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DON'T TRY THIS AT HOME;
"Vino tinto, Chatis Y Rock n Roll en Barcelona and Valencia!"
It's about 2pm on Saturday and I just finished lunch and am headed to Madrid on a comfy train, riding through the beautiful Spanish countryside. I should be to my hotel by 3:30, to which I will change the strings on my and Arthur's guitar. Last night's show in Valencia was THE BEST SHOW period. Hands down! We finally put it all together in one really wonderful show. But let me talk about the Barcelona day a little bit, ok?
Our show in Barcelona was marred by a variety of technical problems, plus Arthur broke a string during SIGNED DC but we had a spare so it was ok. But we had sound problems the whole night and Dave Chapple's bass was falling in and out of the mix so you understand how frustrating it was! But we still put on a good show I thought and I'm not certain people understood the extent of our dilemma. The Bikini club, where we played in Barcelona, was packed and some nutty guy kept yelling something from the audience. Arthur finally tossed a towel at the guy and hit him right in his bald spot! Right before the show I spotted Paul Barr, the Scottish bloke who'd flown in with his girlfriend to see the show. Unfortunately, I didn't get the chance to chat, as the club pretty much tossed all the fans as soon as the show was over. But Paul and I can chat at the one of the Scottish shows, hopefully. Also, there was a nice lady named Ester who said hello. It turned out that her sister, Angeles (who now lives in Japan with her husband, Steve) had seen us in Pradejon, Spain, in 1994 and I gave Steve and Angeles my hotel room because they couldn't find one anywhere. So I did that and roomed with one of the other guys. It is indeed a small world. One of the funniest moments in the show came during the middle of "The Red Telephone", where Arthur sang," I've been here once, I've been here Dos!" Also, right before the show, we bumped into an American named Nic who was with his French girlfriend. They'd seen us at the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles in May and now were on holiday and, like Paul Barr, planned their trip to include a LOVE show. Now THAT'S FANS! The band that's opening all the Spanish shows, Bondage, we good at the Barcelona show but were better last night in Valencia. The average age at these shows in Spain appear to be in the low to mid 20's. Not bad for records made about 35 years ago! I also must add that the girls have been looking mighty good at these Spain shows (sorry, that was a tease for my friend Morley back in LA). And the red wine has been quite splendid. From the minute we arrived in the venue last night (as our van pulled up, fans started running along shouting ARTHUR LEE! ARTHUR LEE! ARTHUR LEE!), I had a good feeling about the show. Gene, Daddyo and I went out to hear Bondage's set and they were great. But when we took the stage, it was something magical. When we left the stage, I knew I was part of something special that night. And later, as we piled in the van, Gene offered two English fans, Mike and his very lovely daughter, Becky, a ride back to the hotel, since we were all staying in the same hotel. She wanted her pix taken with Arthur and he obliged but when the pix were snapped she'd covered her face because she couldn't believe she was standing next to Arthur! Back at the hotel, her father, Mike, tried to show his thanks by buying everyone a round (as he'd done earlier in the hotel…I forgot that part!), but the hotel bar was closed (it was 2:30am!!!) so no drinks from that place! I received
my wake up call around 9am (argh!!!!) and by 10 we were piling into
the van to get to the train station. Tonight's show in Madrid will
be our 5th show in 5 days. Then we finally get a much needed day
off, which I plan to use for swimming a bit and relaxing a bit,
before flying to Edinburgh to rock them Scots!
Mike Randle |
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