Esch/Alzette, Luxembourg 15 May 2013

We always have a great show at Rockhal, Centre de Musiques in Luxembourg.  In the middle of an abandoned, I don't know what, maybe a steel or iron smelting complex, Rockhal is little more than a large concrete box.  The surrounding landscape looks like something from a movie about the planet dying...scorched earth and crumbling buildings of dead industry.  Rockhal's interior is solid black and the walls are treated with a sound absorbing materiall.  Not a friendly looking place but once it's full of people, it really is one of the best sounding venues we play.  We've been here so many times you know exactly where everything is backstage... catering, dressing rooms... etc.

I finally received my new set of custom moulded in-ear monitors and they sound fantastic.  The technology has moved on since the last ones and they sound full and musical, nice bottom end, clean, smooth top end.  A pleasure to play again.  The show was so relaxed and maybe the best we've done so far.  Everyone simply enjoying playing with each other.  Some standout performances were Marbletown, Cleaning My Gun and Brothers In Arms.  A stand up show with a stand up audience of 6,200.  Great gig.

A runner to the Legacy, gin and tonics waiting.  Dinner for the flight was roasted duck.  Duck is one of those things that I've tried and tried and simply don't like.  Coincidentally, duck was served as one of the entrees at dinner the night before.  So, I passed on the food which was fine as I've really been cutting back anyway.  I've already dropped a couple of pounds and feel better for it.  As we approached Glasgow you could still see a glimmer of light in the sky, we turned our watches back one hour and touched down as light as a feather, smooth as silk.  Nice to be back in the U.K. again for a while.

It's a day off in Glasgow and we'll be celebrating John McCusker's birthday, he turns 40 today.

So long,

Richard