part 13 - never say goodbye

oh dear, ending the tour diary on part 13, good job I'm not superstitious, in fact, I'm one of those idiots who intentionally walks under ladders and opens umbrellas inside just to prove a point.

Anyway, time to reflect before I forget. 

 

A week (and a bit) on from the tour and I find myself listening to Richard Hawley's 'True Love's Gutter' and feeling rather nostalgic, I can hear the crowd clapping and cheering after each song despite the fact I'm on my own. The album was played in it's entirety every night of the tour so it'll always hold fond memories for me. When I listen to it I can picture the band playing with the bright stage lights piercing the foggy darkness of the auditorium and I can almost smell the dry ice and whisky in my glass. It's a good job the tour wasn't a total disaster otherwise I'd feel quite the opposite, akin to Malcolm McDowell in A Clockwork Orange, instead of lovingly gazing out of the window I'd be hurling myself out the window.  

It was a truly special tour of venues I doubt I'll ever frequent again, a far cry from the usual dingy London toilets with sticky floors I've been playing for the last X number of years. 

                                                                  Sheffield Lyceum

Liverpool Philharmonic

The Sage, Gateshead

Glasgow Fruitmarket

                                                                     York Opera House


Those are just a hand full of the wonderful places we played. Good job I took those photos before the audience arrived because once the people were in the smoke machines would start up and when that happens you can barely see anything past the edge of the stage which, considering the ornate nature of these places, was a bit of a shame.

Some days we had time to do things other than driving on motorways, trying to park, lugging loads of equipment around and soundchecking.

We walked up the Malvern:

 

Went to the smallest theatre in the world:

We had cream teas: 

I also met a space man:

...and did quite a bit of folding: 

and consumed Woodford Reserve! 

 We also spent many hours at various Travelodges, all of which were exactly the same: 

I also got my tour based question answered on the Answer Me This podcast, which you can listen to here.

Our new single Sunshine is out now, you can buy that from here