Day Fourteen: Manchester

The Ritz, originally uploaded by Rich in Orderly Manor.

Manchester show is a nice one. Exuberant faces and a nice old room; the Ritz has been here since 1930 or something. The Beatles, The Stone Roses, The Smiths. All were here. I love the audience but that damn barrier is in place once again. Seems standard issue throughout Europe… Every audience in europe screams for India. I like it.

We got our bus today; Steve the driver is really friendly and reminds me a bit of Fish from Marillion in size and features if not accent. I did just say Marillion. Braved the Andale Center of Manchester for some shopping earlier. Half term; crazy with fashionista and not so fashionista kids. Wow. I purchase a pink tie for stage that i know i’ll never quite wear on stage. Even found some White Shoes replacements though there’s no way i’m retiring them just yet. I live on triangle sandwiches when i’m here in England. I mean American triangle sandwiches are bad news; here they are positively healthy and fresh. Anyway, there’s the sandwich report.

More Indian food aftershow (i’m dying) and a quick drink (15 minutes) with some cool locals in the Temple bar (which is actually an old toilet in the middle of a road junction). Nice!

We set off in the bus and not 20 minutes out of the red-brick town there’s a rather alarming sound of a blowout on one of the rear inner tires. Steve fixes it with his bare hands and we’re back on the road within an hour… zzzz.