Newcastle O2 Academy
FM / It Bites / Vega

20 March 2013

FM Tour Diary: Newcastle O2 Academy - 20 March 2013

I woke up about 9.30am feeling fairly spritely so decided to get up and have a Costa. Jick was also stirring from his tower of pillows and decided to join me. Very light snow is falling as we head out into Halifax and it's bloody cold. As you probably know I'm partial to a shot of caffeine in the morning to get everything working but Jick is altogether in another league to me. The lunatic orders a large Americano with 8 shots of coffee, what a joy he's going to be today.

Yesterday's day off turned out to be a real hoot. The bowling was a great shout. Team Rockville 1 was captained by Merv ably assisted by Steve O, Jem, Rich (sound), Jo (keys) and Adrian (mgr). Team Rockville 2 fielded Jickster (merch), Chris (gtrs), Steve C (tour mgr), Hannah (P. Inn), Jim (captain) and myself. Rockville 1 took an early lead but a stunning fightback from Jim meant he led his team to victory. Final score: Rockville 2 - 494 points vs. Rockville 1 - 471 points. We celebrated/commiserated with the obligatory curry and beer.

Back to today… We get on the road by 12.30pm, there had been weather warnings for the North East but the weather is ok and the roads are clear.

We enter "The Toon" just after 2.30pm and with our Geordie Tour Guide Jick giving directions we are soon at the O2 Academy. We've been moved up to the larger venue which is great news.

Jeez it's bloody cold in the venue, the gear is going up and we're soon making some noise. We have three lovely young ladies joining us today for the VIP Pledge. We've also got It Bites joining us today for the next four shows along with Vega. Soundcheck goes without a hitch and the onstage sound is absolutely kicking. Both opening acts have had soundchecks every night and tonight is no exception which is great.

I decide to give my cymbals a clean, bloody hell it's hard work but they're looking lovely and shiny so it was worth all effort. Smelling strongly of Paiste cymbal cleaner I head down to our dressing room for a shave.

All is going well until I nick my right nostril and the claret is flowing and won't bloody stop. I have a shower and thankfully my nose has stopped bleeding so I won't be needing a blood transfusion after all. With show time fast approaching I get changed into my stage gear.

Once again we congregate side-stage. I'm more nervous tonight than I have been at any other show so far. It's probably because of last night's problems but fingers crossed all will be fine tonight.

The interval music fades… the lights go down… I climb the riser and get behind the kit. Everything is thankfully working a treat, let's show The Toon what we're made of! It's a big stage and it's still sounding fantastic. We settle early, this is going to be goodie. It's a great crowd and although the last time we played the smaller room it was a hot and sweaty affair I much prefer this venue. We've swapped the set around a bit and it seems to be flowing much better. We leave the stage with The Toon's cheers ringing in our ears.

It's back to the dressing room and everyone is really happy with how tonight went. We go out to the merch stand and meet some fans and the VIP Pledge girls for signing and photos. We bid our farewells and return to the dressing room to pack our stuff away for the journey back to Halifax. We arrive back at 2.30am and I'm in bed by 2.40am, tired but happy.

Until tomorrow… Night all.