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TUESDAY 24th - WEDNESDAY 25th
Still not getting enough sleep on this
trip but we'll make it anyway! Pete's feeling better and that's
good.
The drive to Ulyanovsk (Lenin's birthplace and the birthplace of
communism!) took around 3 hours with a short pit stop for coffee.
The roads were not bad but we did have to tell "James"
to slow down a couple of times.
The Lenin Memorial Theatre here is really beautiful but some of
our gear has gone missing so people are frantically looking for
it as I am writing this!!! Be back in a little bit!
The gear has arrived so I had better go… but I'll be back!!
(can't wait…… yawn… ed)
Sound check revealed that this hall has a major reverb problem and
we were hoping that it would improve when there were people in it.
It's hard to explain but Pete's bass drum (that's kick drum for
those of you… oh, forget it!!) was bouncing back to the stage
from the back wall and it was really hard to find beats (see, I
told you it would be hard to explain). The building directors here
are very nice and couldn't do enough for us as we prepared for the
show. The sound did improve a little but there was still not much
Aron could do so even though it was a very successful show…
the audience was amazing… it wasn't an "easy" one!
More surprises awaited us afterwards as we were led to the director's
office where they had laid on a major dinner event with salmon,
caviar and tons of amazing stuff! We had a number of toasts but
we had to go as we were already facing a short night before we left
for Zurich in the morning.
We got back to the hotel without too much incident but it was obvious
we weren't going to get much (if any) sleep… again! By the
time I had packed and checked out it was 5:30am and time to get
on the bus with far too much luggage!
Checking in at Samara Airport for our flight to Moscow was a complete
hassle but we were on our way, flying on an ancient Tupolev 124
which had luggage racks that…… well, they didn't close.
They were just shelves and I flew sitting next to a suitcase!!!
The flight attendants woke me up and offered me some food I didn't
really want but it only took a couple of hours to get to Moscow
where the trouble really began!
We flew into Sheremetyevo 1 which is the domestic terminal and about
2 kms from Sheremetyevo 2, the international terminal. We had a
very tight connection and waited for what seemed an eternity for
the bags which we then had to drag to the other terminal. This was
accomplished with the help of two burly luggage chaps (one of whom
spoke decent English funnily enough) and a taxi "salesman"
who poured us into a minivan.
Once we were squashed in there he politely informed us that the
fare would be $120.00 which is completely outrageous but we were
late and in no mood to argue. Then the passport controls, checking
in and we were getting really tight for time and I was beginning
to figure out what to do if we missed the flight!! But we made it
and, when we got to Zurich, so did all of our luggage. The guys
from "Z 7" were there to meet us and before long we were
breathing a little more easily and on our way to Pratteln to start
a couple of days off… very much needed days off!!!
And so we concluded another visit to Russia which had been a curious
mixture of great shows, busy press conferences, TV shows, my unforgettable
visit to the orphanage, wonderful food, inspiring people and horrendous
logistical problems!
We are going to be back for a 12-show tour in April next year and
we will do a lot of things differently. I love playing here and
being with the people so it's important to solve the problems that
get in the way of our fun being complete. And there is no problem
that doesn't have a solution!!
I am so looking forward to bed…!!!
Next day...
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