One of the favourite hotels of the tour is the one in Barcelona. Its location, service and comfort are always enjoyed. A great gym, lovely pool area although today it was absolutely full so no loungers for me. I decided instead to wander along the huge beachfront right outside the hotel as I had noticed that the wind was picking up and there were windsurfers on the water. The view from my 25th floor hotel room is spectacular and I often just stare out the windows at the city sprawled out below me for ages.



I remember renting a windsurfer here many years ago, probably in 2001. Approaching the water's edge I realized that there really wasn't quite enough wind for my liking, it was blowing 15-20 knots and I prefer 25 minimum. A sat on the sand and took in some sun hoping it might increase but it shifted onshore, some cloud cover came in so the wind dropped. Never mind, probably for the best as departure time for the venue was fast approaching and being late for a show is not particularly clever. I managed to do exactly that once when we were touring with the straits in Australia, Alan and I had been windsurfing and the wind dropped so we were stuck out there for a while and by the time we got back, the plane was waiting. I vowed never to let that happen again.

We left for Badalona and the Olympic Pavillion, a 20 minute drive away. Another venue we have visited before, in 2001. In a lot of ways, this venue is great. The size is perfect I think as in my mind the cavernous Palau St. Jordi doesn't do the band justice, the Summer heat and lack of proper air conditioning in the hall means it was to be a hot gig tonight. I prefer that.



I saw Tom (TC) in catering and inquired about the progress of his arm injury sustained during the load-out in Lyon. I have to say he looked a lot better today, yesterday he was understandably quite depressed. As I mentioned yesterday, his right bicep has become detached and will require an operation to repair it. Tom told me that he has booked the op. and one godsend is that the tour has only a week to run and so he will stay with us until the end and fly home to New York where he will be treated. The amazing thing, as Dave Hall was telling me, is that he has developed techniques which allow him to continue doing his job...one-handed, tuning Richard's guitars during the show. Testament to the resilience and bravado of our amazing crew.



Mr. Saggers wasn't happy with the venue today. Although smiling here, he had trouble isolating an extremely annoying buzz on Mark's guitar rig today. As is so often the case here in Spain, with poorly regulated radio frequencies, our crew boys often find it difficult to maintain clean signals. The in-ear system suffered today as well. They always seem to find a way around it though. Here Glenn discovered that Mark's guitar cable laid out in a particular position meant less interference. He's gaffer taping the cable to the floor.



Another little episode I heard about yesterday was that Kerry, our monitor engineer had a problem with his in-ear pieces. He apparently lost one of the drivers, I think it was the low end; anyway, today he discovered a simple cure. He found that when he squeezed the unit with his fingers, the low end returned, so he thought....crocodile clips! He rummaged in his tool box and found a clip which was in action for the show tonight.



We had a few competition winners before this evening's show and Mark dutifully went and met with them.



Some folks from FC Barcelona came to the show too and presented Mark with a signed pendant. Rosana Mora, Sergio Cordon Montero and Carlos Gomez Lara. I noticed Lionel Messi's signature on there. Surely the world's greatest footballer. With three Arsenal supporters in the room (PC, Pete and well, me) the banter was lively. No mention of Fabregas though!





We took to the stage at 10pm to a familiar Spanish roar. when we got half way through the show after playing Romeo and Juliet and Sultans of Swing, I came back on the stage and picked up my acoustic guitar for the next song and thought to myself, here it comes. And sure enough the Spanish crowd started to sing their signature Oe, oe, oe song. The band dutifully joined in.

A great night once again.

Nos encanta volver a Espana!