It looks like our luck with the weather is about to run out as it unfortunately has done for many folks down in Tennessee today. A very severe bout of storms heading North Eastwards from the Gulf has battered Nashville with as much as 10 inches of rain this afternoon.







There's certainly a water theme to today's entry as we flew out of the Boston area across Boston Harbour made famous by a key event in the growth of the American revolution, the Boston tea party. A short, low altitude flight of 30 minutes meant a swift lunch. Dianne treated us to signature crab cakes from Legal seafood, absolutely delicious.



We landed at a small airfield called Groton airport in the delightful New London area and were whisked off in the usual configuration of two Chevvy SUV's and a Lincoln town car. Much of the journey was spent discussing the scenery, our recent trip to Boothbay in Maine, crab cakes, lobster , BBQ competitions, (more about which we are keen to learn) and the unnerving geometry of these town cars that show up. What I mean is this - In Europe we use a fleet of Mercedes (Stars and Cars, see older diaries) and also some of the time in the US an S class Merc will show up, these cars are the absolute pinnacle of engineering and luxury and comparing the ride to that of a Lincoln town car is almost unfair. The Lincolns utilize 30 year old suspension and shock absorbers and the seats are usually very uncomfortable on journeys over 20 minutes, these cars have a very unstable feel compared to the Mercs.. Our driver today was a really nice man, who I think enjoyed our slightly peculiar British sense of humour. He agreed on all points discussed and knew a thing or two about the BBQ traditions in the southern states. We passed lots of signs for Mystic River and I learned that Mystic Pizza started here. I'd never even heard of it. As we would our way through some delightful countryside we discussed the weather as is usual for us Brits, unaware of what was unfolding in Tennessee. Just over the brow of a hill, there it was, a brand new well...town build on an Indian reservation for the specific purpose of gambling and entertainment. Right in the middle of an apparent wilderness sits one of the largest casinos in the world.



Foxwoods has a young history, it was founded in 1986 as a bingo hall. In 1992 the owners, the Mashantucket Pequot Tribe, added table games, followed shortly by slot machines in 1993 when the casino agreed to pay 25% of their slot revenue to the state of Connecticut, a sum that now amounts to almost $200 million per year as of 2007. In 1997, a deluxe tower was opened for business.
Walking into the backstage area, the first thing I notice in the building is a shiny new ATM machine. Yep, it's a casino I thought to myself. The many staff who seemed to be everywhere were very courteous and helpful and the crew were grateful for the top notch facilities as their border crossing was anything other than smooth. We heard that they were held up for at least three hours due to five coach loads of tourists, some of which were obviously dubious and were refused entry. There was no facility in place for our boys to pass and as most of them had stayed up to be awake for the crossing, by the time they did get across, most of the boys had only just gone to bed and were hurriedly awoken. Some of the bleary-eyed answers to official questioning were comical..eg. Q.  Where have you come from? A. Canada Q. Where are you going? A. America Q. You don't know where you are do you? A. No. Q. What is your business here? A. Touring group Q. What kind of group? A. Musical group Q. Are you trying to be funny? A. no.... and so on and so forth..





The upshot of all that was a very late load-in which was probably saved by the fact that here at the Foxwoods they appear to have every production item under the sun and Simon our LD. noticed that the in-house front truss was almost identical to ours so within 2 hours of arriving, the Marley was being laid and the backline was going up. That's fast, apparently. I did notice that the load-in bay was almost as big as the venue...a far cry from Ann-Arbor!



Mark spend a good while onstage before soundcheck to adjust his seat as he wasn't comfortable last night. I suggested he try out my 'Soundseat' as it has more musician-friendly seat shape, he did and he ended up using it for the show. I used Robbo's drum stool which was not ideal but absolutely fine. During the show I experienced some volume pedal horrors with a sticky potentiometer, particularly apparent in the intro to one of the more well known DS songs later in the show. .I think VCA's are now a priority. Glenn Worf experienced a horrific short circuit in his in-ear system which meant he went through the entire show with virtually NO monitors. He commented afterwards that playing that song unable to hear the piano is an interesting experience. The man is a genius as no-one could tell anything was wrong!



Another fantastic audience and another fantastic show and another runner and another 30 minute flight back to Boston where back at the hotel we learned that there was a major water leak in the city resulting in what is known as a 'Boil water order' being enforced. Water is apparently leaking into the Charles River at the rate of 8 million gallons an hour. Danny and Tim O'Brein pooped round to my room for some late night tea and we watched the weather channel for updates on the Nashville floods. We learn that so far, 5 people have lost their lives. Our thoughts are with those affected.



pic - Nomad