Madrid, Spain
It was a mid-day check out in Lisbon and off to the airport to meet our new best friend, the sexy Embraer Legacy. She's our private tour jet and will be taking us to and fro for the next 10 weeks with a crew of two pilots and hostess Susi who pours a mean gin and tonic. She (the plane, not Susi) is fitted out with 12 soft, wide and comfy leather seats that beg you to fall into them, tastefully appointed and best of all she's ours for the European run. Where possible, we will base out of one city for a few days and do a short flight to the gig, play the show and then immediately fly back to the base city after the gig. The advantage of this is being able to settle in one place and unpack the bags, even if it's a hotel it begins feeling like home. The disadvantage is not seeing anything of the town we're playing except the ride from the airport to the venue.
This morning we were in Lisbon, played in Madrid then flew to Barcelona where we'll base for the next week in the span of about 12 hours! Really incredible, I feel like James Bond.
Tonight's gig at the Palacia Deportes was another barn burner, about 10,000 good folks hollering their heads off. Danny Cummings settling in for a rocking show and the moment of cool award going to MK for some really great Danelectro slide guitar playing on Donegan's Gone. It was straight off stage and whisked away to the airport and the Legacy freshly stocked with hot kebabs and an endless supply of Bombay Sapphire. We hardly knew we'd taken off before we were landing in Barcelona where we continued the party in Guy's room with Danny and Guy handling DJ duties.
So long,
Richard