Newsletter 4 Royal Albert Hall
Hi Everybody
It’s 2:05 am and I have to be on the tour bus at 10:30. I should really just hit the sack but I thought I’d at least get a start on the Royal Albert Hall show. It was a huge success. What more can I say? Right from the opening chord I’m off to musical la-la land. It doesn’t matter where I am.
Trivia: The Luftwaffe used the very large and unique shape of RAH as a navigational aid to bomb London during WW2.
If you’ve been following, you might recall that I was going to do some pre show glitz with commentary and predictions. I was full of ambition and good intentions right up until getting on the bus in Manchester yesterday where I slept all the way to the hotel in London. This city isn’t Las Vegas or New York but it is famous, full of history and just an overall buzz to walk around in. What did I do? Well, Bobo’s Bubbles was right across the street. I did laundry. I took a walk over to the RAH and back to the hotel then, you guessed it……..slept. I’ve said enough about me. Now here’s (below) a picture of me (and a few other guys) on stage at the Royal Albert Hall. Thanks Helena Fitzgerald (no relation to the boat) for the shot.
I went for my usual walk-about after sound check. Our tour manager told me to make sure I take my official laminate all-access pass. I haven’t had one for more than a year. Whenever I’ve requested a new one this same tour manager just says there isn’t any left and completely forgets that I’m at the mercy of the venue’s security without one. And very annoyingly instructs me to take this non-existent pass with me everytime I go out. So last night at the RAH I was refused re-entry. Had I chosen to bolt through the door when somebody was coming out and then run like hell down the hall with security in chase screaming obscenities, it would have been the third time this year. Because it was the Royal Albert, I thought I should show a little respect. This is basically how the encounter went.
Me: I’m in the band
Big Ugly Security Guy with an accent like Keith Richards: Where’s your pass?
Me: I lost it and they won’t give me another
BUSG: Well mate, you can’t be that important then
Me: I play the keyboards!
BUSG: Like I said.
It reminded me of a cute bartender in Syracuse a few years back who, after finding out I was a musician, remarked that the coolest person in any band was the lead guitarist and the least cool was the keyboard player. She then asked me what I played. “The stock market” I replied.
I’d like to say something definitive about playing The Royal Albert Hall if I may. The fun is in the anticipation and the bragging rights after the fact. The experience itself is a Royal Pain In the Ass. I’ve got more stories and pictures for later.
Today we’re at Oxford. I’m being presented with an honorary degree in palaeontology for my recent discovery of a rare Defecatus Colossus in my hotel room in Glasgow. To be fair, I didn’t actually see it. It was in the ventilation and it attacked me as soon as I opened the door.Obviously something from the Jurassic age had crawled into the hotel air intake and befouled the building. It zapped me back 10 years to Aurora Illinois where Clem (our deceased and usually fondly remembered lead guitarist) decided to disguise his cigar in a non-smoking hotel room by exhaling into the bathroom fan. Yo dude.
The next and last official newsletter will be the Belfast-Dublin combo. That’s next Tuesday and Wednesday. And you likely won’t get it until I get home, Thursday afternoon.
In themeantime I’ll answer some questions, post some comments and send more pictures in a message addressed to all of you on the weekend. So keep it coming folks. Be outrageous if you want. Or say hi. Give me hell if you like for tainting your inbox with shameless self-centredness. Whatever, it will be fodder for the next message.
England Swings
Mike H
