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11.13 AM
 I wake up and realize that my alarm clock has been trying to raise me for somewhat more than one hour. Probably, it has raised the whole neighbourhood at this point and deprived them of a relaxing saturday morning, whilst I was peacefully asleep right next to it. (Now this sounds slightly exaggerated, but if you want to know how loud my alarm clock is, feel free to ask my neighbour from downstairs, Mrs. Kiry.
So it was definitely time for a simple but nourishing breakfast: Frosties with milk and a few cups of green tea with peppermint. I found myself unexpectedly quiet, as this would be the moment for nervousness to kick in, but probably I was still too sleepy for that.
1.02 PM
The nervous phone calls have just started. Our drummer just told me that he's without transportation and doesn't feel like carrying his drum set all the way to the club.
Well, my car is already more than full with all my gear (aren't we keyboardists gear-fetishists? There's always room for this or that effect, this or that synthesiser, that master keyboard ... and of course, cords, cords, cords. Midi cords, Jack cords, Power cords ... you name it.)
Luckily I remember a good friend of mine, who foolishly promised to help wherever she could with our CD inauguration. So I call her up and ask her to be at my place at 2 PM with her car. Phew! She doesn't object.
The next nervous phone call: Our sax player. He can't find the set list for the evening anymore. Thanks to my positive vibrations through the telephone, he can locate it within minutes again.
Phone call #3: Our bass player. He's urging me not to forget that I promised to lend him my chromatic tuner, as his is broken.
Phone call #4: My friend with the car calls, she will be about 15 minutes late. I tell her no problem, set up time is only at 4 PM
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2.45 PM
All my gear is loaded into the car and we drive off to fetch the drumkit. About one hour later, the drumkit is in the car and we slowly set off towards the club.
4.15 PM
After cruising for a while in search of a parking space, we finally left our cars where they at least don't block the streetcar, but otherwise do anything but screaming for a parking ticket.
We have unloaded our gear and start setting it up, while the bass player already arrives and installs his bass box. We have already met the house technicians, Ibrahim, an english speaking guy with dreadlocks and Zumi, the club manager.
So I set up all my gear while the others complain that I'm using about half the stage. (Especially for this occasion, our sax and trumpet player have arrived.)
5.15 PM
Soundcheck time! After we have located all the buzzes and noises in the lines, it's now actually time to play a few songs, get a feel for the room and ... well, rehearse for the last time.
After we've shifted the monitors a dozen times, nobody complains anymore that he doesn't hear himself. So we call it a day and leave to grab some food before the concert at La Fonda, a mexican restaurant.
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