Waking in Denver this morning the first thing I notice is that my mouth is as dry as a bone and I remember that we are at an altitude of 5,281 feet, exactly one mile above sea level. We scramble to the Denver airfield and board the jet once more for a flight due East across the central plains of just over an hour.



The last time we were in Kansas City was in the Dire Straits days, back in February 1992? We flew in towards this city which is situated right on the edge of Missouri, almost in Kansas but not quite, and watching the onboard Sky-map as ever I surmised we might land at the international airport but we flew on past it and towards the downtown area. We approached the ultra-conveniently located Charles B. Wheeler Downtown Airport coming in following the line of the Missouri river gurgling away below us. We were in the cars airside in moments and within 10 minutes were delivered to the stage door. A spinal tap moment followed as we go out of the cars a small crowd gathered and applauded us (strange) while we grabbed our bags from the car trunks, we were ushered through what looked like a stage door and into a room which led nowhere. We looked at each other blankly and wheeled our Briggs and Rileys back out and 20 yards down the street to the correct stage door.



The beautiful Midland Theatre is in the heart of what is known as the Power & Light District in Kansas City. Named after the landmark KCP&L building and at a cost of $850 million it's one of the largest development projects in the midwestern US. It is also one of only a few places in the United States where possession and consumption of open containers of alcoholic beverages are allowed on the street, although they remain prohibited on the street throughout the rest of Kansas City. The original theatre here opened in 1927 but has clearly recently undergone a renovation. I parked up in one of the small dressing rooms, checked some emails, grabbed the camera, fitted the wide-angle and wandered onto the stage and discovered the crew had arrived a little late from Colorado and weren't able to load in until 2:30PM! That fact alone is quite astonishing as it was now 5:00pm and everything was already set up and they were in the process of line-checking. Line-checking is the final operation before the band take to the stage for sound check, it involves making sure all of the 100 or so lines, or feeds to the front of house and monitor desk are working properly. It's no good us getting up there only to find one of the mics on the drum kit is down or there's a hum on Mark's left guitar cabinet. It's all meticulously checked and analyzed during line-check. Of course whilst this is going on, Simon is focusing lights and consequently, any encroachment by band members on the stage is met with stern discountenance. Dave Hall the production manager tells me in no uncertain term to "clear off, there's people working up here" as I try to sneak around on the stage taking photo's for the diary.

I heed his request and head off into the hall and explore the myriad of halls and balconies in this beautiful building which sort of reminds me of an oversized Shepherd's Bush Empire in London. I suppose it's the huge bar area at the rear of the main hall that is reminiscent.



In the front foyer area I see Cod who is setting up his merchandising stand. I could tell he wasn't happy since in a lot of these venues, he has to deal with the venue policy of selling and in this case they wouldn't let him set up his display boards because of the mirrored walls. Daft if you ask me as the stand just ended up looking a bit haphazard. Most venues take a commission on all items sold by the artist which is fine if the local employees are helpful and efficient. As well as a great range of MK tee shirts and Get Lucky items, Pieta Brown and Bo Ramsey CD's are available as well as of course my own 'Natural Selection' album. I've signed a whole batch for Cod so make sure you ask for one. Cod asks me if I've seen the Chandelier bar, I told him I hadn't and he ushered me into an elevator where I met one of the local venue workers who proceeded to introduce herself not by shaking hands but by rubbing elbows. I asked her if that's what the do here in Kansas City, she said "no, it's what I do". OK. She invites me into the lift with 5 or 6 other busy workers, there are always more people working at venues than you realize...we head for the 5th floor balcony. Lo and behold, the obviously named Chandelier bar. I take a few more pictures..





By now, the boys on the stage are just about ready for us so I make my way backstage. We proceed with a brief soundcheck, we run the opening tune in the set. We always do this since the setup is ready to go. Then Mark does some National for Dave, again something that needs to be done as the National is potentially the most problematic instrument on the stage in terms of resonant frequencies. Most of the time it's fine but it's always worth a careful check with Mark playing it. Mark then stayed behind with Glenn to do some fine tuning on his guitar strap lengths. Another important element for guitarists as playing a guitar with the neck in even slightly the wrong place can lead to intense discomfort. I can testify to this as the more guitar I play onstage, the more I am aware that strap length is critical. To be honest, I don't know how those guys stand there with guitars round their necks for over two hours. I have trouble with backache when we do three in a row where I play acoustic (which we do on occasion in the middle of the set)

An hour before show-time, Danny and I wandered out into the auditorium to watch a song or two from Pieta and Bo and then it was back to the dressing rooms for the traditional vocal warm-ups. Even though I don't think of this band necessarily as a 'vocal' group, these warm-ups make a massive difference, particularly for Mark. I've noticed his voice improve immeasurably since we've been doing them. Then Matt brewed the ginger, honey, lemon, mint tea and the countdown to show-time begins..

Another music-loving audience and another fabulous gig, we all agreed. The day had one more delight in store as Diane, our delightful air stewardess had arranged for some serious, Kansas City hickory smoked ribs for the flight up to Chicago on the Legacy.



They were nothing short of spectacular and we all indulged to bursting point. The day was rounded off by the thought of another cocoon bed waiting at what is unquestionably our favourite hotel of the tour, the Chicago Peninsula. In this place, EVERYTHING works. More on that tomorrow, night night.