Greetings adventurers,
you join us in Nurnberg, where yesterday, we finally enjoyed our first day off on tour.
We began our first tour of 2010, with 8 shows in a row, which even if possessed of the kind of superhuman drive and determination that everyone has at the start of a tour, I can absolutely guarantee that 8 days in without a break, pretty much everyone is ready for a break...
And so it was, that noon yesterday, we were deposited at a rather nice hotel just outside the city (our plans for an inner-city hotel were scuppered by the world's largest international toy trade fair) and everyone scattered for a day of hard chilling.
This tour, I think its probably safe to say now, has been the best European tour that we've ever been on... The shows have pretty much all been sold out, or a handful of tickets away, and the audiences have been amazing for the band. There will be around 800 people in Nurnberg tonight, which is pretty impressive, as I don't think the band have ever played here before...
After this tour finishes in Barcelona at the end of the week, we're going home for around 10 days, before we go off to Japan and the USA, via a quick stop in London for the NME Awards. There might be another little something-something before even that, though I definitely can't talk about that quite yet... Which i suspect will frustrate you no end. But to even hint at it, would no doubt end with it wrapping someone's fish supper, and my wrists a glorious shade of slapped-crimson. So not quite yet.
As I type this, Ben, through the wonders of a very considerate girlfriend, Skype, and his fucking massive television in his living room at home, is watching the Scotland VS France rugby game live over the internet - Its an unfortunate aspect of travel, that things like BBC iPlayer don't actually work outwith the UK...
Such regional restrictions didn't stop us from getting hold of the season premiere of Season 6 of Lost...
In a slight mixup however, we didn't quite realise that it was two separate episodes one after the other, so we watched what we thought was the only episode, and felt ever so slightly deflated when it ended... It was the next morning that we realised there was a second episode to watch. Needless to say everything made a shitload more sense after the second episode.
Still not quite sure where its going to go, but at least there aren't any more questions concerning polar bears and smoke monsters.
Looks like the writers have been reading up on their David Lewis, as well.
We were in Helsinki a few days ago, for the second time. This time, the band played a sold out show to around 900 people, which was particularly great. A lovely Biffy fan left some beautiful gifts for the band, including three hand-knitted scarves made from alpaca wool, which they have all proudly been wearing since we left Finland. I was quite jealous, if i'm honest... As a huge fan of knitted scarves, I think this was one of the nicest gifts they've received.
After we left scandinavia, we returned to Germany, where we've been putting in the hours, across the last couple of albums.
We finish the German leg tomorrow in Stuttgart, and continue on to beautiful Bern, which is probably one of the loveliest places we'll have visited in a while. After that, its on to Bilbao (where we have a day off prior to the show, in a beautiful hotel right next to the Guggenheim. Incredibly civilised. We then head to Madrid, and finish up in Barcelona, before flying back home to get ready for what comes next.
We have a band from Birmingham, called Blakfish, joining us for these Euro dates. They're a band that we hadn't come across before, bar seeing the name a couple of times. Turns out that they opened for the Duke a couple of years ago. Small world. A lot of fun to watch in any case, and t-shirts in more colours than the rainbow.
Speaking of which, they're onstage in... actually, 1 minute ago, so I'm going to go and watch...
how are you all?
What do you make of Lost?
let me know...
tour manager neil x
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