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Exeter Uni Great Hall
Thin Lizzy / FM / The Treatment
1 December 2012
FM Tour Diary: Exeter Uni Great Hall - 1 December 2012
Pinch, punch, first day of the month…
It's around a 170-mile drive to Exeter today so we're leaving Maidenhead at 11am. Jem has given me the Costa Coffee heads-up - there's one about 100 yards up the road from the hotel, sweet. I buy a paper and settle down with a steaming cup of Costa's finest. There doesn't appear to be any heating in here. It's bloody freezing, I swear the a/c is on, very strange. Nevertheless, suitably invigorated I stroll back to the hotel, get my case and meet the guys by the minibus which is getting loaded as I arrive. It's chilly but the sun is shining so it should an ok, albeit long drive.
Off onto the M4 we go and we have a good clear run, joining the M5 all the way to
Exeter and arriving in good time. Jem even managed to briefly get 66 mph out of the
bus by taking it out of gear while going downhill.
We played a gig here at Exeter Uni on the Tough It Out tour back in the day but I
have to admit to having no recollection of the place at all. Thin Lizzy are soundchecking
today. Merv is a massive Lizzy fan and it's a dream come true when he's invited on
stage to play Jailbreak with them on guitar. I manage to get a couple of photos and
video it for him. He's absolutely made up, bless him.
Lizzy finish and our gear goes up on the stage. We soundcheck, it's a very lively room but once the audience is in it will be fine.
I meet up with Jason and Rob from Riviera FM to do an interview for their Christmas Eve show.
Interview over I go and have a bite to eat in the Students Union bar. It's an 8.20pm stage time again so I head back to the dressing room to get ready for the show. We assemble backstage and wait for the lights to go down. Down they go and The Pink Panther strikes up once more… Here we go again it's time to show Exeter what we can do. The show is thankfully hitch-free and we go down great. Everyone in the band is well happy with tonight's performance.
As usual we head off to the merchandise stand and meet some fans to have a chat, sign some stuff and get some photos taken. Steve, Jim, Jem and I retire to the Students Union bar and take advantage of the cheap prices to down a few beers before we leave. We're only staying about 20 miles away tonight which will make a nice change. We load up the bus and hit the road.
En route we stop at a services for a comfort break, it could never be said that we're
a bunch of malnourished individuals but someone spots a McDonalds and we're all in
for a midnight feast. Probably none of us are the slightest bit hungry but what the
hell. We arrive at the hotel just after 1am and it's straight to bed again for the
drummer.
Merv with Thin Lizzy 01 Dec 2012 photo courtesy of PJ
