Norisring..

It's an old cliche but when you're on the road, you REALLY don't know what day it is. This morning could have been any day of the week. I'm honestly not really sure why this is. Whatever the reason, I was surprised to learn that it was Monday. The fact that I knew full well yesterday was Sunday should have been the give-away. Monday it is then and the gym routine is back. I find Richard in the midst of his humiliation session and I join him on a brand spanking new Life Fitness treadmill. This thing has all the bells and whistles you'd need for a long boring air-conditioned walk to nowhere...Nike/iPod compatibility (Nike?? why on earth would you want to connect your trainers to the machine, and how?) media centre loaded with blurry German TV channels and thankfully a blurry BBC world News channel. A snazzy tray for your iPod and a very sophisticated speed/incline computer, actually the best I've used. I am a technology fan and I love to see good design just as much as I detest bad design. The world is teeming with both. I wander, sweating round the rest of the gym facility and discover there is a nice new sauna, looks like it's never been used but I decide I've sweated enough for one morning and head back to the room driven by my stomach. My breakfast order awaits me...Continental with Bircher Muesli, Orange juice and a glass of half-fat Deutsch Milch (for the tea). The Bircher seems to improve as we near Switzerland. Funny that.



The bus collected us from the front of the hotel once more and a short drive later we were pulling up at the famous Reichsparteitagsgelände, the location of the Nürnberg arena and site of the Nazi party rally grounds used between 1933 and 1938. There is usually a little time to spare when we first arrive at venues as Bob's band are invariably still onstage sound checking, so I grabbed Ian and we went for a walk heading for the huge Zeppelin Feld armed with the camera. Today, the whole site serves as a memorial. Parts of the area are today used as the Norisring motor racing track as is quite obvious by the amount of permanent armco barriers. Ian and I were happy to find that the monument was open to public access so we climbed to the famous spot where Hitler spoke to the assembled throng.



There's always somewhere to practice...the big boy with the old girl..



The rhythm section sort a few things out..



We headed back to the venue for our turn to sound-check which we duly did at exactly 5:50. Ten minutes later, doors were open and the public filled the arena. An ice hockey arena with a lot of glass reflective surfaces can be problematic re. acoustics but the boys did a wonderful job once more. Our final show in Germany and we bade a fond farewell to another fantastic tour of the country. The crowd were once again....perfect...listening intently to the super quiet sections in songs like Marbletown and the new Haul Away but going mental at the end.

Mark played four songs with Bob and I went out into the hall for a listen. His show sounded fantastic, Bob was singing with much gusto and the band were particularly dynamic.



The bus left the venue with all of us aboard for the journey South to Innsbruck. 3 and a half hours later we arrived.

Peter has been busy with the camera again and forwarded me this great pic of the band....