Dublin, Ireland

It's was a great last week of rehearsals and a few days off in London that included a visit to the Imperial War Museum and The Tate Britain.  The Tate currently has an exhibit of modern 20th Century British artists including an in depth look at the work of John Craxton, which I really loved. Several notable dinners, one being Poppie's of Spitalfields, the best fish, chips and mushy peas I've had in a great long while.  Another high point of our days off was an in-store performance at Rough Trade Records of The Real Tuesday Weld accompanying Glen Duncan reading from his new novel, The Last Werewolf.  Dark, smart and funny.  If you're not familiar with Weld, go to You Tube and check out The Show Must Go On and Bath Time In Clerkenwell.  There are loads more of vids after that.  The Real Tuesday Weld is a real fave of mine.

We arrived in Dublin yesterday, did a little sound check at the O 2 Arena then beat a hasty path back to the bar for a few rounds of Guinness.

Tonight was our first show of this little jaunt round Europe and the UK.  Unusual in that it is not our tour, but rather Bob Dylan's and Mark is the opening artist.  What that means is we do 70 minutes then Bob does 70 minutes.  Strange because it is so short from our usual set and I suppose the same holds for Bob as well.  It was all very relaxed tonight and a great kick off to this tour.  It felt like we'd never taken a break from the last tour, everything simply fell into place and sounded fantastic... even on this first night.  The other cool thing about our shortened set is that we're doing a few new tunes that have yet to be released.  We were all smiles on stage tonight and all smiles when we returned to the dressing room to find that our tour manager hero Pete McKay, had installed a barrel and tap of Guinness which was christened the Guinness Cow and made quick work of.  Fortified with the creamy stuff we wandered out to see some of Bob's show catching Tangled Up In Blue, Don't Think Twice and a few others.  Bob at 70 years old is a role model.. still rocking.

Tomorrow's another day off that we'll use to travel to Glasgow where we play the day after.

So long,

Richard