20th September 2019 – Santa Barbara CA

The day off we enjoyed in Santa Monica at the Casa del Mar was mostly spent lying by the hotel pool in glorious late Summer Californian sun but in the evening, Laurie and I had a wonderful meal with Eric, her brother and his wife Leslie at the terribly trendy ‘Elephante’ restaurant nearby. The food was quite stunning, the sunset was beautiful and we celebrated the life of their brother David who sadly passed just a few weeks ago. Eric brought along one of his bottles of Opus One which he bought in 1986. The restaurant decanted it and over the following hour and a half, we enjoyed the taste explosions as the wine took on oxygen from a world 33 years on.

Hardly a moment goes by now as this tour, all-too-quickly, draws towards its conclusion, that we don’t thank our lucky stars to be here and in this band and the next few days will be as much a celebration of life as it is of music. Long may it continue.

Every day seems to be perfect right now as I draw the curtains and look out across the Santa Monica Beach, people carrying surfboards towards the water, including Laurie, who treated Tim, our tour manager to his first surf lesson. Tim did well, managing to stand, first time out. He may have the bug.

Beautiful Santa Barbara, there are few places on earth more picturesque, and each time we visit, it’s easy to understand why you’d want to live here. Flying into the airport on our short hop from LAX, you can drool at the exquisite properties overlooking the water with their secluded swimming pools and tennis courts. Many of the Hollywood greats have chosen to live here.

Our journey was quick, a speedy whizz down to LAX, well not as speedy as we’d have liked as LA traffic is quite notorious. Onto the jet for a 21 minute hop up the coast then into cars again for 15 minutes to arrive at the Bowl for 4pm.

With sound check scheduled for 5pm, we waited until then even though the crew were ready as the sun was full on the stage. We don’t mind a bit of UV but the instruments get very temperamental. The outdoor Barbecue was here once again, just like four years go…to the day!’ The chief BBQ man was cooking Tri-tip, chicken and Salmon. It was sublime. Laurie decided to drive up as we had guests from back home who have a place here, Pippa Blake and Gordon Roddick. It was so nice to see them as the backstage area became quite a scene. Our old friend Bobby Colomby (Blood, Sweat and Tears drummer) was here too as was Michael Keaton, a big fan, with whom it was lovely to chat. What an amazing talent.

Leaving the guests to chat, we realised there was a show to do and we had to get ready. We went on at 7:45 and unsurprisingly had a fantastic time in front af an exuberant Santa Barbara welcome. The evening was perfect as we left the stage and headed back to Santa Monica.