Saturday, December 30th 2006
Earls Courts dates are now "done and dusted" which brings us to the end of this run. Earls Court [for those who don't know] is a legendary venue in the heart of London. The venue has an 18 thousand person capacity. Maiden sold out two nights. Pretty amazing. The shows went great both nights.There was a moment of excitement, on the first night ,when one of the power mains providing electricity to the stage caught fire stopping Maiden's show for a full 17 minutes. Of course, the band handled it expertly when Bruce, the singer, picked up a megaphone and led the crowd in some holiday sing-alongs. Power was restored and the show went on. Next post...... the end of tour wrap up. I hope everyone's Christmas was Merry.
Tommy
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__________________________________________________Wednesday, December 20th 2006
Today is Dublin Day. Just for the day, though. We flew in at 8am and we are are flying back to London at 10pm. Like I said Dublin Day. I am looking forward to spending more than 8 hours here someday.
I have also put together a V-Blog with some video footage..
Tomorrow is a day off then on to the mighty Earl's Court in London.
Tommy
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__________________________________________________Friday, December 15th 2006
It's cold in Scotland.We just got to the venue in Glasgow. We drove in this morning from Manchester.It was an awesome drive, very scenic. We listened to the Finnish band H.I.M. on the stereo. Great stuff. Also lots of sheep in the fields. Very pastoral.
We had our friend Steve P. film a little of the show last night, so I will try to put together a V-Blog next day off. Otherwise, we rock Glasgow tonight at 7pm.
Tommy
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__________________________________________________Tuesday, December 12th 2006
Stop me if you've heard this one before...... We're in a van, driving to Cardiff, Wales. My brand new spectacular RED SPARKLE "Rolling Thunder" Slingerland drum kit in the back, not to mention, Richie's guitar processing rack. So, stopped off at the services just outside of Oxford. I THOUGHT I smelled something burning. You guessed it, the clutch burned out. Now, normally, [at least when in America] you would have a plan for this kind of thing. Here in the UK you must stay with your disabled vechicle until help arrives or you are open to procsecution. Now the trick is to find a way to get the 114 miles we have yet to go to make the show by 7pm.Steve A. gets on the phone, finds us a car service to come and pick us up at the Thorhill Park and Ride right in front of the sign that reads "Welcome To Oxford". We call Vic from Essex to come get the van [so noboby gets arrested,remember if you abandon a vehicle it's of with your head]. Finally, Glen, our new driver, arrives to the rescue and we begin the torturous ride to Cardiff.
Why torturous you ask? Cause it's now just enough time to make it to the show if we do 80 mph the whole way and don't run into any traffic. Off we go. Now to Glen's credit he has taken this task of getting us to the gig in time very seriously. 60 mph...70 mph.... then finally 90 mph.We are flying down the motorway. Frantic calls to the venue and the Maiden production office has the production manager [the very capable and experienced Dicky Bell] waiting outside the Cardiff International Hall to guide us in. We zoom through the gate and literally run on stage to the roar of the fantastic Cardiff crowd. We made it!!! I am now 5 years older and not that much wiser from the whole ordeal. The show must go on. Although, I did hear Richie say, as we were getting out of the car " This is really exciting". It's always a matter of perspective.
Tommy
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__________________________________________________Sunday, December 10th 2006
Day off today in Essex.Tomorrow we start the UK run.Same lineup:Lauren, Trivium and then Iron Maiden. First show is in Cardiff, Wales. We leave tomorrow morning to drive to the gig. So.... day off means such exciting events as laundry and shopping at Tesco for hair gel.
I will keep you posted
Tommy
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__________________________________________________Thursday, December 7th 2006
This photo just taken by our tech Ben. Randy, Me and Richie at the venue in Stuttgart. We spent the evening in a lovely Christmas market in the town center. I bought a 2 piece skull ring for 5 Euros. I decided if I was going to be on tour in Europe, I needed a skull ring. Although I was hinting about wanting one from my family for Christmas. If not I could use a new tie.
Tomorrow it's off to Dortmund.
Tommy
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__________________________________________________Friday, December 5th 2006
I am at the venue in Zurich. We are finished with the shows in Milan. We took the train from Italy to Switzerland. The scenery on the trip was fantastic. Lots of mountains and rivers.Pretty much looked like a postcard from beinning to end.
We spent some time in the old town in Zurich earlier today.It's a very clean city, with lots of very quaint buildings. Quite a change from Milan.We are off to Germany tomorrow. I will post some photos from Zurich.
Gotta go to sound check......
Tommy
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__________________________________________________Friday, December 2nd 2006
The Barcelona show was the loudest we have had on the tour.When Maiden came out the crowd was louder than the band.And for us the show went great also. We had a few friends come out, Steve and Alex. Both proper rock fans and great guys to hang with AND more knowledgeable about music than even any of us.
A Little bit of unfortunate drama at the Barcelona show, our good friend Johnny B. stepped on a case that had wheels on it. The case ,of course, slid sending Johnny to the arena floor. He broke his right wrist, bruised his side and got a lump on his head.We saw him the next day at the airport with his arm in a cast and very swollen.I think he will rejoin us in the UK.
Tomorrow a report from the two Milan shows were are doing.Until then..... Oh and the photo above is Lauren and I in the Las Romblas area of Barcelona.
Tommy