08-10-08 Birmingham UK: 1551 hrs. I am backstage here at the Birmingham Glee Club. Jah Wobble was here last month, it’s a shame to have missed that. I got here a few days ago in an attempt to get over jet lag and I think I achieved it. Last night was the first show of the tour. I was on for a 75 minute slot at an event in Leicester called the Summer Sundae Festival. I think it went well and I am glad to have the first show under my belt, they are always the hardest ones to do. It’s very easy to get rusty. The last leg of the last tour ended in Auckland New Zealand on 04-27-08 so it’s been awhile since I have been on stage night after night. I don’t like being away from it for very long.
It’s the early afternoon here. The sun is out and people are outside enjoying the last bit of summer. It’s already getting cool here which makes it feel like September. There’s a lot of rain in England and that makes things kind of depressing after awhile but when the sun comes out, England is one of the better looking places I have ever been, there’s a lot of green and a lot of interesting architecture and also, it puts people on the street in a good mood, which is great. The first few times I came to England to do shows in the early 80’s, it wasn’t the best of times but after those initial visits, things got much better and since then, England has turned into one of my favorite places to be and to do shows. I already like so much of the music that comes from here so it’s cool to be a fan of the rest of it as well.
There’s not many days off on this run and not many on the US dates coming up and that suits me fine. I am much better off with a show waiting for me at the end of the day than without. It’s good to be here and have a show in a few hours. I have an interview with a man from the Daily Telegraph soon so I’ll end this here. I know I have been less than diligent with the journal entries. I will work on that. One of the things that keeps me from writing more often is not laziness or a lack of interest but more a desire to spare you the profound tedium that often dominates my waking hours. Thanks for reading and I hope some of you UK dwellers make it to some of these shows.