After the exhausting week at the Albert Hall, it was something of a relief to find ourselves back out on the road in Europe again. As usual, we all met at Northolt for our flight on the Legacy over to Sonderborg where the weather couldn't have been any nicer. A gentle breeze and very warm temperature for our first outdoor show of the tour. As we landed we were greeted by drivers Mannfred, Gunther and Bob plus two police bikes to escort us to the venue, only 10 minutes away. We were grateful of the police escort after the show.



The ride in through the small town of Augustenborg.



The space blankets were out today as the temperature on stage rose sharply, a very brief soundcheck with consideration for the gear and then a stroll around the grounds and down to the water.





The lighting boys (and Johnny Ashton, our rigger) took a dip



Colin's bandaged knee, nothing serious, just water on the knee.





Some of Mike's fabulous photos....







Whilst the afternoon temps were high, as the gig went on and the sun began to set, the temperature dropped quite sharply leading to some added difficulties for Glenn and TC regarding tuning. Some of the smaller more ethnic instruments didn't respond too well. Even one of my synths (JD800) seems to be effected by these temperature (and voltage) fluctuations. The gig itself was pretty fabulous, in front of 14,100 smiling faces we battled with an unusually bass heavy stage. It was daylight right up until the very end of the show and it was the usual runner with the police leading us through what was pretty heavy gig traffic back to the jet and onward to Brussels. When we arrived, there was a tour bus parked up outside the hotel and Danny recognized the drivers as comedy duo, Malcolm and Michael from the George Michael tour.



As if that wasn't weird enough, we heard that Alanis Morissette was also in the hotel and a very old friend of Matt's was in the band. Who should walk into the bar but David Levita, her guitarist. In 1984, Matt went to Berklee College of Music, in Boston, and together with David were assigned as roommates in the dorm. They ended up getting apartments together and staying friends for their time in Boston. They lost touch for a while and then reconnected after playing on a record together in 2004. David lives in L.A. and remains a good friend after 24 years.

*****
We learned today that someone who came to the Albert Hall show managed to record one of our monitor mixes. Obviously the band are upset about this and I've posted this statement on the MKNews forum in response....

chia123, it's Guy Fletcher here from the band. Firstly, Mark, myself and the band were shocked to hear about your illicit sound recording. Not only does it breach our new policy it suggests a certain amount of disrespect for us. By posting it on the web you run the risk of a decision to modify the policy in the EXTREME, ie. banning ALL cameras, phones, EVERYTHING from all concerts. Items would be removed upon entry to venues and returned later. Some artists do this as a matter of course.

The ramifications of this are obvious and the majority of fans would quite rightly be upset. To be honest with you, I'm pretty upset and I ask you to withdraw everything you have posted. Also please could you erase your recordings. Thank you.

Guy

Latest....Apologies have been accepted and the offending recordings have been 'put away'