Day 9 - Newcastle Academy 2:

I awake bleary eyed, and make my way inside the venue to get cleaned up. 
I spend a while sorting out emails before helping with the load in. I 
wish I hadn't!!! Firstly, we have to wheel all of our gear around the 
block to the front entrance of the venue. We then have to send all the 
equipment up a small lift which can only take one flight case at a time. 
It takes ages. And ages. And ages. And ages!

Nothing of interest really takes place today at all. I spend the majority 
of the day sorting out emails, writing tour diaries and drinking coffee. 
It's amazing sometimes the amount of things that we can have going on, 
that the general public never get to see and understand wholly. It's not 
just a case of write an album, record it, release it.......there's lots 
of extras, all of which seem to involve emails, and many of them!

The day really does fly by, considering that I am only sat doing menial 
tasks, in a hot, stuffy, room, and it's almost time to go on. As the 
dressing room fills up leading up to the performance, it starts to get 
very warm indeed, so Will decides to prop the door open. With nothing 
more suitable to hand, Will finally settles for a banana to achieve the 
desired effect. It doesn't work. Before we know it, there is the 
equivalent of a smoothie mashed into the floor, and all over the bottom 
of the door.........it was just very amusing to see such a talented man, 
attempting to prop a door open with a banana :-)

Well, with regards to the gig itself.........Newcastle are quite a noisy 
bunch, which is good! What isn't good, is the fact that on my side of 
the stage there is a stairwell. Not only is there a stairwell on my side, 
but it's right where I usually stand. Bugger! I spend the whole gig 
trying not to fall down these stairs, so I have no idea if it was 
actually any good or not!

The people we spoke to after the show soon put my mind at ease, and 
seemed to have really loved it. I had an intriguing conversation with 
some young lady about my autograph signature. She had the audacity to 
call it a 'mere squiggle'. Now, I am Virgo, and a Virgo signature is not 
a squiggle, it is a carefully planned, meaningful, and efficient piece 
of genius. I can forgive her for not knowing this. But when I explained 
that it is all of my initials, cleverly linked inside each other, she 
failed to see it as clever, or meaningful, or efficient. She thought it 
was SLY! Sly!!!??? "Yes" she happily proclaimed "like a weasel". 
Undeterred, I made pleasant chit chat, but ended the conversation soon 
after, with a plan to reverse over her in the tour bus later......just 
kidding. I'll probably drive forwards :-)



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