Well here it is, the day we've all been trying not to think about.....the final show of the tour. I decided yesterday that rather than think of it as the end, I'd look forward to the next show, ie. the next tour. There have been many things different about this tour as opposed to other tours and one of them is the fact that for the past few weeks we've all been talking about the next one. We've never done that before as usually on a tour of this magnitude, everyone in the band and crew have had enough and are just looking forward to going home. That's not to say we're not all in need of a break but we've had so much fun there's a genuinely positive optimism about going out again. Final shows are always tinged with emotion and I'm sure that for all of us on stage there were moments during the show that we thought about the joy of the past five months.

The Jackie Gleason theatre, also known as the Filmore has a certain amount of history attached to it as one of the most famous of all American TV shows was made here, The Honeymooners. Apparently Jackie Gleason used to live in the apartment above the venue. Live Nation purchased this beautiful Art-Deco building in 2006 and spent a fair few bob renovating it. It's a lovely auditorium and well worth a visit.

Mark, Matt and myself engaged in our usual vocal warm-ups much to the annoyance/amusement of other band members and as usual the dressing room cleared in seconds. Jesca asked if we could all pose for an end-of-tour picture and we didn't hesitate to oblige. Jesca has as Mark puts it been "a wonderful tour companion". She's a unique artist and if you haven't checked her out, do so.

Then it was time for us to leap into action for the show. Cannibals, the show opener doesn't get talked about much but tonight it was as enjoyable as it's ever been and then Why Aye Man, with Danny shaking his head with pure blissful glee as he pounds out the groove of all grooves. Then it's What it is and the breakdown section was arguable the best we've done it. The usual mercurial transition into Sailing to Philadelphia and that too was pretty magical I thought. True Love will never fade has had a trance-like quality ever since the start of the tour and The fish and the Bird was as eerie and as intoxicating as ever. Then we build into a monstrous version of Hillfarmer's Blues with Mark playing his arse off as he has done for many of the recent shows. A beautiful piano intro from Matty into Romeo and Juliet and you can sense the goosebumps on the arms of much of the audience. Then another roar as the four piece kick off into Sultans. This is the point where John, Matt and myself explain to the dressing room security guard that we've been fired again but not to worry as it happens every night and we'll get re-hired in ten minutes or so. After Sonny Liston, we all rejoin the stage. Mark made a point of thanking everyone in the crew before he introduced the band as he normally does before we launch into another adventure in the form of Marbletown. "The best outfit on the road" he called them and without exception, everyone in the band knows it. If you've been following my diaries, you will have come to appreciate just what these guys do to get this show up and running every night in often quite difficult circumstances. Thanks Boys. As for the band, we all said our goodbyes when we came off stage before the encores as we usually do at the tour's end. This is because we split up and go our different ways immediately we come off the stage. After Marbletown it's the final 'ramp' of the show as Speedway at Nazareth builds it's way to the final spectacular pinnacle. Telegraph Road caps off the set and it's time for farewells off to the side of stage-left. Back on for Brothers in arms, a song during which it's not uncommon to see grown men in tears. Because of the 11:00pm curfew, we only have time left for So Far Away and the final farewell..Local Hero/Going Home. We all walk to the front of the stage for our final wave goodbye and Danny and I decided to walk forward to shake tha hand of Isaac Shabtay who has attended all 31 US shows. Quite a feat as he's made his way around the US and Canada chasing us as we circumnavigate North America.

The UK boys, Mark, Danny, John, Paul and Tim did their final runner to the plane for the long trip back to the UK with a fuel stop in Nova Scotia or Newfoundland, I would guess. The US boys, Matt, Richard and Glenn all ran back to the hotel. Me, I stayed behind because I have family here in Miami and I greeted my guests backstage. I walked into an empty dressing room only to find that everything had been cleared out, no drinks, nothing. Tour's over, I thought. I asked Pete what happened to the drinks and he told me that they cleared it out to prevent the local crew thieving it as there was no after-show planned originally. Thunderstorms have been a familiar theme over the past few weeks of the tour and about an hour before we went on a huge Miami-style storm drifted directly overhead as if to bid it's own spectacular electrical farewell. After saying hi to many of Laurie's family who we haven't seen since the Straits days, it was back to the hotel in preparation for our journey in the opposite direction tomorrow - to Hawaii.