The Final Curtain - The Tour Continues!

So you thought you'd got rid of me eh?! No such luck I'm afraid – back again for one last time to tell you about a few final Eastern European dates I just completed with Anastacia…

I left you last time at the end of July after finishing our 7-week stint around Europe. It was great fun but after such a long time away from home I was really looking forward to finally having some time off to recoup. As it turned out, I actually ended up working for most of August - there was a lot of studio work that needed immediate attention and I was also asked to dep for Will Young’s band for the V Festival. I spent a bit of time learning his material and after one day of rehearsal it was straight on to the shows in Chelmsford and Stafford in front of thousands of people - no pressure, right?!! Will and his band were so welcoming and friendly and made me feel right at home – it can sometimes be quite intense coming into a situation as a dep -musically as well as socially, but I had a great time and really enjoyed the gigs.

So after a few fleeting days off, September was here and it was time for a final 2 weeks with Anastacia in Eastern Europe, our first date being in Romania. It was a bit of a reunion at the airport as you can imagine, even though I had spoken to most of the band members over the last month it was the first time that we had all seen each other since July, so there was a lot of catching up to be done!

This leg of the tour was going to be quite a different experience to the previous one – as the distances between gigs were so much greater, we were flying from gig to gig. So no more tour bus! I have to admit I did end up missing my little bunk – flying does take it out of you and it’s not great for the constitution!

We arrived in Bucharest after a few flights – this was my first time here and on the way to the hotel we drove past the Palace of the Parliament - literally the biggest building I had ever seen in my life...after a little bit of research (good ol’ wikipedia) I found out that it is the world’s largest administrative building…not surprised!

Our gig here was great, I was scared that I would have forgotten the material, arrangements, patch changes etc.. but after the first few notes, I felt right back at home.

So we continued onwards to Bratislave in Slovakia for a gig and then straight on the Budapest in Hungary. By this time I was starting to feel the burn – I have never been a fan of airports or flying, so this was proving to be a pretty challenging stretch.

Unfortunately, we had a horrible experience in Budapest. We dropped off our bags in the dressing room and went straight to sound check. When we came back, we realized that the girl’s dressing room had been broken into - both Elisabeth’s and Maria’s laptops had been stolen and my wallet was gone (along with £300!). The police were called in, the security tapes were checked, but it looked like it had been an inside job, as nobody had seen anything. As gutted as I was about my money and cards etc, I felt really bad for the girls – your laptop is your best friend on the road and often the only way to communicate with family and friends back home. They took it all in their stride though, and I was so impressed at how they handled it. Trust me, after that my laptop was by my side at ALL times!

Onwards the journey continued to Vilnius in Latvia – what a beautiful place! We had a few days off here, so had the chance to explore the city a bit, which was great. The gig here was the best gig of the whole tour for me, as halfway through the set I decided to pull out one of my in ears to get a better idea of the crowd reaction. I wasn’t expecting the cheers to be as loud as they were, it was brilliant! I especially enjoyed the accapella section of the show when the whole band comes up front and sings w Anastacia, - it was an electrifying gig.

We had our final gig in Kiev a few days later – which meant of course, last-night pranks had to be had...Steve Barney, our drummer and in-house comedian ended up coming up with the goods once again! During his drum solo, he pulled out two celery sticks to take his solo!!! There was greenery flying around everywhere, I couldn’t believe it. It was an interesting solo to say the least!

The gig was brilliant and we all came off stage on a real high -Anastacia had organized for a little after party in her dressing room which continued back at the hotel. The whole crew and band were there and it was great to just take a step back and look at all the people that had made this possible – from the Production manager, to the sound guys (and girls!), from the Chippies to the Techs…everyone who had worked so hard to make this show come together.

So here I am, back in London again preparing for my next gig with the Sugababes, which I am really looking forward to! It is a very different thing to the Anastacia gig with its own challenges and it is going to be a lot of fun meeting and working with a whole new set of people. First rehearsal is tomorrow morning and I've still got a couple of hours programming to do on my trusty motif XS's - once again they're coming up with the goods and I'm really pleased with how close I've been able to get to the keyboard sounds on the album. The first couple of gigs are in Dublin in a few days time and are both being televised - again no pressure!! It’s this sort of thing that keeps the job exciting though, and I can't wait to get stuck in!