Thursday 26th June: arrived at airport with Rusty, waited for Daddyo, who came around 1pm. Checked in and hit the bar till boarding time. Nice flight, decent food.

Friday 27th June: landed at Heathrow about noon., Went to Wetherspoons and had a pint until Chapple and The Singer arrived 2 hours later on their own flight. Was met by a member of our crew, Vince, and he set off for BATH about 5.30pm and arrived at our hotel at 8pm.

After several pints at the hotel bar, Ringo and Toni arrived and even more pints flowed down the old hatch. The Swedes flights were delayed and they’re expectant ‘midnight arrivals’ faded into a 3.30am ‘Dead Man Walking’ impersonation. Ringo and Toni had already gone to bed, so I was alone, waiting for our Glorious Ensemble. First thing I noticed was that Violinist Caroline had shaved her head! I hit the hay about 4am.

Saturday 28th June: woke around 9 am, just in time for breakfast. Everyone gathered in the lobby by 2pm and we set off for Glastonbury at 2.30pm, it took 45 minutes and it’s only 21 kilometres.

About 4 pm our dressing room were ready and we were squeezed between Interpol, The Coral and the Super Furries. Mike Stipe and Scott McCaughey (from REM) were taking pictures with those Interpol guys (who were all pretending to be weird). While some of us chatted with The Coral. Scott was walking and I stopped him and reminded him that we’d met in Seattle ’98 (he remembered) when Daddyo and I were touring with Michael Shelly and Shonen Knife.

I left our Area and met up with 2 Scottish Troublemakers, Keith and Paul. We had some beers and stuff, and also with Scottish Su who was sportin’ ‘Pippy Longstocking’ ponytails and a proper buzz.

Headed back to the dressing room and got ready for the show. We were almost ready to play when EVERYTHING went wrong. Daddyo’s bass pedal had problems, Rusty’s amp blew up, one of my amps blew and the other was barely alive. Our tour manager, Glenn Povey, rented this hear and we wanted to kick his ass, bigtime. But they fetched Rusty a Vox Ac 30 and I made do and we rocked, man, we rocked. Seeing all those people with smiles on their faces, seeing people cry with JOY, I felt like the proudest man on earth. Glastonbury had the sweetest people there, both working folks and fans alike.

Sunday 30th June: after the show, we went and listened to a bit of Radiohead and then went to Lulu’s café, where the party raged till they kicked everyone out at 4am. Keith was wearing a kilt the whole day and some Scottish security guard challenged him to prove he wasn’t hiding his ‘Scottish rose. Keith raised his kilt and flashed his bum! I laughed my arse off. By this time Paul was as drunk as a skunk. I said ‘Paul’s so drunk he can’t talk.’ Keith said, ‘Last night he was so drunk he couldn’t breathe.’ Keith was serious but I didn’t believe him.

The sun started to come up around 4.30am and I passed out on the open field, face up. I work up at 9am, sunburned and dehydrated, went to Keith’s tent and slept till noon.

Around 2pm, Keith and Paul dove me back to Bath and I crawled into bed, but not before showering with nothing but mud coming off my body. I fell asleep at 2.30pm that Sunday and swore off booze forever.

Around 8pm, Rusty knocked on the door and asked if I wanted to get a pint. I got dressed and him, Chapple and I went downstairs and watched Glastonbury Highlights while nursing Castlemaine XXXX lagers all night. Finally, at 1.30am, they showed LOVE perform, ‘Between Clark and Hilldale, I phoned the Singer, ‘Quick channel 2,’ I said. We enjoyed watching that a lot. Went to sleep at 2am.

Monday 30th June: woke up around noon and Chapple and I walked to the town centre for kebabs. We sat down on a bench while we ate and watched the Bath citizens carry out their daily business.

On our way back to the Hotel it began to rain. The bus was ready to go and we drove 2 hours to Cardiff, Wales. Checked into the Hotel at 3pm and went to the Venue to soundcheck. A bit after that, got lost trying to find the Venue and asked a local for help. But this was no local, but instead, Martyn Samuels – the UK ex-patriot now living in South Africa, he pointed me in the right direction. I met up a few minutes later with him, Dukie Anderson and a Swedish guy name Ake, who sports a Forever Changes tattoo and everything. We left that pub and went to a different one where other Love fans were, including CARYNE. Sold 10 copies of ‘Demos Under Construction’ at the Pub. Yippee!

Went back to the Club (Corn Exchange) to meet up with promoter, Alan Jones, to sort out some things out. Got there just in time, as the crew were nicking our sandwiches and beer like it was going out of style.

Soundcheck was good. Except my amp wasn’t doing so good. The show that night proved the point… when the amp blew during ‘The Daily Planet’. Our guitar tech, Pete Lollard, was on the spot and the opening band’s amp was there for the next song. The Club was hot, humid and sweaty with no a/c and no fans. The show was still good and the people wanted a 2nd encore, but it was too hot for The Singer, especially. Some people ‘booed’ us for it but, hey, what can you do? Wales is very beautiful, I might add. Very, very beautiful.

After the show, I chatted with some fans, including ANDY, a journalist who’d written up our Glastonbury show for ‘Freeserve’. Said Goodbyes and thanks to Martyn, Caryne and Dukie. Good folks, them.

Got back to the Hotel about 1am, has some beers in the room with Chapple. Watch 20 minutes of some really stupid Traci Lords movie and hit the hay.

Tuesday 1st July: wake up call at 9am. Had breakfast and then the bus set off at 10am for Nottingham. Me and guitar tech, Pete, discussed checking my pedal board for a defect and changing to a UK electrical system (as opposed to a US system with a converter). When we arrived at the Hotel we only had 1 hour before going to soundcheck. The singer had an interview with the Sunday Telegraph at 1pm and then it’s a photo session for the same paper. I betta make time to sell CDs… well it’s 3pm Tuesday and we’re arrived at the Hotel and I’m going to set this pen down.

Mike Randle