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Sunday 11th June 2000 
On to Aschaffenburg, after a day off in Frankfurt, which also involved the biggest thunderstorm I've ever with seen or heard. Really poor and expensive Holiday Inn, I don't much moan about hotels, but what a dump it was. There was also an American Football team, the Frankfurt Galaxy staying, those guys were BIG! I was in the lift with 3 of them, I felt like a PORG (person of restricted growth), I tell you, if it had been Jeff there, they might have trodden on him! Is Gordon Brown? Did Wilson Picket? Oh yes, the gig...We had a new opening act, and we happen to think she's vellee good. Her name's Christina Lux, a singer songwriter type thing, sings in English, and she has a lovely album out. If anyone's interested to get a copy, her site is: www.christinalux.de 
These halls with perspex roofs are great for daytime events, but not for rock music. We went on in daylight, at 9.15; it could just as well have been 2.30, plus which the perspex doesn't make for a good sound for the Willhelm (German for Billy). I had a blinding time though, as long as there's a few people you can have a vibe and a laugh with, and you know that they're getting off on what you're doing, as that tiger from the Frosties advert (one for the Fijian fans there) it's Grrrreat.Then it was off to a rocking town, Stuttgart, and the Congress Centrum, one of my favourite gigs. As fab gear as usual, hot and sweaty, packed with really rocking out Quo fans, right in your face, just the way it should be. I had a fantastic time, then Rick comes off and says it's the worst Quo show in 17 years. Sometimes it makes you want to tear your own head off, I tell you. I normally don't place a lot of emphasis on the on stage sound. As you may know, we use an in-ear monitor system to hear each other, it's a bit like listening to a Walkman. The bass is never as full sounding as you would get on a half decent stereo system, but you can normally hear a bit of everything else. I just thought you might like to know that, that's all, not padding. 
When we came off at Stuttgart, I could wring my shirt out from sweat, and, you guessed, Paul didn't even
secrete a single bead. I'm starting to think he might be a Vulcan or some kind of alien being.
Day off in the beautiful town of Fulda which is apparently the dead centre of Germany. One of those fortunate times when the hotel's good, the weather's great and you're in a cool location. Fantastic...Next day, a big outdoor show in Hünfeld, lots of billy. A good thing about Germany, (and there's loads of them. It's one of my favourite countries to tour) is that Councils sponsor events, so they don't need to make a vast profit. The ticket price was about a tenner, but at that price, the whole town comes, so it was a bit like playing to new fans. 4500 times didn't exactly raise the roof, (which was handy, as there wasn't one, arf arf) but with the repertoire we have, by the end of our set, we were really tearing it up. Lots of Brit billy there as well. By the way, what does "Shag it" mean? It was on a poster. Dur... Rick also then said it was the BEST show he'd done in ages, I give up. 
Penultimate (that's the one before the end) show of this leg of the FITLC tour, in a Russian built amphitheatre in Steinbach which is in the old East Germany. Great location for a show, right in the middle of a forest, and completely sold out. Again the Brits were there, it apparently took them 5 and a half hours to find the place, but they made it in the end. Matthew definitely earned his wings, he tried to catch a stick at the end of Roll Over Lay Down, and fell backwards off the riser, knocking down lights and cabinets as he went. Lucky guy, the cabs went away from him as he hit them, just has a big lump on the back of the head, but could have been a lot worse. We all had a great gig, Matt is really getting the picture now, watch him go!! Well, that's another, if slightly humourless instalment done, it's just that I only woke up at 1.00, such a rock star, I'm obviously too straight at this time of day. Don't forget to vote.. Chooos (I don't know how they spell it)  xxx
AB, je t'aimexxxxx |
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