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DAY TWOSKI
Woke up at 9:30 feeling quite excited about the
prospects for the day and made it to the press conference fashionably
late at about 12:20. On the way I found out that the promoter wanted
us to leave after the show tonight for Nizhniy Novgorod which is
about a 7 hour drive. Sensing that he was trying to save money on
hotels I explained that this was not going to happen and that my
band and crew were going to sleep properly. (the pattern continues)
The press conference was held at a music store called "Soyuz"
and it was actually fun with lots of people, questions, coffee and
laughter. when it was over (and I thought we were going to lunch)
I was told that the guitar and microphone I could see in the corner
were there so i could "sing a couple of songs"???? Hmmmm…
so I did… and then another surprise… it was upstairs to
sign hundreds of autographs and take lots of pictures. Then it was
time for lunch and time to find out if someone was going to pick
up the band. This eventually happened but it was getting late for
sound check so, after a delicious lunch of Russian lasagne (!?)
we finally got to the Cosmos Music Hall inside the Cosmos hotel.
My Hammond finally arrived from Switzerland (and I could write a
book on this aspect of the trip alone!) and we eventually got things
moving but I obviously had no time to go to the hotel so Eugene
(Sony) went to get my stuff. Sound check was not so good which usually
means a great gig and in fact that was the case! This was the realisation
of a dream for me. To play in Moscow and so long after Heep played
there and to a packed hall to so many enthusiastic people…
it was a great, great experience!!
After the show we were taken to the B.B. King Club for dinner which
meant it was another late night and we had some real difficulty
planning for tomorrow's journey to Nizhniy Novgorod because the
rules (and consequently the plans) kept changing!! I felt very sorry
for Yatta who just couldn't make people understand how to do things
the right way but we went back to the hotel at 3am again and were
then told we would have to leave for Nizhniy at 8am. On show days
I like to try and get 8 hours sleep but, the way things were going
it didn't look like that was going to happen!
Next day...
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