I had a sneak look back at Dublin entries from previous tours and a similar patter seems to be emerging. Namely, Guinness and a throbbing head. Today's headache is believe it or not, the first of the tour generated by a bona-fide hangover. Nothing serious, I don't (can't) do serious any more, but nonetheless, an irritant. The fire alarm that blasted it's way into my skull at 08:20 didn't help and the words 'false alarm' rang inside my head for the full 12 minutes it took for them to turn the bloody thing off. With ears ringing more than after any MK concert, I climbed into what looked like a shower but failed to operate in any way resembling one. Breakfast in the room wasn't up to much but a walk down Grafton Street in search of Barry's tea bags seemed to kick start the day nicely. I also wandered round to the back of the hotel where I had noticed a small market being set up earlier in the morning. Decision making at that time of day has never been a strong point but I managed to come away with a freshly made Raspberry muffin to go with the Barry's. Back to the room..of course the key no longer worked. Hotels often automatically disable key cards at midday unless they are actually together enough to override this as we have late checkouts most days. The Westbourne failed the key card test. Danny dropped by for tea, after a trip to reception to renew his key lease. Barry's tea is up there with the best of them and has become the traditional infusion when we're here.  Checkout was at 2pm and Mick Devine's son Shaun was waiting for us with his team to take us to the airport.









Belfast was within sight and after the usual super-strict security here we were back on the road with Mick who had driven up to meet us here. I'm not sure if he didn't actually get here faster than the plane! Soon we were in sight of the familiar Odyssey arena.





Straight onstage to do a soundcheck and then off to catering for s delicious steak. It's really great to have the catering team back with us, not that the food in the US was bad, in fact it was fantastic, it's just that there is a certain level of consistency with Chris and the guys.



Once again the show was most enjoyable. The sound on stage was fantastic, we're really enjoying the sonic separation we're getting with the larger halls. The audience seemed quiet but that's a consequence of them really hanging on to every note. everyone was on their feet again at the end, another pint of Guinness for me and off to the plane for a short hop over to Glasgow. Security at the airport in Belfast is still very tight and there was a delay whilst our carry-on bags were screened, in a different building, then we were on a shuttle-bus and on the plane.

We were reunited with our driving team upon arrival in Glasgow. Bernie, Dominika and Fabian were waiting for us with Bernie in a new hybrid Mercedes S class. Sheer, utter luxury. Off to the hotel, a place we used to stay at many years ago called One Devonshire Gardens. I remembered playing tennis in a club just down the road with Mark and Alan many years ago so was looking forward to that in the morning.