Here we are, then….

So here we are. Only a matter of hours to go until we finish the Northern European part of the VdGG tour with tonight’s show at the Barbican in London. It’s been quite a ride already and after this 3 dates in Italy await us.

We’re so pleased that we took the decision to attempt “Lighthouse-keepers” and perhaps even more so that we made the early announcement that we’d be playing both that and “Flight” each night on this tour. Without that public commitment we might have exhibited a bit more reluctance, internally and externally. But having said we’d do it there was no turning back.

It’s meant a set list with very few songs and hardly a moment to pause for breath. All extremely dynamic, with sweeping scene changes and quite a few turns on a sixpence. As ever, we don’t really consider overmuch whether a piece is new or old in provenance, as they’ve all now been imprinted with the stamp of the current trio…but we’re managing to a mixture of things each night in any case, shuffling around a number of other exciting pierces to go with the long forms.

Not that we’ve played things perfectly; there are always a few fingernail-hanging moments in the set, as goes with e territory. But it’s all been good serious fun.

There’s been a wide range of venues too, including quite a few with standing audiences, right up close to us. Very much like the old days!

For now, there’s little more to say than that. It’s been a month for action rather than explanation or comment. And what a blurry, speedy month at that. It seems an age since we pulled out from the rehearsal room on the drive to Prague, though in fact it’s only just over two weeks ago…

Finally, my apologies to those (quite a few, judging by the comments) who thought I was talking a load of geek gobbledygook in last month’s entry. All I can say is that since it’s all natural language to me I suppose that only goes to show that I’m in familiar and comfortable territory in that particular techno land and, by extension, not at all a slave to it. Or something like that.

The sound check awaits.