I only realise that today is a Friday when I head out of the venue in the afternoon and see the first of the ‘tailgaters’ setting up in the parking lot. This is something that doesn’t seem to happen in Europe – maybe it’s the weather. For the uninitiated, what happens is that folks arrive way early for the show and have a barbeque / picnic / party out of the backs of their cars – all getting into the spirit of things with music blaring from the car stereo. This should mean that by the time the band are on, they’ll be on fine fine form.

And indeed they are!

When the guys got to the end of the first attempt at The Scientist in the acoustic section a few days ago in Chicago, Chris claimed it was the first time they’d ever tried playing it that way “and would very likely be the last”. Seems that perseverance has paid off!

There’s another “mad-dash-extra-encore” tonight. This time, Green Eyes followed by The Dubliners. Tonight, The Dubliners is shortened to a whip-fast super-compact length and is all the better for it. It’s a nice mad blast that’s over in a blink. It makes the perfect blow out to close proceedings and the fellas wave their goodbyes and are gone.

Me, I’m back with the crew for a few days, as we head off for the Pemberton festival. It seems somehow fitting. I turned 30 leaving this venue in the back of a tourbus some years ago. My wonderful friends (the same ones I’m travelling with this evening) converted the back lounge of the bus into a most excellent Hawaiian bar. I still have the fantastically tasteless shirt somewhere. The Margarita hangover, thankfully is some way behind me. I can’t vouch for how the day off tomorrow is going to turn out, however…

R42