Yes, tour was excellent, but it had a really unfortunate (to put it mildly) ending. Richard & I got to Marseille easily enough, but had to wait around for the Rods in their van to get to us. Wasn't bad, though, as it was a warm evening, and we had a few beers in the airport café. We were taken straight to the gig at La Poste Galene in a narrow side street with barely enough room for the van. At first it looked as if the gig wouldn't go ahead on account of poor ticket sales (possible due to a late venue switch from Montpellier). But the gig went ahead, and it proved a great success, with lots of people there who had been fans for a very long time. Between the sound check and the actual gig, we were taken to a small cafe for an excellent meal, with some very nice wine.
Next day we drove to Avignon, saw the Pont D'Avignon, and the Pope's Palace where he (can't remember which one) locked himself inside to avoid the Black Death. We also had a few drinks in O'Neill's, of all places, before the gig. Getting the van in through some VERY narrow streets was a nerve-wracking experience. Nice venue, Le Rouge Gorge, but lousy sound, so that at the back all your could hear clearly were the drums and base. Only time you could hear guitars was when Barrie wasn't singing. Couldn't make out a word of the vocals. Still, the audience reaction was excellent. A funny sideline was that some of the old fans, on inspecting the line-up on the display copy of 'Better Late Than Never' (re-mastered French version) were asking incredulously "Barrie Masters? Ee ees 'ere?" The pre-gig meal was at the venue, and again, we had some very nice wine. After the gig we went back to O'Neill's until the early hours.
Sometime overnight, I discovered I'd lost all my medication - pills, insulin, syringes, blood testing kit - the lot!
In the morning, we raided a local supermarket for lunch and load up with a few beers before hitting the road for Paris. Again, we headed straight for the gig venue, the New Morning. The Rods weren't due to play that evening, but as we got there, Arthur Brown (as in 'The Crazy World Of') was on stage. Weird! He was followed by The Pretty Things who played some stuff I'd long since forgotten. On the way back to the hotel, we stopped off for some very good kebabs,
The next day, the Rods put on their best clean shirts as they had to 'meet the press' in a central hotel near the New Morning. The first interview was with a radio station, Terre 1, followed by someone from Rock & Folk magazine. After that, we moved along to a bar (i.e. somewhere serving beer) for a third interview with Crossroads Magazine. Later, all of the interviewers came to the gig itself.
At the gig venue after the sound check, food was brought in for us. The sound was much better, and you could hear everything, even from the back where I was selling the merchandise, and one of the tour organisers was playing air guitar. It was an excellent set, with, again, a very good response from the audience.
Overnight, we stayed in a central hotel, and in the morning I took my leave and headed back to Marseille by TGV to catch my return flight to Gatwick. It was while I was sipping a beer at Marseille Airport that I got a message from Richard with the tragic news - their van had been broken into, and ALL the guitars plus Richard's amplifier stolen. As you know, one of Richard's guitars used to belong to Brian May and is irreplaceable - he is totally gutted. Also included in the loss was Dipster's brand new Rickenbacker bass that he got from Seymour.
So, yes, we had a great time, but what a rotten ending!
As a post-script, I saw John & Richard play in Aylesbury last night, and Richard was clearly still very distraught.
Regards,
Ed.
-----Original Message-----Have a good time in France then Ed?
From: Jane Armstrong [mailto:janea57@...]
Sent: 08 October 2004 17:09
To: Otway@yahoogroups.com
Subject: RE: [Otway] Re: Hey Everybody
> Hey Mike! Thanks for the plug. You're a better salesman
> than I am. Mind you, I sold several hundred Euros worth of
> Hot Rods new Album (special repackaged & remixed French
> version) and T- shirts (completely sold out of Red) earlier this week.
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