You know when some mornings you wake up, look at the clock and realize the jet-lag is on the way out, then you open the curtains and notice it's a gorgeous morning, you think to yourself 'this is gonna be a good day'. Well this is what happened yesterday morning at 08:15, the day of the Vancouver show.

Check-out was not until 1:30 so used the time wisely and bounded off to the supreme Four Seasons gym. Then it was back to the room to consider the extraordinary mess created by multiple bag explosions. The indecision of my packing contributed to the disorder surrounding me. Cleverly I ignored it and set to writing yesterday's diary and seeing to the multitude of emails, you know how it is. I ordered breakfast in the room which is what I normally do whilst typing, in fact that's exactly what I've just done. God, I'm getting the days mixed up already. Is it today, or yesterday? Anyway, I managed the pack and as is normal I'm just closing the last bag when there's a distinctive Peter Mackay knock on the door for bag pickup at 11:30. Bags always go off to the plane earlier than we do. Well it makes sense doesn't it since there is no airport terminal for us to have to trudge through we can breeze up to the plane knowing that bags are already loaded. Complete luxury.



Once again we are delighted to be able to use the Legacy 600 by Embraer. Followers of previous diaries will know how fond we all are of this luxury mode of transportation. We are driven up to the steps and aboard we step, meet our lovely new hostess, Diane and off we go for a 20 minute hop over the border to Vancouver. Flying conditions are near perfect as we comment on how 20 minutes is simply not long enough. How is Diane going to serve lunch and clear up in that short time? We needn't have worried as unflustered she swooped down the aisle with plates of delicious sushi for all. I told you it was going to be a good day!



Mike, Matt, Tim and Glenn celebrate the return to private jetdom as we approach Vancouver on this supremely clear day.



We arrive and taxi up to the customs building at the GA terminal and an official boards the plane and checks us into Canada for the day. Then he leaves and it's another short taxi to our cars. We deplane. (it's not a proper word but I'll use it) A short drive into town. Mark Danny and I are in a chauffeured town car and we experience our first case of what we call 'wah-wah' driving. I think it's self-explanatory.

A fairly brief sound check, a small change to the set-list, some minor adjustments and we're ready for show number two. I really enjoyed this show, the in-ear mix was at time sublime. An especially great Telegraph Road to my mind and I mentioned this to Mark in the car afterwards. He said he was really struggling with the jet-lag but got his second wind in TR. That explains it. It had a wonderful freedom and dynamic tonight. As did a lot of the other tunes in the set. The theatre was really nice in all respects and what an audience. (A pleasant change after the quite run-down Moore last night in Seattle. It's quite sad to see such a beautiful theatre so neglected)

Our first after-show runner to the plane and we were off again back into the USA and another of our favourite towns, Portland Oregon. This is a great part of the world to start a tour. We arrived at the hotel just after midnight and assembled in the lobby area for another very short chat about the set-list and show.

What a day.

The great Matt Rollings, in red.



Mr. Worf dancing with the big lady



Ben Byford is here again. Ben looks after all the microphones on the stage and uses his eagle eyes to watch the band during sound check and show in case we need any changes in  our mixes.



DC in the blue



A couple of brand new Boeing 787 Dreamliner's which are still being tested here (Seattle)