They do say that time flies when you're having fun. I'm not sure if it's the frequency of the shows, the camaraderie of the band and crew or me just getting older...faster, but these 28 shows have flown by more quickly than any leg of any tour I've ever done before. I suppose it can't be me as everyone in the band and crew seems to agree.

It is with more than a tinge of sadness that today we bid fond farewells to Pieta, Bo, Tim and Steve. Steve Ricalis our catering supervisor and wardrobe man will be flying back to Vancouver to start another tour but we will miss his friendly face and efficiency in the catering and dressing room departments backstage.



Pieta Brown and Bo Ramsey will be driving their way back to Iowa over the next two days after a grueling but enjoyable tour, most of which was spent chasing us across the country in a rental car. It's been a joy to get to know the both of them and spend some time before our show immersed in their wonderful music. They are both a delight to be around and Danny and I have enjoyed conducting a few interviews in the past few days. I have started editing and will put the videos on the site as soon as I can.

Tim O'Brien has similarly been a delight to have on the stage with us and we all have enjoyed his contribution. I particularly relished singing with him and loved watching him enjoying the shows and relaxing more and more as we went on. It's no mean feat to step into an MK gig not knowing the material but Tim being the musician that he is, relished the opportunity. As Mark mentioned every night during the introductions, Tim is a most prolific artist in his own right and wonderful songwriter. Do please check out his albums if you haven't done so already. I may not have mentioned that Mike McGoldrick will be staying with us for the UK leg of the tour (the next fifteen shows) and John McCusker will be with us as of the next show in Dublin on May 19th.



The Palace theatre in Albany is another beautiful theatre built in the early 1930's. When built, the RKO (Radio Keith Orpheum) owned facility spared no expense in it's design and boasted an ornate Austrian Baroque design with 'atmospheric' elements in the auditorium. Although many changes have taken place since then, the Palace has retained most of it's original impressive design features. Like so many theatres we have visited on this US leg of the tour, after World War II and the oncoming advent of television, the fortunes of these inner city movie houses began to decline and in 1969 the Palace Theatre finally closed it's doors. Not long after, in recognition of it's significant architectural and historic significance, the city of Albany purchased it and set about a renovation. extensive renovations were made in 2002 and 2003.



The backstage area at has clearly seen better days but Paul (Crocks) made a note of informing me that our crew boys said they were the best local crew of the tour so far. As is so often the case, there were issues with buzzes and hums and it's usually left to our boys to source and deal with it but today, the locals couldn't have been more helpful and as our crew had a lot on their plate with it being the last show of a leg, they were most grateful.



We flew in on our final day aboard the Legacy with Steve, Bryan and 'Jet-girl' Dianne looking after us. I guess we visited Albany with the Straits but I struggle to remember it. Upstate New York looks like a very clean, beautiful place to live as we set up for our final approach for landing.



We stepped off the plane into the bracing, chilly breeze, I had noted earlier that the wind has shifted round to the Northerly direction pulling with it the temperature down quite markedly. A short drive into town in another crabby Lincoln town car (but thankfully no wah-wah) and we are escorted into our final US dressing room of the leg. No sound check once again today so my mind was on completing the task Dan and I set ourselves of interviewing Bo and Pieta. We set up in her dressing room which wasn't ideal but quiet and light enough and Dan conducted the interview. There seemed to be more activity than usual back stage as the crew boys set about their end-of leg preparations and I wandered out into the biting air to take a few snaps of the beautiful exterior of the building. The great thing for me about not doing a sound-check is that it all but eliminates that 2 or so hours between sound-check and show where there is little to do and if it's a bit cramped backstage as it can so often be in these theatres, it's nice to just get going as quickly as possible. After a brief excursion to a rare non-eventful catering, it was time to don the stage shirts for the 28th time.

Mark and the band walked out onto the stage and it was immediately apparent that this was a great crowd. The sound started off being very heavy on the low end on stage but the sound boys dealt with that without any of the band having to make issue of it. As has been the case for two weeks now, Mark was still seated, hopefully for the final time as he will be having some treatment back home as of tomorrow. Mark gave a warm sign-off to Bo and Pieta and when introducing Tim, said that it had been a real pleasure and thanked him for coming along. We waved our goodbyes to an emotional audience and were heading back into Manhattan before we knew it. We climbed back aboard the jet for our final flight and said Au-Revoir to Pieta, Bo and the flight crew. Sunday night, so the traffic was as good as it gets and we were back in the hotel in no time. Just as well as we were all due for 5am alarm calls to catch the flights home. I think I managed an hour's sleep but felt fine as I checked out with the boys and we set off in a large van to Newark through an almost empty Manhattan.

Something not often considered is what happens to the equipment after the show tonight. The answer is that it gets loaded as usual but is then delivered to a shipping agent but a lot of the gear has to be separated as some of it is for the US only and this is what takes the crew the extra time. For example, all of the radio transmitters for our in-ear monitors are set for US frequencies only and so will stay in the US. The shipping agents will put the gear in a container and it will 'fly' to Dublin later in the week, again, volcano permitting.

I'm writing this aboard flight VS18 bound for LHR and considering myself lucky to be heading home considering the recent Eyjafjallajokull volcano activity. Yesterday we heard that Spanish airspace was possibly the latest to be affected so our small detour around this persistent ash-generating phenomenon adding an hour onto our flight time is a minor delay. Being an air-map junkie, I noticed about an hour ago that we seem to be heading right for Iceland and sure enough as I type, our diverted route has taken us to within 80 miles of the actual event and we can see quite clearly the billowing ash being spewed relentlessly into the atmosphere, thankfully in a Southerly direction. Quite amazing. I never expected to actually see it. Our captain has announced several times already that it is perfectly safe for us to be at this distance thus quelling the mild aura of panic spreading amongst the 219 passengers aboard. Pete's seat is on the right hand side of the plane so he grabbed his Canon DSLR and took a few shots.







To stay up to speed with the volcano, visit here

A note from Danny before the show in Albany...

I wanted to say to all of our American friends, just how much I have enjoyed my time here in the States and how sorry I will be to leave. Each time I come to the US I enjoy it more and more and I've felt increasingly, that I'm getting "a sense of America" and it's wonderful, open hearted people. During our tour I have found the audiences so gratifying to perform for and from my drum riser, I've observed in flashes how attentive they have been in picking up on some of the subtler details of what they saw and heard onstage. I've seen couples and sometimes whole families, sitting side by side, getting involved in the music and what we were doing individually too. It has done my heart good to be lucky enough to play my part in delivering Mark's music and it is my privilege. I'll be playing from the heart tonight as I try to every night but this will be a poignant moment as I know that... it's time to say "Cheerio"..

I agree very much with Danny's sentiments. Our trip across the US has been the best to date.
America hasn't basked in the best worldwide PR over the past decade or so and of course economically, it is suffering along with the rest of us at the moment. It's easy to forget about the resilience and friendliness that is to be found in this wonderfully diverse country. We've all enjoyed the trip and met some fantastic people full of the joy of life and a common love of music. After all, that's why we're here isn't it? Europe, here we come..