Padova, Italy...9 July, 2010

It's been a good four days off in London. I saw friends, had a couple of great dinners, went to the National Gallery...but mainly got caught up on rest. One dinner of note was a little Chinese place in Soho, not fancy but incredibly great food, Mr Kong at 21 Lisle Street.

We all met at Northolt Air Force Base early this afternoon and flew to Verona then drove an hour to Padova. The sun was definitely switched on and it's great to be back in Italy. It was an outdoor gig tonight and when we arrived at the venue, the crew were tired and drenched having been working in the scorching heat all day. The catering area had been set up in an exhibition hall just behind the stage and it must have been 90 degrees in there, a few of us walked into the kitchen where Chris, Angus and Mike had been toiling since morning and you could add another 15 degrees to that. A challenging day for all, yet everything done perfectly and not one complaint.

Now that we're in the home stretch of the tour, these Italian and Spanish shows begin later and we didn't take the stage tonight until close to 10. As I said it was open air but all seated...7,300 in attendence. The band played so well and relaxed tonight after the break and the audience was there to hear the music. Usually in outdoor shows there's a lot of people getting up and down to the concession stands for beer, but hardly any tonight...everyone sat, listened, then exploded in appreciation. It couldn't have been a better first show in Italy.

A runner back to Verona and an hour flight to Roma where we will base for the next several days. We arrived at 3 in the morning but still managed a cup of tea with Guy and Dan and finally drifted off to sleep as the sun was coming up.

So long,

Richard