09.40
Motel Modest, A47 Somewhere Near Carlisle.
A grey day at Motel Modesto…
We arrived at 00.40 to a frozen parking lot. The check-in computer didn’t work & neither did the bathroom light. But Modesto TV has BBC World News, so that’s an advance on the touring accommodations of 34 years ago. And it also has a kettle.
Today: Slinky Minx the Wicked Queen is being very nasty to Snow White for the very first time, and in Milton Keynes.
We
have a lobby call (although it’s not quite a lobby) for 11.00. The
rather-tired hire-van equivalent of snapping whipcords will propel us
to Glasgow, although Green’s Playhouse no longer figures in tour itineraries.
16.49 Carling Academy, Glasgow
Is this where you learn how to drink beer?
Dressing Room…
We left Motel Modesto this morning, the Gigster two minutes late. This is unacceptable. Two hours to Glasgow, half an hour driving around the venue in ever-closer approximation to arrival, listening to last night’s performance in Manchester while en route.
Over many years in vans, I have been unable to use travel-time profitably other than in two activities: sleeping & praying. I now add a third: professional listening, on i-Pod with noise cancellation headphones, to performances. This is a profitable use of my time.
A professional decision for today: no merchandising. We buy Love Cannot Bear CDs for £8.50 & aim to sell them @ £12 - £12.50. However, Clear Channel venues take 25% (House of Blues 20%). So, to sell them at £12 gives me 50 pence & Clear Channel £3.00 (as at Shepherds Bush Empire). In London, the merchandising person put the price up to £15, but then fans & enthusiasts hand their money over directly to Clear Channel. So this evening, we’re not even putting LCBs on the table. I do not usually carry merchandising and, most likely, will not do so in the future.
Porcupine Tree Sound Check…
The Posture Adopted…
Show Times…
20.22 Terrible.
Several flashes at the beginning of the performace, just as a warning, but overall a supportive, generous audience such as I associate with Glasgow; as if people here come out to have a good time having a good time; in distinction to the southern model, where people go out to have a good time having a bad time.
So,
what went wrong tonight? The sound was impossible. Hugely too too loud
onstage, with low notes shaking the stage with mucho rattling. What to
do? Keep going, although in despair, although little invention was
available this evening. Rather, working with established themes &
finding frequencies that didn’t dismantle that part of the building I
was sitting on. Perhaps the house sound mixer set Soundscapes to rock
‘n’ roll volume - good and loud. Tonight, loud but not good. And, maybe
simply, the player lacked capacity & imagination.
Shortly, off to modest accommodation near Carlisle.
"Expect nothing."
