TOUR DIARY: Glasgow [BACKSTAGE PASS: Youthmovies]

TOUR DIARY: Glasgow

Posted on April 18, 2008 11:33 AM
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Monday – Glasgow

Not even including swapping our gear from one beat up royal mail LDV to another identical one belonging to Irie and booking ours in for repair, somehow it takes nine hours to get the Glasgow today, so everything that happens, happens in the van. Paul Simon's Graceland always picks up the mood on drives like this, we also have a go on some Death Cab For Cutie, The Smiths, I Was A Cub Scout, The National and The Black Keys.

We see two clouds that look like a velocer raptor rutting a mammoth and Sam manages to sing a song about it for what seems like at least an hour, it even has a 'raptor rap' as the middle eight, Sam's kind of like the guy from Shine. We stop for a few minutes so Danny (our tour manager and driver) can stretch his legs and remember the man he used to be. A fighter jet passes overhead, and can be no more than a hundred metres up, the volume and force makes the van practically jump up toward the plane for a mechanical high five.

Driving through Scotland is a total feast, it's beautiful. Finally we get to the venue, King Tut's Wah Wah Hut, it's five minutes before doors so we scramble our stuff down the fire escape and hope for the best when it's time to play. King Tut's is a great venue, they really take care of you regardless of whether you're a support band or not / five hours late or not… with a couple of notable exceptions (foremost Ejector Seat in the south, Safety Dance and the legendary Hull Adelphi) this isn't something that you see in England, it has far more of a European style of running the show which makes the night go smoother for everyone.

As always it's a total pleasure to play to a Glasgow crowd, they're warm and upbeat, not as earnest and self-conscious as some southern crowds. After the show we find ourselves at a dreadful bar called BOX, the music stinks and is loud as fuck, but the company's good (Dead Meadow are feeling loose tonight) and Danny manages to seduce a crate of free beer out of a girl from the past who's working behind the bar… though things are looking promising for Danny tonight unfortunately he's completely lost his mojo.