonny Landreth, slide guitar ace and old pal of Mark’s played knockout guitar with the band in New Orleans where unbelievably the catering was rubbish. We were expecting great food in New Orleans. My birthday too! | |
| Best/hardest working crew member | Tim Myer, but I would say that..actually that's most unfair as EVERYONE, without exception on the crew performed admirably in what were sometimes very difficult conditions. |
| Best fans | Y’all |