Running Out.

San Sebastian or Donostia as it is known in Basque must be one of the most beautiful cities of this tour. Situated on the Northern coast of Spain near the border with France, its beaches and coastline are dramatic and beautiful. The old town is a great place to wander and eat. Something I would have done in a heartbeat except that my hotel room had the most extraordinary balcony which just cried out ‘sunbathe’. The sun was out and so was my sun lotion, the very last dregs as it turned out. We are now in the final days of this wonderful tour and everything seems to be running out. Toothpaste, Shampoo, Nurofen and sun block. What isn’t running out is our enthusiasm for playing each night. Normally by now, there would be some seriously tired muso’s up on that stage, but I get the feeling that if we had to, we could run and run with this one. So, sunbathing it was, with a gentle Northerly airflow blowing off the Bay of Biscay, the temperature was perfect. When the lobby call to leave for the venue arrived, I was perfectly toasted.
Today’s bullring was a modern building which apparently is no longer used for bullfights. Fine by me except that one wonders why there is still sand and dust on the main floor of the arena, something which had the crew scratching their heads over and for most of them, dusting off the gear throughout the baking hot afternoon. It was hot in there as even though the roof was half open, they opened the side which allowed the harsh afternoon sun to shine directly onto the stage. The rigging was unusual in that the PA and Lights were ‘flown’ from the sliding roof. An incredible bit of rigging if you ask me.
George’s ‘pets’ met their gruesome end tonight.
With only one more show to go after this, there was a lot of logistical wardrobe nonsense to take care of; by this I mean the distribution of clothes and collectables which have accumulated in the wardrobe cases over the past four months. One thing on my checklist was to get the catering team to sign what was left of the Touring Cookbooks which will be available here (shop) in the next few days. If when I make these available, don’t worry if you don’t manage to get hold of one of the limited number of Limited edition copies, I will be doing another print run.
And so to show number 69. What a show. What a crowd, what a noise. I seem to have said these things rather a lot here in Spain but there’s really no other way to say it. It has been a fantastic trip and tonight’s show was as much fun as any. Particular attention was paid to Paraguay as when Mark introduced Ianto, he said “and he’s gonna play the whole song tonight”. Referring of course to last night’s show when Ianto upended the band and ended the song a verse early. Much mirth.
The runner was swift and we all ended up in the fabulous Maria Christiana hotel bar. The bar staff were fantastic and the drinks flowed. It didn’t end there. Our last night in a hotel, what better place to finish off but on my balcony with music blaring and a case full of beer and wine. Into the wee hours we drank, toasting this magnificent tour. Fortunately, I replenished my Nurofen stock at the gig!