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Charleston, West Virginia, Civic Center

Posted by Charlie in 1997 Elton John World Tour

The gig is literally across the road from the hotel, on the far corner of the shopping mall. after a swim and a short workout, I was searching for breakfast up in the food court. The weather has certainly changed. It is overcast and spitting with rain periodically. I’m glad I bought a warm jacket.After checking out and paying my extras, I walked across the road to the gig.I’m still having a few problems with the kit, so Pete and I took the heads off the kick drum and adjusted the damping. I think it’s better, but it’s hard to tell because the hall is so boomy (especially so with no people).We’ve now got our full compliment of spare heads etc… so we’re covered. Another fabulous gig. The audience were berserk! We had a great show, despite the fact that just about everything that could go wrong with my kit, DID! My Hihat was hitting the mic stand for the first couple of songs, and the kick pedal was not feeling right. Then the elastomer on the kick pedal snapped on the opening beat of “I Don’t Wanna Go On With You Like That” and I had to cross my right foot over the left-hand pedal and play THAT for the first verse, while Pete grovelled around under me and replaced the elastomer! After all our changes in the afternoon, the tension of the bass drum head felt wrong, and kept putting me off what I was playing. Then I dropped a stick (monkeying around with John Mahon, actually)…. but I STILL enjoyed the show.Afterwards, I showered, gathered up some fruit and bits for later, and found the bus. We were surrounded by fans. So we spent about 20 minutes, signing programmes and tickets etc… Then we set off for Louisville…about 4 hours. I was asleep in my bunk by 1.30am.