Barcelona, Spain

Today is the last of the European shows on this tour and probably the longest and busiest day I've had. Late morning, we checked out of the hotel in Paris and flew to Barcelona arriving mid-afternoon. Checked into the Hotel des Arts with Danny, Guy and I sharing one 'day room' as we will not be spending the night here, since we'll be back to London after the show. With only one bed, the three of us camped out on any flat surface to lay down and for a while I practised my guitar in the bathroom. As tonight's show is not until 10 tonight, we gathered in the hotel restaurant for an early dinner after which we went to the venue for sound check and a meet and greet. Hadn't had an m&g for a while and it was good to fire up the old Rickenbacher Electro again.

The audiences of Spain are always memorable to put it mildly, completely mad would be more to the point and tonight's was no exception. Explosive. Emmy, Mark and Company in top form. We've begun playing All That Matters again after several night's absence and it's good to have it back, Emmylou and Stuart add much to that song, as they do to them all.

Several farewells tonight, one being Darin Wey our head caterer. It's true that an army travels on it's stomach and Darin's 5 star cuisine has fuelled us all over the last few weeks. American catering and general quality of meat, produce, dairy is several rungs down the ladder and Darin will be sorely missed. It was good-bye to Paul "Cod" Tallowin, our merchandise man. If you've come to one of the shows and seen or purchased a program, t-shirt, etc. it is Cod who gets it there. Hope to see you again soon pal, you're "good as gold mate, good as gold". And our lighting director Simon Tutchener who leaves us after tonight's show to tend to previous commitments and delivers us into the hands of his able assistant for the U.S. dates.

After the show it was a split runner, the Yanks back to the hotel in Barcelona and the Brits to the Legacy for a 2 hour flight to London. As I'm spending a couple of days with my wife and her family in Redditch near Birmingham, I flew back to London with the others. Some sushi, gin and tonics and laughs and before you knew it we'd arrived. A car was waiting on the tarmac to take me up north to Redditch, a two hour journey arriving at 4 in the morning. Paris-Barcelona-London-Redditch, four cities, two plane trips, one show plus a two hour car journey packed into less than one day!

I'll have a few days off here with my wife, her brother and sister in law, Stephen and Margaret Ward to catch my breath before flying back to Nashville then turning round and heading north to Toronto and the beginning of the U.S. tour. Stay tuned.

So long,

Richard