So things all in all have gone well thus far over here. Decent flight over from Nashville to Chicago, Chicago to London. Slept a bit and then hit the club. Neat little venue. I was told it was the first club Bob Dylan played in London but when I called to ask him he didn’t answer. I was totally surprised by not only the turnout, but the reception. Great seeing my Ryko family and getting to eat at the mexican/thai/japanese/italian/greek buffet beforehand. Caught the train the next morning up to Manchester for the show at Night and Day Cafe. Upon exiting the train I walk into a literal ocean of blue clad football hooligans. Super drunken Scotsmen kilts and all. 100000 of them in town for the championship match. I’ve never in all my travels seen ANYTHING close to this. It made Talledega(which is like redneck mecca)look like dinner at the white house while the queen is visiting. I guess two of the jumbo-trons that were supposed to show the game broke and so all these thousands of people just lost their shit! It was full on riots with police and then each other. You tube the stuff from Picadilly Square and you’ll see whatI mean. So all the clubs damn near shut down. They’d bar the door and only open if you were obviously there for the music. So needless to say the crowd was a little light(as I’ve always found them to be whilst in the middle of a riot). But the folks that braved it seemed to emjoy themselves. Luckily everyone I dealt with in Manchester that had anything to do with the show as truly a pleaure. They took great care of me and even let me crash on a sofa as it would save me getting through all the hooligans getting out of town. They also introduced me to Vimta?? Some super duper sugary concentrate drink that tastes a bit like a melted icee. It was gooood. Luckily we don’t have it in the states or we’d be an even more fat ass country than we are. Got up early today and flew to Dublin. Really pretty city as well. Did what every first timer should do on their maiden trip to Ireland. Had the 6′ turkey on wheat from Subway. Haha. Luckily I did have some deliciously European chips with my combo. Perhaps a more native dish tomorrow in Belfast.
Played with the Waifs tonight. Man they are one wonderful band to see. I met them years ago when they were opening for Bob Dylan and they just blew me away. The gals vocals together worked so well, but each was really unique in and of itself. Plus I thought Josh’s guitar playing was stunning. Tonight they also had a drummer and keyboard player and it just made the whole thing even more soulful and powerful. If you’ve not seen them make it a point to do it. Buy a ticket and if you don’t enjoy it, hell I’ll pay you back. We’ve definitely got to do some more shows together in the future. So that’s about it. Roamed the streets back to my hostel/hotel where I’m currently listening to a large Slavic man snore so loudly I can hear him through the wall behind me. Guess I’ll drown him out with a little tv and try and get some sleep. See y’all soon