...so it was home and a day off before the London gig, which was well appreciated as we were all shattered. The rest of the band had been around Europe the previous week and I'd been working at the TV channel all week, then to Newcastle for the stand-up, then onto the bus.

 

So our next gig was the ICA and it was so sold out that we could barely get any guests in ourselves. Security was tight too - the big Ivan Drago-like bouncer wouldn't let my mum backstage and nearly wouldn't let Tim backstage too, until he saw his pass. Some bouncers love their jobs a bit too much, don't they?

 

Anyway, the Lovegods played and I (and most in the crowd I would imagine) thought they were awesome. They had real stage presence and i'd be surprised if they weren't signed up at some point during the next year. hairs on the back of your neck, etc.

 

We came on and had a really good gig - for the first time at a Tim Booth gig (that I've played at, anyway) there were negative hecklers. The first was a ridiculous bloke at the front, a grating alpha-male type who seemingly, in spite of his circumstances (i.e. surrounded by fans of the man he was attempting to better with cheap lazy lines), was determined to get the last word in a very tedious manner.

 

Tim dealt with it and I'm sure you've read about him on the forum. I know nothing about the man but he seemed exactly the type (deep breath as I plumb the depths of my mind to recollect some of my therapy training) who takes out the unresolved problems he has had with male members of his immediate family on other males that he directly or indirectly considers a threat, in an inappropriate manner.

 

Or he was pissed.

 

The gig was great - allegedly, according to some friends of mine who came, not as great as the gig at St James's Church in July...but still great. Big hello to fellow comic Phil Zimmerman, who showed up unexpectedly at the show and is a huge James fan.

 

Our tour manager forced us to go home - really. He put us all in taxis and sent us home because we had to be at the airport about six hours later to head to Athens for our gig. No partying at all. Home by twelve. That sucked...

 

Well, I was home by twelve. Our tour manager Tec and sound man Chris had to unload the gear in Lee's lock up in Brighton. Lee gave them the keys...but forgot the main padlock key and subsequently had to get up at 4am to wake up his mate who had a duplicate key etc etc etc...

FRIDAY NOVEMBER 12 - ATHENS

 

The upshot of this was that Tec, our sound man Chris and Lee got no sleep at all and were very grumpy the next day. Lee compensated for his lack of sleep by dressing up EXACTLY like Al Pacino's 70's creation SERPICO. This cheered us all up immeasurably at the airport. Actually, it didn't cheer Chris and Tec up. They still hated him at that moment.

 

Then it was Athens! Checked into a lovely hotel room, then we took ages setting up and soundchecking, unfortunately leaving our support band Cloudscape with very little soundchecking time at all.

 

They played, we sat in the dressing room and ate, I knocked over the plate of food that was perched on my knee, everybody laughed at me ('Ha ha ha you tosser') then we went on stage and had a blinder.

 

When we play abroad I have to play different drumkits. This one was a dream. Means nothing to anyone else, but made my night easy. We played with a lot of energy and focus and pulled off, for me, the best gig of the tour.

 

The crowd went nuts and so did I. At the end of the show the guy who was looking after us (I'm cursing myself. He was awesome and I can't remember his name) told us there was a party for us in a club down the road.

 

I was like a six year old with ADD who'd just been offered a supermarket sweep at Toys R Us.

 

Me: Come on guys, let's go, now. Let's not fuck around, LET'S JUST GO.

 

Everyone else: Chill out

 

Eventually it was Robin, Tim and I who went to the party - I can't remember the name of the club but we went in there and got mobbed. Robbie went to the toilet and I sat with Tim on a couch in the club as someone plonked a bottle of champagne down on the table in front of us.

 

A James song came over the sound system and as I got up to go to the toilet as well Tim grabbed me, laughing, and said 'You can't fucking leave me on my own when they're playing a James song!'

 

He had a point.

 

I got a little snapshot into the post-gig life of a proper rockstar that night. It was all about Tim but it was an amazing new experience for me. There is comment on the forums about Tim being appreciated more outside of the UK and I have to say on the evidence in Athens I would have to agree.

 

The three of us were signing autographs all night, getting free drinks by the bucket load and generally being the centre of attention in the club. It was cool for me to be around, as well as the fact that Tim never normally goes out after a gig, so it was also quite good to chill with him too.

 

Tim left at around 4am and by this stage Rob and I were hammered - me more so than Rob. We made it back to the hotel about 6.

SATURDAY NOVEMBER 12 - THESSALONIKI

We had a quick flight to Thessaoiniki (Christ, I think that's how it's spelled) and arrived at a venue that still appeared to be being built. It was lovely though, a large open space with a massive stage and a rabbit's warren of backstage rooms.

After dropping some gear off at the venue (as well as dropping Lee 'Muddy' Baker off, because he very altruistically volunteered to help set up the equipment) we were driven back to the hotel.

The hotel was amazing and by far the nicest we had ever stayed in. I'd only end up spending roughly around three hours in it total, but it was a real piece of work. It was the kind of hotel room you wonder round with your jaw hanging open for about thirty seconds before you do anything, pressing light switches on and off, turning on the taps etc.

After a shower with the water pressure of a firehose we went back to the venue via minibus, soundchecked and then went downstairs to the backstage area to have dinner and sleep. Highlight of this brief period of the day was undoubtedly Jeff the soundman falling asleep on his chair, turning over in his 'sleep' then the chair and him crashing to the floor in what looked like slow motion.

When gigtime arrived the place was rammed to capacity - apparently there were 200 people outside the venue too... it further emphasised the difference in the way people react to Tim outside of the UK.

In Greece it was a very different vibe, a couple of notches higher in terms of the excitement surrounding the gig and Tim's presence. Whether that's about Tim's profile abroad being higher or British people being more low key in their behaviour I'm not sure, but the crowd were awesome again tonight and it felt like an event.

We played well. It was the last gig of the tour and our vibe was different...instead of pushing our music and our energy out towards the crowd it felt like we were waiting for them to come to us tonight, which they did and it ended up being a slightly more laid back, but very tight performance.

Around twenty minutes after the gig I came back out onto the stage to ask about our transport to the club (being itchy to go and get hammered and dance like an idiot) and there were a cluster of people waiting at the front of the stage. I went down to sign some autographs and met two dudes who regularly post on the forum, Manolis and Flashboy.

What was amusing about the meeting was that I recognised them from their names. Manolis is the guy's real name and he introduced himself as such.

Flashboy isn't the other guy's real name, but after I recognised Manolis' name through the forum he said to me' And I'm Flashboy!' I had a puzzled few seconds before it sank in. They were both very cool.

We saw Manolis and Flashboy again at The Arthouse club...things get a bit hazy for me here. The owner was a lovely guy who plonked a couple of bottles of vodka on the table in front of us.

Memories vaguely jump out at me...Lisa and I being told to stop dancing on the sofa, Stuart (our monitors guy) and I blethering on at each other for a while and Chris, our soundman, evil grin as he passed me a vodka that was way too strong for human consumption.

I think I ended up leaving the club at 7.30. I remember being led back to the hotel and I have a sneaking feeling that I was told I was being taken to another party, because I remember getting to the hotel, feeling cheated and then just setting off down the road and within five minutes getting myself lost, eventually resorting to showing my hotel key to strangers and getting gradually directed back to the hotel.

I managed to wake up twenty minutes before we left and then it was to the plane and home.

Big hellos from this tour to Dave Brown, Graham and Marie, Stephanie, Joe and Mike from Glasgow, Hannah and her boyfriend from Manchester, Phil Zimmerman, Manolis, Flashboy and all the people in Greece who looked after us, put up with us and told us all the best places to go.