What a day. Four cities!  Lisbon - Granada - Malaga - Paris



We all woke up pretty late after the soiree in my room apres-gig in Lisbon. It was nearly 5 am when I said the the caps "I don't mean to alarm you but it's 5am". In 30 seconds everyone was gone. The Ritz-Four Seasons has a great swimming pool so me and a few of the guys took full advantage in the morning. It was a late-leave today since the crew has quite a drive from Lisbon to Granada. We left the hotel at 3:15 and flew into Granada and it was straight to the venue where the back line gear was still in the truck.



I love this pic. I snapped it from the car window as we drove along a little dirt track towards the backstage area of the venue.

 

The rigging took a long time and that combination meant that we never had a chance of doing a sound-check. No worries though. Personally I love arriving to the gig whilst the crew are setting up. It's a humbling experience and it makes you realize just how hard they work. I Know I've said it many times but it's a miracle to me how they get it all up and running. I mean it was 7:00pm and the stage was bare! and we were due to be onstage at ten. We all love bullrings and this place is the first 'modern' ring we've played in, with a removable roof! Great place. As we walked in we heard a band playing which turned out to be a tribute band set up on a stage outside the venue. They were playing Why Aye Man and I have to say I thought it was recording of us...until that is they got to the breakdown section. I actually met some of the guys at the meet and greet, nice chaps.





Kerry's chair complete with arm modification. Because of the height of his desk, he gets a strained arm during the show.



Kerry and Ben unpacking the monitor desk.

The show itself was a bit of a struggle sound wise, we had a lot of bass issues and Mark had a difficult time with the acoustics which I realized when I came down the front to play guitar. The crowd however were nothing short of astonishing. What a din! I snapped this from the stage entry point behind Dan's kit. It gives you some idea of the incredible atmosphere in the arena which by the way now had an open roof.



The mayor of the town had quite big role in the organization of this show and one thing that was a little annoying was the fact that they had initially agreed to keep the airport open for us after show and at the last minute they denied us this privilege, which meant a drive to Malaga immediately after show. No big deal but it was a scramble for the management to organize and re-locate the jet. And so it was, we did our usual runner from the stage, into the cars, a police escort out of the venue and a wonderfully organized 'wee-stop' on the dirt track mentioned earlier for the boys in the band with full bladders. Onto the motorway and a wave to the police car and we were on our way to Malaga airport to pick up the plane. Before we knew it we were on board, drinks in hand luxuriating in customary fashion and celebrating another fab evening. we arrived into Le Bourget outside Paris within two hours and got to the hotel near the Champs-Elysées at funnily enough, 5 am.

Now for a day off..a swim I think.