Got up as the bus was set to leave B’ham. The laugh that morning was how drunk I’d gotten and then Ross declared an unpaid £5.60 bar tab that was unclaimed by everyone. A quick fetch by Ross produced a receipt with my signature on it. I still denied it.

As the bus continued its travels towards Bath, I became motion sick but held on until we pulled to the hotel in Bath, to which I ‘mad-dashed’ to the loo and puked like a champ. Felt much better as the bus went on to park behind the Bath Pavilion, which we arrived at about 3pm. Club had sandwiches and snacks and stuff and so we partook whilst the crew unloaded and set up. Chilled on the bus and watched some TV. Then went into the venue and saw Caryne and her son and daughter.

Started the sound check and there were some technical problems but Kose sorted them out fine. We all had a laugh when Ross (who cannot play drums very well) chimed in about Daddy’s snare!! (Hey, stick to tour managing!!) And, just as sound check was ending, Jackie showed up (she’d gotten lost but finally made it!) and then she and I grabbed a bite (we’d made this date well in advance) and watched the first 20 minutes of the Czech/Greece game over a burger and pints.

Walked back to the venue and Jackie went inside while I went to nap. And nap I did, until 15 minutes before the show. We opened the set with ‘House’ and that came off really well. The crowd seemed a bit mellow (not my son and me!! CP) and the show relaxed, maybe a little too much, but, hey, it’s rock ‘n’ roll, right?

After the show signed some autographs and thanked people. Some of the guys went to a club and the rest of us watched a replay of the football game (we missed the second half because of our show) and then I tried to get some sleep but the other guys seemed to make noise all night and I barely got any sleep. Dozed off, maybe, about 5 am.

Mike Randle