Dublin-Glasgow 24, 26 May

Our itinerary is relaxing a little now, though this tour has been far from strenuous. Today was off following the two Albert Hall shows. We’d closed down the hotel bar at sun up the morning of the 23rd following the second show and our hotel had a fire alarm test that morning that sent everyones smoke detectors into red flashing, siren screaming mode…. a blurry beginning for what turned into a warm, blue sky day off in London. We’ll continue to base from the city flying in for shows in Dublin and Glasgow with days off after each back in London.

24 May

My wife is here with me as we base from London and we were up early for her to catch a train up to the midlands to visit her brother and his wife who live in Redditch. I dropped her off at Marylebone Station, took the tube back to my hotel and it was off to Farnborough airport for an hour flight to Dublin. Tonight’s show as in past gigs in Dublin was at the old Point which was enlarged from an intimate rock venue into a 6,000 seat arena. It’s been rechristened a few times and is currently called 3 Arena. A fab show and brilliant audience. Someone has posted a clip of Money on YouTube from this show and it’s great. Pints of Guinness were on hand as we finished the gig and headed to the waiting cars that took us back to the plane. Today was Guy’s birthday and he was duly saluted and toasted. Back at the hotel at 1 in the morning and too tired for a nightcap so straight into bed. Tomorrow the 25th is a day off.

26 May

Cold and blustery when we got off the plane in Glasgow, but of course it is Glasgow. For the flight over, Daniella arranged platters of delicious chilled shellfish, crab claws, lobster, large prawns and some oysters on the half-shell thrown in for good measure. Having not eaten up to that point, it was a welcomed spread Tonight’s show was at the SSE Hydro Arena to a capacity 6,300 crowd. It all keeps getting better. A runner back to the plane where once more Daniella hit a grand slam home run. Where in the world she found properly smoked pork ribs in Glasgow was beyond us all. We devoured platters of them while winging back to London, all the while our glasses were never empty. An hour later we’d landed at Luton and 40 minutes after that were sitting in this hotel’s very inviting bar for a nightcap. Tomorrow is another day off here in London. What a life.