And I need them, too. Despite failing to get an appointment at my usual chiropractor, I WAS able to make an appointment at another one he recommended… it was not the same, though, and he was totally unable to crack my neck satisfactorily. Sleeping was difficult. I just made an appointment at my regular chiropractor for  Firday morning, and tried to rest as much as possible.

Daniela came back to Birmingham in the car with me. The weather was still very unsettled. The wind made it particularly difficult to drive. We made it back to the venue in time for early soundcheck. I had a photo shoot for Allen & Heath, who supply the mixing consoles for my monitors. That out of the way, Daniela and I had dinner with Pete and his wife, Avril. It’s not often we get to spend a few minutes like this. Things are normally so hectic backstage. Tonight my guests were: the managing director of Premier, John James, and his family, and my motor racing team manager, Iain Rowley, and my team mate, Nicholas Pearce. He brought another Read the rest of this entry »

I was in my room, tucking into breakfast, when the alarm went off. The announcement said “there has been an incident, Please evacuate the building…”  So I grabbed some clothes, and put them on, found my room key and cell phone, and made my way down the 14 floors (by stairs) to the front of the hotel. Most of the staff and guests were already gathered in the pouring rain, and some staff members were distributing umbrellas. I could see a cascade of HOT water pouring from the roof above the entrance lobby, and the staff were trying to sweep as much of it as possible out of the front door. I’m still unsure about what happened, but it Read the rest of this entry »

Up early and pack the car… I was supposed to leave by 9am, but I was waiting for delivery of two new mixing desks, from Allen and Heath. They had them with a “guaranteed before 9″ courier. Needless to say, I finally gave up at 9.20, and left. Daniela called me from home at 10am to say thay had arrived, but there was no way I could turn back… the traffic had been so bad in the opposite direction that it would have taken me hours to retrace my steps. So I arranged for them to deliver it to Glasgow by tomorrow morning. I hope they arrive. I need the extra channels that they provide. It’s weird setting off on a “tour” in your own car. Doesn’t Read the rest of this entry »

We all flew back from LA (or wherever we spent the break) to met up in State College, Pennsylvania. For most of us, this involved a Midday flight out of LA, to Detroit, and a connecting flight to Harrisburg, PA, where the bus picked us up and took us the remaining hour and a half to State College, PA… This took most of the day, and we were exhausted when we finally arrived. Needless to say, tired as I was, the time difference was enough to upset my sleep pattern and it was well after 3am before I really got to sleep!.

This week’s diary will have to be something of a retrospective look, as things have been so hectic since we got back from our break that I have hardly had time to catch my breath. With 4 gigs in 5 days and overnight drives after all of them, I hope you understand it’s been a case of trying to catch up on sleep and concentrating on ensuring we feel good enough to do each concert.