After the whirlwind that was London, it was nice to get back into 'the bubble' (ie the plane) and get on the road again for a very short hop from Northolt to Manchester. The delightfully named Manchester Evening News Arena can be a little cavernous but it generally sounds pretty good in there. The sound onstage was great, especially after the tricky Wembley Arena from which despite the millions spent on renovation there were still many complaints about the sound and one particular complaint about an unbelievably petty and aggressive security steward. It does seem that that at some point on every tour we come across this although in general the venue staff have been excellent. Keep the feedback coming, be it good or bad it's useful. It was lovely to see Danny's friend of 30 years, Jeremy Meek, a fab bass player who played with Joan Armatrading who is now is in Paul Carrack's band. Jeremy is a serious petrol head and brought with him his beautiful 964 Carrera 4 which gave me quite uncontrollable pangs of desire as it's almost exactly like the one I used to have. Must get hold of another one. Off to Dublin early tomorrow so we can watch the England match at the venue.

Matt pictured with the lovely Barbera upon arrival in Manchester


pic Frank Hoffmann
I've been asked a few times what the pre-show playlist in the venues is. This is a screenshot of the iTunes playlist
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