Today started at home for me and Eike and I had agreed that we'd set off for Manchester at around 9am considering the possibility of traffic. He pulled into my driveway at 08:55 and I quite fancied test driving the brand new R Class Mercedes. I ended up driving the first two of the four hour journey. The level of sophistication built into these machines nowadays is fantastic and that five litre engine had plenty of spare clout when it was needed. It was a little strange driving with German license plates in the UK, but maybe that was just my imagination.

I had spent the day off yesterday at home, enjoying the wonderful sunshine and the company of the whole family. Max came from Brighton and spent the day at home. He's always dashing off somewhere as his band The Vaudeville are madly gigging and rehearsing. (supporting Bombay Bicycle Club on July 3rd) Laurie and Leon bought a beautiful bottle of champagne and we sat round the garden table to rib-eyes on the grill! My absolute favourite. Thanks again to everyone who sent me birthday wishes.



Eike and I arrived at the MEN at exactly 1pm, just in time for a spot of lunch. I ambled into catering to be met by many looks of disbelief from the crew as if to say "what in god's name are you doing here". The band rarely show up at the venue before 5pm. On the odd occasions I do get to be there early, I enjoy hanging out with the crew and watching the go through their set-up, especially on a day like today where everything goes to plan and everyone is relaxed and jovial after a day off.



Since the dressing rooms hadn't even been assembled yet (furniture I mean) I thought I'd go to the hotel since the call time was 4:30 for the band. Almost literally round the corner, Eike and I arrived at the Lowry within 3 minutes. A cuppa tea and a brief nap and it was time to meet the rest of the guys in the lobby. We have been discussing the meet and greet which has been planned for today for a few days and Richard, Mike, John and myself even had a brief rehearsal at the NEC. This is our first meet and greet of the tour but had been agreed to over a year ago.

One of the guitar lessons that Mark offered for the Children in Need charity was won with a bid on a Child-Line auction by a chap called Martin Ainscough (of the Ainscough group), his bid was very generous. Since Martin is not a guitar player, he offered to double his original donation for 'something else'! Mark and Paul thought it might be nice to arrange a private meet and greet for him and his family and friends in his home town of Manchester and here we are today.



The line-up was Richard on Steel and Bazouki, myself on uke, Danny on snare, Glenn on upright bass, John on fiddle and Mike on whistle. We played our old meet and greet favourites and during the final tune, Mark signed autographs for everyone in the room. Martin had sitting next to him in the audience, a young disabled (blind) chap who apparently was a drummer. Danny arranged it for him to step in during the last song. He had remarkably good timekeeping and was intrigued by Richard's bakelite lap steel. He asked Richard if he could know what it feels like so Richard placed it in his lap and got him to hold the steel bar so he could experience the wonderful feeling of the Hawaiian steel.







By the time we'd finished, it was just over an hour until showtime, so a brief visit to catering for a light bite and off to the dressing room for the customary vocal warm-ups. Mark presented me with a new shirt for my birthday which I wore for the show. We took to the stage as the house lights faded and started the show but realized part of the house lights were still very much on. It took most of the first song for them to find the appropriate switch and turn them off. Amusing and boring. There was plenty of energy on stage tonight and the audience were fantastic. Mike received a big cheer when introduced by Mark since he is from Manchester. After the show, everyone except Mike left for the hotel since obviously he had many after-show guests. We found ourselves in the Lowry hotel bar. On the face of it, the Lowry is a luxurious member of the Rocco Forte chain but the bar here is a strange place devoid of any kind of atmosphere or comfort (the seats are startlingly uncomfortable). Lacking any draught beer or drinkable wine, it wasn't long before we retired to our rooms where Richard and I enjoyed tea and some music before lights-out..

Pieta Brown sent us an email yesterday, she had been asked by her label, Red House records, to write a short piece about her experiences on the road with us.

 Here it is...just click on the image and check out her playlist at the end!