Current temperatures across Europe are high but not like last week so it looks like a good week to hit Italy. Saturday morning at the Sheraton, Sopot consisted of a 3:30 am wake up call, courtesy of the room below and their in house disco party. I could hardly grumble though as I’m sure I’ve woken plenty of hotel guests before with my system. The hubbub seemed to crossfade into outside noise as a bodybuilding contest was being held and stands were being erected. As much as we loved this place, especially the friendliness of the Polish people, I was ready to leave and found myself downstairs nice and early for the drive to the airport, the GAT and a rendezvous with Joy and Daniella.
In the air, I looked down over the 2+ hour flight and thought of the crew journey, particularly the drivers. A 36 hour trek to get the gear from Gdansk to Lucca. The crew actually took a Ryanair flight on the day off so spent the evening of the day off enjoying lovely Lucca.
At 5pm, the crew were ready for us to sound check. A low key affair as the venue is a public square. Catering was ‘local’ (due to logistics) and not too bad but definitely not our team! Chris, Dave and Scott enjoyed not having to slave away in a hot kitchen whilst Steve, who is normally a buzz of activity, was, a buzz of activity and oversaw the whole operation ensuring it all ran smoothly for band and crew. As I think I mentioned, we no longer have our much loved sound system AND lighting rig, so each show brings with it new challenges as sound and lights, interfaces with local equipment. Tonight’s interface was looking good for sound, not so for lights. Tellson basically had to program the show as we went along leading to some pretty odd lighting moments. Nonetheless, we had a great show and loved every moment of playing in Italy again.
Of course, at the end, everyone rushed to the front in a decidedly orderly fashion and the smiles on the faces told the whole story. According to Tom, one guy proposed to his girlfriend in the front row during Romeo. What a lovely night. It’s so great to be back here.
pic Isabella Lari
