Just when I was thinking I couldn't eat another pizza we found a seafood restaurant in Mestre where we are holed up in the Holiday Inn waiting for tomorrows gig which is 40k away. It took us six hours by train but it's definately a better way to travel from Rome than the car journey we had last time.
So how was last night you ask? It was a truely memmorable SLAG gig, up there with the top five but I've got to say it didn't top the gig six years ago in the original Blackout club which his the high point of all gigging experiences for us.
You have to remember that after this high point last time we had a massive bust up the next day which effectively meant we were without a keyboard player and bassist for several years. Personal I thought it was a fantastic performance to 400 fans who truly appreciated what we are about. We played a longer set at about 90 minutes than we've ever done and we kept them with us all the way. Also remember that we overcame significant logistical problems in actually getting the keyboard player up to speed not to mention other distractions like the crap hotel.
And you know what the best thing was? My son and daughter saw me perform live for the first time and I didn't fall short of their expectations. I think they were genuinely surprised at the number of people wanting to be photographed with me and asking for my autograph. I hope they were impressed with it all. I have always tried to give my best for our audience but this was different, there was more pressure.
There were apparently five music journalists in the audience so we'll have to see what they thought in their reviews but frankly it won't make a jot of difference; it would be nice to hear something good for a change but they've never done us any favours before.
So it's on to the next gig and then Athens. If we come away still in one piece after tomorrow night then we'll be in good shape for Athens which is promising to be a ground breaking event for us. Strictly speaking we are not an indie band in Greece because we were distributed by Polydor which is a major label and it is just possible we have under estimated the demand there. The venue is much bigger than Blackout and the agent is apparently first class. It will either be a total flop to a half empty hall or it will be a breakthrough triumph.
We got an entire video of the gig last night thanks to my son and a complete memory card of pictures thanks to my daughter so when we've sorted them I'll get them posted somewhere. Our website is currently being revamped so they'll deffinately go there. We've also got to get some T shirts done so the Sad Lovers and Giants project has a new impetus.
Perhaps the most important thing is we've been discussing new material and the ideas we have and organising ourselves creatively. This is the sort of thing you can do constructively when your stuck on a train for six hours with three other blokes. This is all subject to Tony's availablility of course but there's a lot the rest of us can do to keep the torch burning.
Anyway see you after the gig at the Totem club in Vincenza.
Garce
