Liverpool
Well, what a relief. I'm happy to report that tonight we played a blinder. After a day off in a funny little countryside hotel, everyone got a lot of sleep and we hit the stage in Liverpool Academy with renewed focus and energy.
Saying that, Adam got walloped with a horrendous bout of food poisoning from some dodgy prawns. Poor blighter was awake all night ralfing his guts up, and has spent the day looking green on the dressing room sofa. He valiantly soldiered on though, quoting Freddie Mercury's assertion that The Show Must Go On. What a guy.
The Liverpool crowd were incredibly generous. There's a certain vertigo to playing brand new songs to a room who've not heard them live yet, let alone had time to digest them in recorded format. But tonight the audience definitely seem to want to encourage us, applauding and reacting to new numbers as much as older favourites.
A funny aside to end the evening- there was a very sweet but utterly distraught girl outside the bus after the show. Concerned, we took her onto the bus to give her a cup of tea and calm her down. She was delighted, and was soon happily taking pictures and asking Peter questions. Peds was on a roll, obviously eager to cheer her up. She asked him how he deals with all the attention he receives in his life, being so recognisable etc. His answer was brilliant. Bear in mind I'm paraphrasing here:
"I don't really deal with it to be honest- I build up a fantasy world around me that I inhabit. I cherry pick elements of literature, music, film, history and art, then weave them together to construct a fantasy reality to live in. It doesn't always work out though, I got evicted from my own fantasy once, which was quite embarrassing."
It's such fun to watch Peter riffing when he's on form like this. Something I don't think people know is just how funny he is. He really does make me laugh. He has the capacity to see the funny side to most things, which is a quality you want in a touring buddy. Come to think of it, Mik is bloody hilarious too, as is Largey. All in very different ways mind you. Adam has a keen sense of humour also, at least when he's not draped from a sofa with his head in a sick bucket. Damn you, prawns.
So to summarise - Liverpool: Overall the best day on tour yet. The spectre of the Manchester show still looms as a reminder of the peril that follows us around... but I'm an optimist. And there's always room for an optimist in this band.
Lincoln tomorrow folks...
P.S... I'd like to sincerely apologise to everyone who came to the Manchester show on Saturday. Everyone in the band agrees it was a terrible gig. I actually wrote a long blog about Manchester, but on reflection I have chosen not to post it. But we are genuinely sorry to those who were there and feel short changed. Drew