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Monday - April 7th 2003
Show day and time to change guitar strings. I had
a radio interview today but still a little time to relax and prepare
for what the afternoon would inevitably bring!! It was a bright,
sunny day but still a bit chilly and it was quite interesting to
see the ice-flows melting and drifting down the Volga River. (It's
a pretty serious river… I couldn't find it on a map either
but it might be fun for you to try!!)
Driving to the venue I mentioned to Monica that some of the houses
(if you can call them that!) were leaning at a bit of an angle and
living in them might be a bit… hazardous!! And they seemed
to have lots of holes in them too which must make things a bit uncomfortable
in the harsh winters they have in this part of the world!
It's impossible to avoid the signs of poverty here. Not just in
Samara but pretty much anywhere outside the major cities. I don't
know much about Communism (and I don't really want to) but it doesn't
seem to have done much to provide these people with a decent standard
of living!! For those of you who have never been to provincial Russia
I can assure you that most of us have a whole lot to be thankful
for!!
Sound check was set for 3pm but of course things weren't ready and
the D70 I had rented in Spain for this tour had a major problem.
Finding a replacement was difficult but eventually (at the last
minute!) and Alesis showed up and it was manageable!
Lots of little "first-gig' hassles but everyone hung in and
eventually it was time to play!!
We are using an interesting intro tape and that was a bit of an
experiment but it worked and we were off! The first few songs gelled
quickly and then it was time to introduce Michael and the orchestra.
We did four songs and it sounded beautiful to me. Richard had managed
to squeeze more level from the orchestra by getting them to play
with a little more "gusto" and we played quietly enough
to create a good dynamic balance.
Then it was back to rock and roll and, joined by a sold-out audience
we rocked as hard as we could through the rest of the set. I love
the custom here of them bringing flowers to the front of the stage
and after I received them I was able to shake a few hands as we
had agreed to relax show security a bit. Then we gave them the encore
they demanded and by this time I was exhausted!! The show runs nearly
two hours and I am a little "road-rusty" but it won't
take long to get road fit. It's always important to take care of
your self… these kinds of schedules can be pretty gruelling…
but you can't really prepare for the intensity of a show so it's
good that we have a couple of days off now.
The atmosphere was very "up" after the show. We knew we
had made some mistakes and we will make some more but we will all
be a lot more confident going into the next show!
Our hosts took us to dinner but I didn't last long as I was literally
falling asleep at the table. Finally Monica and Tim dragged me out
of there and we went back to the hotel where I could hear my bed
calling me……………… That was that for
Monday… all in all a great day!!
Next
day...
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