Woke up with the tour bus parked in a bus station. The venue of was very central so there was no way of parking the bus anywhere near it to load in the gear. Fortunately they had arranged for a van to come and collect our gear and take it to the venue for us. No headline show tonight, we were supporting the mighty Glenn Hughes! Only 45 minute set, yes!
I had a chilled morning before all that happened and managed to get a bit of PlayStation action in. I played a platform game called Klonoa: Door To Phantomile that I remembered by friend from school used to own and I had recently read somewhere that it was an 'overlooked gem'. Pretty much a kids game but was still fun and tricky in parts nevertheless. Hopefully I can complete it before the end of this tour. Anyway, enough nerd talk!
Load in was a ball ache but had to be done. Luckily there was an area behind the stage to set up so I got to listen to Glenn Hughes' band soundcheck whilst setting up my kit. Amazing band, drummer sounded excellent too! I got big into Deep Purple about 5 years ago and have fond memories of 'Highway Star' being played on tape in my dads car when I was a kid. The Glenn Hughes era was actually my favourite so I felt great getting on as support for this show. We have previously shared festival lineups with him but have never been able to stick around long enough to watch his set.
Our soundcheck was a bit of nightmare. Todd was getting feedback problems from a mysterious source. I was having difficulty with my IEM mix as the panning didn't seem to be working properly. After some experimentation we figured out it was down to the headphones themselves. So after soundcheck I gave them a clean and pulled out a considerable amount of ear wax...gross! I think it helped a little bit as both the left and right sides seemed more balanced now.
The actual gig was great and I managed to film most of it so hopefully I can upload a video very soon. We cleared the stage and packed away the gear as quickly as possible and tried our best not to get in the way of the headliners whilst doing so (as is the way to do it). Managed to grab a quick shower as I wanted to catch as much of Glenn's set as possible. Frustratingly they played one of my favourite 'Purple songs called 'Sail Away' whilst I was in the shower! I absolutely love the main riff in that song and it sounds really funky for a rock band.
The venue was nice and there was a balcony seating area reserved for the bands and guests so I watched the rest of the set from up there with a couple of bottles of Stella Artois. The city of Leuven is the home of Stella Artois so it had to be done really! Actually watching the band from the front confirmed that they were all brilliant musicians and the drummer was actually incredible...one of the best I've ever seen actually! His name is Ash Sheehan so make sure you go and check him out! I filmed his 10 minute drum solo on my phone, shame I was so far back because it was mind blowing! The kind of drum solo that non drummers can be wowed by also a solo that all drummers can appreciate the skill and talent required! Lots of flashy bits but just excellent drumming! I got to meet him after the show and he was so kind - top bloke! In fact the whole band were super nice and complimentary about our band. Soren Andersen, the guitarist actually mixed my dad's solo album that is out on October 25th. Very nice guy and top guitarist. Sadly, I didn't get to meet Glenn but nevermind.
We had to rush off as we had a 10 hour drive through the night ahead of us to park at the next venue in France.
To be continued...
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