May 25th, 2013
First of all, to those of you who care (and recent correspondence would suggest that you do exist), sincere apologies for the lateness of this blog. The delay is due to a combination of a lack of internet access and a particularly nasty stomach bug, the details of which are far too gory to discuss here.
However, I am back on my feet now and I would suggest I proceed with the writing of this episode as if it were on time – i.e. the day after the actual show. I have a good memory so it will at least be accurate if not contemporaneous.
So, here goes:
After the difficulties of yesterday’s gig we all piled on to the bus a little deflated but nevertheless pragmatic and prepared ourselves for the overnight journey to Zurich in the usual way i.e. drinking just enough to induce sleep on a moving vehicle.
We awoke the next morning in Zurich parked outside the venue (no hotel today as we are off to Milan straight after the show tonight).
Ah, Switzerland! ‘Switzer’ meaning anally retentive! If you haven’t been for a while, you forget.
If I were in charge of the marketing campaign for Switzerland, the tag line on all of my marketing materials would be something like: “Switzerland – where there is a rule for absolutely everything and God help you if you even think about breaking it, because some goody two shoes will split on you before you can say Toblerone”
Not the catchiest or most succinct of slogans but certainly factually accurate.
The venue today is what seems to be a very exclusive club called “Kaufleuten” and I must say, a most impressive place it is too.
From what I can gather it used to be a sort of masonic style meeting place for the great and good of Zurich. Now, of course it’s a meeting place for the great and good of Music (do you see what I did there?)
Anyway, as you can see the decor is absolutely stunning with beautiful period wood panelling, a Victorian carved bar in the hall (can you have Victorian style in a non British colonial country?) and a gallery running around three sides with a proscenium stage that offers just the right amount of space. If you have ever been to the rather gorgeous Cobden Club in London, you will know exactly what I mean.
We were all very aware of the sound issues of the night before so everyone trod carefully in the soundcheck and kept their volume to a reasonable level. Which augured well for the evening’s show.
It was here in Zurich that I was struck down with the aforementioned ailment and so, in between dinner and the show, I grabbed an hour’s sleep in my bunk in an effort to conserve my energy for the gig.
And so, feeling a little refreshed and with a little further livener from my new best friend, we took to the stage and let them have it.
Thankfully there were no manifestations of my condition during the show – although I did make sure there was an escape route from the stage to the dressing rooms – and, more importantly, the sound was superb.
The audience were well up for it and pretty much straight away the place was rocking. Lisa, as usual, was on form and we all came off stage buzzing again after another great show.
With two hours to kill before we left for Milan, we amused ourselves with general mucking around until someone found a piano in one of the dressing rooms. This led to a rather ridiculous session where we sang a large part of the show again, this time with alternative and largely unrepeatable lyrics.
Who would guess that some of these new lyrics would find their way into the actual show the following night in Milan……….
Dave gets in touch with his feminine side and makes Snowboy feel uncomfortable in the process
Brass eye view of the sound check (if you’ll pardon the expression!)
More post show high jinks (Mickey's drunk so much, he's gone blurred)
Johnny gets a bit arty……………
