home sweet home Monday 5 June 2006

Winterthur show turned out to be a cracker. The bass rig went to pieces as the band came onstage. Took 15 minutes to sort it out....after having blown the opening acts bass head! Switzerland dB limits were flagrantly disregarded and the band pulled off a cracker. A bevvy of beauties kept smiling throughout the show at Lou and spurred him on to clutch victory from the jaws of defeat. Some of the Swiss types threw their earplugs at my desk at the end of the show or rolled up their earplug packets (which had "Tinnitus on tour" written on them...I swear) and kindly placed them out of irony near me, but then a slew of kids came up at the end to say how great they thought the band sounded that night. And then to Barcelona.

Patrick decided to fly to Barca for fear of cabin fever on the bus. But we ended up arriving in Barcelona before he did! The drivers put their feet down and sailed to Spain. We arrived too late for soundcheck off course. A beautiful sunny day, down by the sea. I met old friend Imaad Wasif, who now plays in Yeah Yeah Yeahs. We talked and talked. The YYY people are very friendly folks. It was exactly a year to the day that all of Dinosaur flew and met in Holalnd for the start of the reunion thang. A poignant day. Today felt like the last day of a long and fantastic year of shows and experiences. Denis came from France. many friends from bands or otherwise were also there. It felt right. I watched the YYY's play a fantastic set, Killing Joke play not such a good set. And then at midnight it was our turn. We all pulled out the stops and the band played sooooo well. Only band to get an encore! By the end of the evening I was drunk, high and happy! A great way to end. Watched the Flaming Lips close in style and sang along to the songs with my Italian friends. Arriverdeci! Home to Holland on the first flight...6am.