chrisg's Tour Diary

We got an early start today to Manchester, as we stopped in Wrexham to eat lunch and pick up Matt, a Friend of Adrienne From University (for the purposes of future diary entries, I shall use the abbreviation FAFU). We arrive for a late, but delicious, lunch courtesy of Matt's parents, who are surprised that we're not bigger. We chat around the lunch table, and get to sample two yummy desserts that Val has cooked up. One is Strawberry Pavlova, a combination of fresh strawberries and whipped cream, with a crust formed by baked meringue. I love baked meringue. It gives me the satisfaction and flavor that I expect, but never get, out of cotton candy. The second dessert was bread and butter pudding, which I believe is the same as our 'bread pudding' (maybe they took 'butter' out of the title to fool health-conscious Californians?) yum yum yum

Matt grabs his bag and we head up to Manchester. Can I just mention that the weather continues to be absolutely gorgeous? We run into the occasional rain, but it only seems to last for a little while, and then it's sunny again.

The Phoenix, our venue in Manchester, offers the most challenging load-in to date. We have to ascend roughly three flights of stairs and then cross a foot bridge to get into the place. We meet Daniel, the promoter, and the Swedish band that will be playing after us, Mollia Falls. It's a five-band bill on a Sunday which makes me a little wary. Five-band bills frighten me in the States, and bars can stay open until 2am there. Here, things are supposed to shut down at 10:30. But it seems like things are under control, so I just busy myself with other things. Mike, another FAFU who has graciously offered us accommodations for the night, shows up with his friend Daniel, and slowly but surely, more and more people start filing in until there's a pretty sizeable crowd. And being that it's a Sunday, I'm very impressed.

Grayson's Hour are first up, and play a lively set. So lively, in fact, that one of their Marshall heads goes caput. Then came Day for Airstrikes, who were an instrumental band with a sound a la Mogwai/Sigur Ros. They had a projectionist showing film behind them, which always makes me a little jealous. Formula 50 were after that, a power pop/punk trio from Liverpool. It's always fun to see a band play that are obviously enjoying themselves. The singer was running around, playing her guitar behind her back, swinging back and forth, and everyone was grinning.

We rushed to get into formation, as the night had (predictably) trended a little late. We only had a chance to play a short set, but oh what fun! Members of the audience signaled their appreciation by howling. Yes, howling. It made me giddy.

Despite my worries, all five bands got to take the stage. Mollia Falls played a beautiful set after us. And as quick as it all started, everything was torn back down, loaded into trucks, and carted away. In the rush, we didn't have proper goodbyes with Daniel or most of the other bands, which was kind of rude of us.

To wind down the evening, we are taken to the Spicy Hut to order Pakistani take-out. We head back to Mike's and chow down. Mmmm. Definitely the best South Asian food we've had so far.

The next morning, we see Matt off at the tram station, and spend some time walking around Manchester with Mike. He takes us to an arcade of shops that's about four stories tall and is littered with tiny stores selling new clothes, vintage clothes, club clothes, accessories, shoes, etc. I pick up a little red leather bracelet, figuring it might add some spice back into my wardrobe. It's been a week, and I'm predictably tired of all of my clothes.

Caffeine is procured, followed by lunch, and then a drum head (the ones on our rented kit have seen much better days). A search for Manchester postcards proves futile. We head back to Mike's house, load the van, and head for Newcastle.