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Saturday - April 26th 2003
Show day and the last show too! I woke up early
and used the time to get some things done so I could relax and prepare
for the show.
The car picked us up at 12:15 and we arrived at the venue (MDM/Youth
Palace) at 12:45. Here the news was not so good as the sound and
light crew spoke no English (as requested in our production rider)
and we were faced with all kinds of technical difficulties for the
next four hours.
The orchestra had arrived for rehearsals and I had to let them go
while we dealt with these problems, rather than have them sit around
while the sound crew fumbled their incompetent way around!! How
embarassing! Anyway we plodded on and poor Richard had to spend
the entire afternoon running between the front-of-house board and
the stage (it'll keep him fit!) and this was made worse because
of the design of the theatre. But we persevered and it paid off
as we had eliminated most of the problems by the time the orchestra
came back.
During all of this mayhem I got a call from my brother Trevor who
told me that Stella is pregnant. I am so happy for both of them
and this call definitely lifted my spirits.
We finally finished sound check and our guest started to arrive
and it started to feel like a gig at last.
The MDM holds 1800 people and it was sold out so we were excited
about finishing the tour with a bang (poor choice of words perhaps)
so after a few "commercial announcements" courtesy of
the show sponsors Richard hit the intro CD (I got the feeling he
hit it a little harder than usual!!) and we tore into the first
three songs without a break. It was clear from the beginning that
this was going to be a great night and the audience was into it
from the first chord!!
We were originally going to do two separate sets but without the
DVD involvement I decided to merge them so we introduced the orchestra
after "The Wizard" (I've attached the revised set list
so, perhaps, you can get the picture). The following four songs
took the show into a different place dynamically but the audience
really loved it and the momentum just kept growing, peaking for
the first time when I played the intro to "July Morning"
which we did with the orchestra. The crowd went totally nuts and
it just felt so good… so very exciting. I don't know how many
times I've played this song but it never felt this good and it obviously
inspired all of us.
"Free Me" was a bit funny actually as I got a bit over-excited
and forgot the guitar solo which threw the band and the orchestra
into total chaos but somehow we pulled it off and the crowd loved
it. It's probably not a good idea to change an arrangement in the
middle of a song, especially when there are 47 other musicians and
a conductor trying to figure out what you are up to!! So much to
learn and so little time!!
The energy just kept building as the night went on and I was reminded
how much I love the Russian custom of bringing flowers to the stage!!
I got loads of them tonight and not only do I love the "tradition"
I love flowers too so now they are arranged all over our room!!
We finished the show with two encores and there was a lot of celebrating
in the dressing room afterwards!! After the show, the promoters
(who were happy too but probably because they were still counting
their money!!) took us to a restaurant that resembled a castle and
had real archery galleries which of course everyone tried out. I
think John won the crossbow competition but Monica was pretty good
too so I guess I had better behave myself!! Everyone kept asking
me to try it but I have a "thing" about weapons and I
didn't want to damage the building so I declined.
It was a lot of fun but, by now, I was completely exhausted so I
excused myself and headed back to the hotel… happy that I didn't
have to set my alarm clock!!
It was a great way to finish this trip to Russia and we are already
talking about some more concerts, including other markets, in September
by which time "The Last Dance" will have had a chance
to establish itself… hopefully!!
Next
day...
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