Boots and more

At last I am able to sit and do a bit of catch up.

The Stockholm show was set inside an amusement park.

It was a bit weird to see all the attractions surrounding us when we got there.

Rides full of screaming people whizzing by, up and down, in and around.

The band decided not to have a full sound check as there were quite a lot of people in front of the stage already so a quick line check was made to make sure the gear was working.
There were so many people flooding into the park for the show that eventually they closed it!

Steve doing his line check (double click on any pic for full size view)

The show was fantastic, the crowd very responsive and Stockholm did us proud.
Our lovely friend Marlon came to the show, I think I am getting wider but shorter!

After the show we had a 7 hour bus trip to Oslo overnight, hello little rolling bunk but would it be goodbye sleep?

Mmmmm, not much sleep;  One of us who will not be named was snooring!

The man and I were in a zombie state by the time we offloaded at the Olso hotel, I didn’t look left or right but headed right for the front doors then up in the lift to our room.

Once we caught up with rest and had a look around the city centre we realized that Oslo was a very cool city indeed, we stayed right in the middle of the city and of course since the recent tragic events there with the madman killing so many innocent people it was scary and sad to imagine the sound of a bomb going off  with so much pain and saddness which we would have heard very clearly from where we were.

It was a big show in Oslo with Iron Maiden headlining, I was pretty busy with my job and didn’t get much chance to take any pics. To be perfectly honest the main thing I remember from that few days was how tired I was.

After the show there was another 8 hour overnight drive to Gavle, Sweden.

These last few shows were all pretty big plus an extra show had been added in Norway after Helsinki so the ‘homeward bound’ goal post had been moved a couple of days but the band and the boss pulled out spectacular performances.

The last 48 hours was long, felt more like 148 hours. We left Gavle, Sweden a few hours after the show, a two hour bus drive to an airport hotel back in Stockholm, arriving at about 4am. Slept till 7am then off to board a charter plane to Helsinki.

The plane was pretty cool, bigger than I expected with two pilots, two crew, and one other person who turned out to be a Brit engineer for the plane itself. The sky was so blue as we boarded the little prop but my head was off on planet Zonk by this time.

Got to stadium at midday then worked and hung about till show time at 7pm. Catering was good with lots of activity as Iron Maiden were headlining again so there were all their crew as well as ours. I am starting to see them as familiar faces and hear their familiar London accents as we have done a few shows with them now.

There were so many people at the Helsinki show; I think maybe 35,000. I was doing the jumbo screens so didn’t see it directly from the front. I was in a van with the video crew at the back of the stage, the band was fantastic as usual, the heat was brutal for them and the audience.

After the show finished we had another four hour wait at the venue until the bus to the airport and here we are as I write this blog. It is 1.40am, the airport is quiet; no shops open and nothing to do but write.

Some of the crew initially found a few things to occupy themselves with, messing about making Chewbacca noises with some bar stools, using the check in intercom to make fictitious flight calls (with the permission of the staff) ‘ding dong’ will Toby please wake up’.

But that didn’t last, were are all exhausted; it is quiet now as we sit around in sleepy silence waiting for 3am when we leave on the charter again.

An interesting thing; I needed to go to the bathroom which was up a floor in the empty airport and as I entered I heard the sweet sound of what I imagined was a Lesser Spotted Tree Warbler! There was the sound of birdsong in the ladies toilet! Novel idea and rather comforting, I nearly moved in there for a while but needed to get back to the man.

On to Norway in our little charter plane and a whole bunch of rain and mud! I had decided to wear my old black suede boots for the last time and the show in Norway took them out in grand style.

The camera booth area was in the middle of the grounds, under an awning along with the lighting and sound desks, but to get to them I had to cross about 100 feet of thick gooey mud. There was something quite liberating about squishing my beloved old boots across that mud, they seemed to know it was their last journey and indeed it was.

The camera crew for the jumbo screens on this last show in Norway was the best of the entire tour; they completely got what I wanted and were helpful and professional, thanking me for helping them make it a good show for them.

They even handed me a yummy plate of hot waffles with maple syrup half way through!

After Norway we were all homeward bound for the USA! Steve and I had meetings in our old hometown of Hollywood, LA but more of that later.

Goodbye Europe!

Oslo:

The venue starts to fill up in Helsinki

 The sky says it all in Norway on the last show

The mud

My view of the Norway show



What I see to do the screens; top left is what the crowd are seeing on the screens, top right is the preview screen for us and the smaller screens below are the eight camera's.

From the stage

Our Stockholm break

I really always wanted to be Maid Marian!

Golden brown hair flowing in a nonchalant way down to my ass, looking delectable with no make up (apart from a blob of carefully placed rouge for that fresh rugged outdoor look).

Riding bareback on a stallion (probably sideways) and managing to remain pleasantly feminine as I hacked the head off a metal clad attacker who threatened my castle and my one and only love Robin Hood.

This realization came from the fact that the man and I have been able to watch a few movies in the hotel room whilst we relaxed in Stockholm, thanks to Robin of Loxley (and Cate Blanchett) I have been able to establish my missing link, Maid Marian is indeed my alter ego. This revelation could also account for my love of brown linen frocks.

We watched a pretty cool Will Smith movie whereby he got all tangled up between the mob and the FBI, just another days survival for the skinny guy who even cried quite convincingly in a moving death scene.

Finally but far from least was a movie called ‘Drag Me To Hell’ no idea who the actors were, they were pretty young and pretty funny. This was a horror movie with its tongue firmly in its cheek, hilarious stuff and a perfect end to our hang- in- bed Saturday.

Stockholm is beautiful, although we have our friend Marlon to thank for the fact that we saw anything beyond the hotel lobby.

Stockholm is also full of beautiful men and women, most of whom are blonde of course but also most of the women seemed to be pregnant! I have never seen so many women in one place with a bun in the oven! And, they still manage to look gorgeous!!!

After finding out that during the winter the sun goes down at 3.30pm we deducted that nine months ago it was November and what do you do if the sun goes down at 3.30pm……..well, you know what!

Marlon is a cousin to my old friend and record producer TB in the UK.  By sheer chance during a Skype call, Steve asked TB if he knew anyone at Propellerhead. Propellerhead are the music software company that makes ‘Reason’ and Reason is the Rolls Royce of music sequencing software.

TB said no, but I know a man who does and Marlon is his name!

Marlon is about 6ft 3, a blonde Scandinavian Adonis who is as fit as a butcher’s dog (do Americans know that expression I wonder?). More importantly he is a sweet, smart and generous young man, he not only arranged a meeting at the Propellerhead headquarters here in Stockholm but he also took us to the old town, the cool shops and sorted a couple of superb meals.

Marlon is very industrious in life, he teaches (defensive) fighting as a sport; manages an up and coming actor and also runs a successful business developing company profiles and marketing.

Steve thought it was his birthday at Propellerhead, you have to understand what going there means to someone who records in their own home studio. We not only met the hospitable CEO Ernst (who happens to be a huge fan of Steve’s work) but also their main developer Kristoffer, they showed him some of their newer products and answered some of his questions on current products.

Stockholm is a very clean and prosperous city, the people are fit and there are hundreds of bicycles everywhere, ridden by young and old alike.

It is expensive, more expensive than London!

Show is tomorrow night

Steve with Kristoffer Wallman (left) and CEO Ernst Nathorst Boos at Propellerhead:

Steve plays some guitar at Propellerhead:

The 100 Club London

The 100 Club in central London was a late addition to the tour dates; we flew in from Switzerland and stayed at the same hotel that we had spent the day in before. This was very near a huge shopping mall with a Marks and Spencers so the man and I had a good browse in there whilst we had the opportunity.

On the day of the show we all went down to the club in the late afternoon so the guys could do a sound check, the 100 Club was tiny!

They were also adding some cover songs to the set and needed to run through them.

We knew there was to be a special guest and the rumors where flying that it was to be Johnny Depp, by the time we arrived at the club we knew for sure that he would be joining us that afternoon to go over one of the songs, he ended up playing on two.

The only people in the building were the band, the crew, Alice’s manager and a few others. I was over on the far left nearest to Steve, watching them sound check.

I was aware that a small group of people had come in over on the other side, it was dark and I could only just make out two very small figures, a very tall man and one more figure in a hat. 

The two smallest figures where Johnny’s children, Lily-Rose who is beautiful and young Jack who is so like his dad it’s silly. Both children are bright, engaging and polite.

The tall figure was a 'minder' who looked pretty serious; then there was Johnny, dressed in a dark striped T-shirt with braces that were hanging loose down by his side, baggy pants, tinted glasses and a cool ‘news boy’ cap that fell over to one side in the coolest way possible. Around his neck was a long scarf tied loosely.

I honestly did not think I would get to meet him, I would certainly not have just gone over to say hello and continued to watch the band go over the songs.

As they finished a song, Alice jumped off the stage and beckoned to me, “do you want to meet Johnny”? Then he called to Steve and took us both over with him.

Johnny and Steve shook hands, Johnny said; “This is an honor man, I am a huge fan of your playing” Steve was clearly taken aback, how cool was that!

He introduced me and I managed to say “hello, lovely to meet you”. I remember meeting Annie Lennox in London in 08 when Steve was touring with Lou Reed and more recently Bette Midler in NY, I was so star struck on both occasions and could hardly say “hello” at all so I was trying hard not to mutter this time.

Johnny Depp is a quiet man with bright eyes and an easy smile, he chatted with Steve for a few minutes then afterwards as some of the band were getting their photographs taken with him, Steve asked him if I could have my pic taken with him. Luckily Glen was right there with his phone camera, otherwise the moment would have been lost!

And that is how I came to have my arms around my gorgeous husband on one side and the equally gorgeous Johnny Depp on the other side (:

There was a heatwave in London and the 100 Club was so hot that night! It was packed to the gills with about 350 Alice fans and what a treat they got. No make up, no guillotine or other props (only the snake) but a rock gig to remember.

Alice was relaxed and chatted in between songs which is unheard of normally but this show was different, the band and the boss were in an informal setting, they loved the close proximity to the audience and each other, this was a one off for sure.

When the boss called Johnny up he introduced him as Johnny D and the audience had no idea who was up there! Gradually they all realized who it was and the place went crazy.

Johnny Depp can play guitar! And he looked like he was having so much fun up there, rocking with Damon, Alice and Chuck and looking every bit the rock star. They did ‘Eighteen’ first, I love hearing Steve solo on that song, it is a bit slower than a lot of the set and that allows him to really play the blues. He took the first solo and Johnny took the second solo, ‘Schools Out’ was the other song.

The band were dripping wet when they finished the set, we were all boiling hot but what a night it was, thank you London, thank you Alice and the band and thank you Johnny Depp.

Istanbul and more

I was a little disappointed with Istanbul; in its defense I only saw a small part…..the road leading to the hotel, the hotel and the venue! I guess I expected one big colorful bazaar with tents full of exotic fabrics and I am sure that is there.

The open-air festival felt like it was set in a large hole in the ground, the surface was terribly uneven wherever we went; the dressing room/tent was up a steep, winding narrow stone staircase, that day was particularly taxing for the man and I had to stay with him most of the time.

But, the sun was out; the show went well, the people were delightful and always keen to help.

That night was made very special for another reason; Shep treated some of us to a meal at a famous restaurant called The Topaz. This is set high up overlooking the river and near a mosque with two tall towers.

The scenery was simply stunning; way in the distance we could see Asia! The sun was going down then at 9pm we heard the most amazing and haunting sound I have ever heard. It was an evening prayer being sung in Turkish. The singer glided between quarter tones, his voice floated across the water to our ears and I will never forget it.

Then came fireworks lighting up the sky in various locations along the river, which were accompanied by Iron Maiden starting their set over at the festival.

I will always remember Istanbul for that evening prayer.

On to Switzerland; as we landed in Basel my ears were not liking the pressure change at all, I felt like crud and this only got worse. 

Eventually Steve took me to a doctor, (as I have already reported on here) 

We did not get to see very much of Basel, apart from the hotel room and one brief trip into town. The hotel staff were so sweet and kind during my sickly stay.

It’s very clean in Basel and very very expensive!

The road into Istanbul

Basel: 

The man wearing one of Tommy's cool T-shirt designs and having a Starbucks:

Bucharest, birthday and more

I think it’s time to recap on the countries we have covered in the last eight weeks:

USA

Canada

USA

Chile

Argentina

Brazil

Ireland

France

England

Romania

Germany

Turkey

Switzerland

England

Sweden

The outdoor venue for Bucharest was like a roman amphitheatre, the weather was lovely and things were relatively relaxed, as there were no other bands on with us that night. So much so that Glen took a little nap on the gear piled up backstage after the sound check.

When there are no other bands involved it is easier for the crew, they can check all the equipment at a decent pace, they don’t have to worry about another bands gear coming off or another bands gear coming straight on at the end of the show.

It was the mans birthday, he and the boss were now the same age and he reflected back on the fact that he has been doing shows on his birthday on and off for the last 40 years, the last time was with Lou Reed in London in 2008.

Toby had organized a cake; we did not do any candles, maybe not a good idea with Steve as he could have set himself on fire!

We all gathered in the dressing room including the boss and sang happy birthday, the cake was extremely gooey and extremely yummy.

There were two other things that I remember about that show; it had been decided after an incident at Download that I would be the one to lead my man off stage. It is very difficult for well meaning friends and colleagues to lead Steve in the dark; I am very used to doing this, as we are together 24/7. I know to watch for obstacles that are likely to hit his head or face even though he is 6ft and I am 5’3”. I know how to talk him through an uneven surface and up or down steps or ramps, as he needs to know if they are narrow or deep, wide or steep. In the dark he is a completely blind man and there are hazards all over the place.

That was also the day that I started to feel under the weather.

Next stop Bamberg, Germany and what a lovely town it was. We had a couple of days off before the show, which was actually in a small town called Weismain about 40 minutes away.

Steve and I walked into Bamberg town centre and did a bit of shopping; he found a couple of really cool hats, which he has been wearing ever since.

The Weismain festival was LOUD! When we got there we found the production and dressing room tent was really close to the stage area, which had non-stop music from many rock bands including Motorhead.

It was raining and I could not hear myself think from the minute we got there. Nobody could hear anybody else, which also made our radio’s useless and that made the atmosphere just a tad tetchy. We couldn’t find a VIP and I found myself in the rain, waving a VIP laminate in the air at the crowd in the hope that the lost person would come forward. I had no other choice other than waving the laminate as my voice had all but gone by this time.

The AC band was fantastic that night, whatever is going on before or after the show, the band always performs at 110 percent, I am so impressed by this.

Next up Istanbul

Sleepy Glen

Damon relaxes 

Steve doing the solo in 'Fire'

Bamberg: 

Lines and Download

My blogs went into standby mode as I coughed my way across a number of countries with flu.

There are usually about 19 of us when we start rolling from one country or city to another. We are a daunting vision for any unsuspecting hotel clerk or baggage checker! On many occasions the airports open a separate checking in line for us.

On the subject of lines: These are a repetitive occurrence, that and ‘waiting’: Waiting for bags to be picked up from the hotel room, lines to pay incidentals at the hotel, lines for checking in at the airport, waiting for the gate number, lines for passport check, customs lines, baggage lines, lines for boarding the flights. All this up to three times a week for six weeks and you get the picture.  

Now add the cough of all coughs to the last few airport waiting rooms and a head that wants to implode as an ear infection and sinus infection are forming a joint plan of attack.

There were people getting up and changing seat’s, as they feared my lurgy would attach to them and carry them off to a dark grisly pit of insanity.

Anyway, the pills are working now and I can put pen to paper (so to speak)

On to the Download Festival, Donington, UK

I was pretty taken aback by the size of the site for the Download Festival in Donington, UK. In order to get from the backstage and production area to the stage on which our band were performing I had to use a little electric buggy thingy which I would have loved to have had a go at driving.

My first job was to meet the stage camera director and his camera crew; as I would be directing the jumbo screens for the show.

There were four stages and I was told about 100,000 eager rock fans were waiting to watch the huge selection of rock bands.

My man was pleased to meet up with his old friend Tom Peterson from Cheap Trick who we’re also on the bill that day. Tom is usually up for some ‘blind’ jokes with Steve, which is always taken with the good humor and affection that was intended; they have been great buddies for a long time.

We watched the Cheap Trick set from the side of the stage and they were amazing.

As with all the other festivals and no doubt all the ones to come, the color of the day was ‘black’. Black clothes, black hair, black eye make up but thanks goodness due to the good-natured crowd no black eyes!

The camera crew for the screens were excellent; There were at least 6 camera operators and they all listened intently as I described the details of the set list that we wanted the audience to see in close up.

There was a village atmosphere backstage, many tents and small modules all with different band names on their doors. The AC band was ready for action and action is what they gave the crowd that day. There were band members from other bands gathered at each side of the stage during their set, the band love that and it adds to the excitement of the show. It also shows the huge respect that the boss generates within the industry and I suspect that will only grow once the new album is released. It will be awesome!

At the end of the show we all hightailed it back to the dressing room in a van and even before the band had changed out of their wet clothes the boss came around to say what a great show they had done.

Bucharest was next and my man had a birthday

Ireland and other subjects

I love Imodium! 


Not that it is at the top of my gastronomic delights list but it has (excuse the pun) saved my ass on a number of occasions now.
Some of this tour is done by bus only, that means there are times when we leave a show, drive overnight for ten hours to the next city or country and have a few hours in a hotel room at the other end before a show that eve.


Before your imagination runs wild, there is a toilet on the bus! But there are restrictions 
(if you know what I mean) (: And that is as far as I will go in explaining why I love Imodium the rest you can work out yourselves.


It took months to arrange and seemingly endless outlay but on June 6th my children Holly and Mathew arrived from London to Belfast in Northern Ireland.
I had not seen them for 18 months, although the internet keeps us in touch pretty well of course.
Holly had warned me that she had pink and blonde dreads which came in handy for spotting her at Belfast airport. Not that it would have been difficult really, the airport is just a little larger than our apartment in Nashville. (I'm kidding!)


We had dinner together in the hotel, where I found myself staring at both of them trying to remember every moment, watching them laugh and chat with their step dad and wishing this visit would last longer than just the two days.
The next day they came to soundcheck with us in the bus, it was pretty chaotic at the venue, three bands and their gear: Thin Lizzy, us and Def Leppard. They got to watch all the activity although the music was not quite up their street as they are both into Techno.... Trance? Dub Step? Drum N Bass? I'm not sure which but feel quite pleased with myself that I named even some of it!


The Belfast crowd were fantastic, the boss and the band were on fire and Holly and Mathew got to throw balloons out to the audience during Schools Out which I stupidly managed to not photograph.
Backstage there was a lot of band interaction, there were members of our band that had hero's in the other bands and visa versa. Old friends both musicians and crew meeting up on the road and sharing stories, great stuff!
I enjoyed the multi bill show but missed the songs we had to cut due to time restrictions.


The band, the crew and the boss made my kids feel welcome including taking pics with them, more ways for me to remember their visit but also a reminder of how much they miss their own families when on the road.


We left Holz and Mat behind to catch their flight back the next morning, as we drove off in our huge glossy green double decker I took a bit of quiet time to myself upstairs to watch the miles pass by through the front window and to start forming a plan for our next reunion.

Dublin was next, once again it was the three band lineup and the crowd were awesome but the exceptional thing about this show for me was that the boss had asked me to sing back up vocals on 'Poison' which I did with great glee despite not being able to rehearse with the guys ahead of time. 


My main purpose on this tour is to help my gorgeous man get around due to his poor eyesight but I also have a job as a production assistant which involves co ordinating the VIP meet and greets and being a camera director when there are jumbo screens, I love doing all that but singing will always be my favorite occupation.

So, goodbye Ireland, hello Download.........   

Rio de Janeiro

Oh my goodness!!!!!! Rio!


The drive to the hotel was a sharp reminder that alongside the affluence is a good deal of poverty. Lots and lots of ramshackle little dwellings and children selling peanuts and other things with no shoes on, in amongst the traffic.
As we drove further towards the coast, the scene changed dramatically, turning into the most glorious vision of blue, green and yellow.
We went past Copacabana and Ipanema, how cool is that!   


The hotel offered the most amazing scenery, a swimming pool sitting alongside a stretch of sandy beach.
We all scattered when we got our room numbers, the man and I were on floor eleven so had a great view of the area.
Later on we gradually gathered into little pockets of 'tour peeps', the hardworking crew and band enjoying this time together, some in the bistro and some by the pool.
There is always lots of laughter at such times.


Whilst a bunch of the guys went up to see the 'Christ The Redeemer' statue way up overlooking the city, Steve and I went to sit on the beach where I actually felt the sand in between my toes and paddled my feet in the water, not that I would have gone in, it was too darned cold for me!


Having said that, I was born by the sea and miss it loads!


Toby and Cesare our tour and stage manager's came strolling by, it was good to see them having a bit of relaxation time, they make this tour happen and that is not always an easy job!  Despite some of the glamorous places that get visited, this much traveling and organizing is exhausting for everybody.


We had a meal which my man shared with a pretty little stray cat that has found refuge of sorts at the resort, being allowed to be fed by whoever cares enough to bother. 


Enough of all that! On to the show.


What a fantastic crowd turned up, they were so loud and happy to see the boss and his amazing band. They had a great gig and there were some fab Youtube clips to follow, including one of the Hendrix song 'Fire' where my old man now has the black wig planted firmly on his head for his awesome solo.


That's what I love about this tour, there are so many bonuses: the wonderful King of Darkness, an extraordinary line up of musicians behind him, the guillotine, the monster plus the fun. Humor and excellence in one fantastic show. 


And that was Rio:

  

Catching up

I have finally been able to load a few pics on here!
First up is a great pic of the band taken backstage:

We are now in Belfast but I need to catch up on a couple of countries/cities/shows.

As I have the worst short and long term memory in history I may well get a few things out of order but here goes.

Porto Alegre, Brazil is such a pretty place, Steve says it is like Portugal so now I need to go there!

We strolled around a little during the day, the shops were very tempting but expensive, although he did buy me a wedding anniversary present that day. 


The show was great but marred a bit by the fact that one of the bands leather stage 'biker' vests got stolen from the stage after soundcheck, so keep your eyes peeled out there, there were only 5 made. 

I took a few pics during soundcheck that day and thought I might have caught the robber red handed in one of them but it was not to be ):

I will be attempting to post some pics yet again at the end of this blog post but the 'interweb' may have different idea's.

Next up was Sao Paulo, the city with 30 million people! The gig was fantastic, the crowd were noisy and enthusiastic plus I had another chance to do camera directing for the jumbo screens which I love. I managed to highlight my man with the black wig on for the Jimi Hendrix song 'Fire' which is hilarious and which has also now been immortalized on a Youtube vid. 

BUT WAIT! I have to tell you about the hotel which was quite ....... interesting........ modern...... darned weird!

From the outside it looked like Noah's Ark but made out of stone and all the hotel windows were round like portholes! 

The first thing that struck us was how dark it was inside, I recon they had joined a new 'Let's Save Electricity' society cos when you got in an elevator and the doors closed you were thrown into almost pitch black apart from a bluish strip light across the top!  This is not good for a man with very poor eyesight and I meant to point that out to them but forgot in the end.

The hallways to the rooms were so dim we were both feeling our way around the walls! (Well, almost)

When we walked into our hotel room, it was also pitch black so after trying a light switch to  no avail, I went towards the 'porthole' window to draw the blind but it was also on a switch and nothing would work at all, not the blind or the lights. Ah ha! I said to myself, more savings! You had to put your room card into a slot by the door then the electricity flowed like wine, but, having walked in, closed the door and crossed the room I then had to feel my way back across to find the slot, telling Steve to stay where he was or he might walk into something.  

There were two big coconuts waiting there like large green pods with a straw sticking out of the side of each one and a neat little 'Welcome' sign set in front. I was fooled at first and thought they were sculptures but I have to say I ended up enjoying them both as the man was not keen at all. 


The frosted glass 'wall' that separated the bedroom area from the bathroom actually split into two halves then folded up towards the ceiling which was so thoughtful, you could have a bath (or something) as your loved one snoozed on the bed, presumably so that you didn't feel lonely

On the small table on my side of the bed was a small black box and it was then that I realized that despite having us walk around in darkness they were showing just how much they really cared at this hotel, they had supplied us with two condoms (:

Next time, Rio de Janeiro


Porto Alegre, Brazil

The 'Boat' Hotel in Sao Paulo

From the roof, can you spot the 3 million people?

The coconuts

The condoms!