LIVERPOOL-MANCHESTER-DUBLIN-MANCHESTER
So this update is going to jump around rather quickly because I jump around (and talk) rather quickly. After Stockholm, we flew into Liverpool for yet more days off (there were no hotels available in Manchester so they put us out in Beatlesville). The priority of the night was finding food and drink and then getting to bed early because I had a suspicious feeling (which was later confirmed) that the next few days might be rough. Apparently this is the only building in Liverpool I deemed cool enough to photograph. Although looking back through my collection, its the only picture I took in Liverpool at all, so I guess it made it into this update by default.


The next morning Matt and I took a car from Liverpool to Manchester airport, where the cabbie casually told us he had to drop us in a parking lot far from the airport and we had to walk in past several police barricades because of all the bomb scares in the UK. Nice world we live in, eh? We then flew to the motherland........Ireland. Endless pints of beer and funny drunk people everywhere....I'm pretty sure I lived here in a former life or that I have some ancestry here.

Oh! I forgot to tell you why I flew to Ireland. Ha. In our brilliant (pea-sized) minds, we had concocted a scheme to make some extra money on this tour. Our company was doing a video wall for two different festivals with a band called "The Killers." So we said, hey, it will save the company some money if we do these festivals since they didn't have to fly a new crew all the way overseas - and we can demand they pay us extra for this favor! haha (Joke is on them - this will be a piece of cake for lots of $$) So our crew was divided between Scottland (Tea In The Park Festival) and Ireland (Oxygen Festival) and me and Matt were picked to go to Ireland. So we arrive at a dodgy hotel in the middle of nowhere at 8 p.m. At midnight a car service picks us up to drive us into this huge festival just as the last band (Muse) was finishing up so we could do an overnight load in and be ready by the time the first band started playing at noon. Umm, noone mentioned this when we made these plans. Yikes. What have I got myself into.
Matt and I huddled in a tent to stay out of the pouring rain and cold (it was about 40 degrees) until 5:30 in the morning - when we finally were allowed to get our video gear off the truck. In the meantime, we are hopping around fields of pure mud trying to find a port-a-let or some food with very little success....


Here is the sunrise and us loading in the video wall around 6a.m. Notice there is no one else there to help us. No stage hands - they just up and quit after working for 20 hours straight).


Not even one of the 150,000 drunk rowdy kids from the show the night before to heckle us. No, these brave (stupid??) kids stay in camping tents in a field next to the stages for three days with no place to shower or change out of their muddy clothes! Now, I've always thought I was a pretty spontaneous, fun person - but I'm going to sound like my mother now....You have to be out of your damn mind to pay over 100 Euros to camp in the freezing rain, stand in the mud all day (pretty sure some of the kids never moved from the front few rows, meaning they must have had a "built-in porta-potty" in their pants) and be deafened by music for three days straight. Completely insane!



We finally completed our load in at 3:30 in the afternoon, grabbed some food for the first time in 18 hours, and consequently just missed our driver - our last chance to return to the hotel for a shower and nap before the load out- so we were in it for the long haul. Since there wasn't really anywhere for us to go - except back to the tent with the muddy couch (everything was muddy at this point - no escaping the brown drudge!) I mostly sat on the side of the stage and watched the bands throughout the day while yawning with one eye open. At one point, I saw a couple standing on the side of the stage in front of me sharing a Guiness and a cigarette: Susan Sarandon and Tim Robbins!!! Although I am a fan of them both (who doesn't love Thelma & Louise and The Shawshank Redemption?!), I was really admiring their "wellies" (galoshes) with great envy. I wondered if I had the energy and agility to knock them over, steal their boots (and maybe the rest of that Guiness) , and get away before security could get me.....Spending the next 12 hours without wet, muddy feet would sure have been worth it!
The Killers show went well - no problems with the wall and it was quite entertaining to see all the drunk, muddy, crazy kids going off. But by this time (24 hours into our work day) - the concert looked like this to me:

We were back to the "Dodgy Inn" after load out by about 3:30 a.m. - enough time to power wash the mud off, get a quick nap, and head to the airport at 9a.m. to get to Manchester to load in. Remember when I said, " Jokes on them?" HA. FREAKIN. HA. No amount of money will EVER tempt me to go through that misery again. Matt and I were saying, "I've never been so happy to get back to the Barbra Streisand tour!" Now that, my friends, is f#!@* up!!!

MANCHESTER
We landed around 11 a.m. and took a cab straight to the venue where our coworkers were already loading in. We were greeted by the Manchester United Police Force.
Oh, wait a damn minute. That's Jo and Jo in catering dressed up - complete with wigs, handcuffs and hamburger buns for shoulder pads?????? I'm telling you - these caterers are nuttier than squirrels with a fruitcake!


The next day was the show day. And I feel like I've let some of the Barbra fans (all two of you) down with no show pictures. So today - in an effort to stay awake during the mind-numbingly dull sound check - I brought my camera.
This is me with my video camera. It's called a 70X long glass. That's right, I can magnify whatever I shoot up to 70 times. We're talking blackheads and nose hairs people. Now let me explain something...When you use that magnification to its fullest extent, every little vibration within a 5 foot radius makes your picture shake. You can even see my heartbeat when I hold the handles. Now - knowing that, and knowing me and how fond I have become of the many beers of the world, and knowing that I have been known to have massively shakey hangovers, which I try to counteract by drinking loads of coffee - do you really think I'm the best choice for this particular camera?

Having said that, I came up with a great analogy of my job on this tour. Do you remember the movie "G.I. Jane" with Demi Moore - where she tries to become a Navy Seal? Remember how they keep all the candidates awake for 3 days in the cold and rain and then suddenly take them to a warm, dark room and play classical music and tell them they have to stay awake no matter what? That's kinda how I feel. Sleep deprived, sitting in the dark arena that is about 85 degrees due to lack of air conditioning and a massive amount of body heat, and I can't move one muscle or my camera shot looks like there is a 7.0 earthquake going on. Add that with Barbra's collection of lullabies and my lids are definitely hangin......zzzzzzzzz
ANYWAY - MOVING ON. Here is one of the video screens I work on.

Here's what Barbra looks like through my viewfinder.

Here's Barbra talking to the conductor in her fabulous calf-length haughty white diva coat.

Here's Barbra leaning on her chair struggling to read the teleprompter.

Here's Barbra sitting in her chair - I'm amazed she still has her shoes on at this point.

Here's Barbra desperately thinking of something to complain about.

Here is a full shot of the stage with Barbra and our beloved "orchestra." I've spent many hours calculating the trajectory and how many co-conspirators it would take to douse the entire stage with spitballs.

So! There you go Mom. Some pictures of old Babs for ya!

We returned to the hotel that night following the show and loading out, and low and behold, the hotel bar was still open for us! There is a God!!! I see the caterers sitting in the corner and join them and realize they are sitting with the Goo Goo Dolls. Not the crew for the Goo Goo Dolls, the Goo Goo Dolls themselves. Woah! They were staying in our hotel and apparently Jo spent a few years working for them and befriended the band (big surprise there - the girl could befriend a deaf, blind mute in a coma). So after a few drinks, the band left and we made plans to see their show the next night at the Manchester Apollo.



We had such a good time that night! We sat at the front of house sound mix booth and had a great view, some road cases to sit on, a steady flow of beer, and the band even talked Jo into coming on stage and doing a surprise guitar change for one of the guys for a laugh. Still reeling from the show, we stopped in for "just one more" beer at a bar down the street. But, as all good things must come to an end, so did our night....right after Patrick puked on the stairs of the bar and Steve...well, he wasn't really thrown out as much as he was asked to leave. Immediately. hahaha These youngins can't handle their drink!
Oh well, we have another travel day ahead and the mud bath part II coming up as we return to the motherland for the second time in 3 days. Surely it won't rain on us again, will it?!?!?
OH WAIT! ONE MORE THING......I FORGOT TO ADD MY RANDOM PICTURE FOR THIS UPDATE.

Now I love Toblerone, too, but this seems borderline absurd to me because, to be honest, I don't remember seeing a child anywhere near this lady or her stroller.
So long for now!