Newcastle was okay. I’ve been tired lately and it’s cold here so I pretty much stuck to the hotel the whole time, with the exception of a few meals out. We flew in from Dublin yesterday morning and arrived at the hotel mid-day. The hotel was nice, it was right on the water and there were plenty of restaurants and bars nearby.
Any who…I stayed up too late in the hotel bar, and the lighting guys made me drink a shot of Sumbuca, which is basically liquid licorice hell. Went to bed with a headache, woke up with a headache, and it took a good part of the day for me to feel good again. Like I said, liquid licorice hell. But enough about me…on with the show.
I will admit, the Newcastle show has left a bad taste in my mouth. Not because of the show or the audience in particular, that was all fine and good. But because of what happened after the show…
At the end of every show, when Mick is saying goodnight, I wait up front with the crowd until the house lights come on, indicating to the audience that the show is over. Then I make my way to the front of the stage, squeezing myself between crazy front row fans, to start taking down equipment. Well, last night while I was on my way to the front of the stage, there was a lot more action up front than usual, when I got there I saw that a handful of fans had somehow grabbed Stevie’s microphone stand, which is covered in carefully placed ribbons and beads and rosaries. They had her stand on the floor and they were tearing it to shreds. Real nice, huh? They were like rabid animals. I grabbed the stand and was playing tug-o-war for it with two
guys. One of which pushed me, and it would be unladylike for me to repeat what I said to him, but it involved a lot of words that my grandmother would smack me for saying. I jumped up on the stage to find one of the sound guys helping me pull the stand back up and away from the ribbon-hungry fans. What monsters! Who pushes a girl? There was, however, a very sweet lady picking up sad little scraps of
ribbon/bead shrapnel off the floor for me. When all was said and done, the ribbons and beads were not doing well. They are back in a wardrobe case recovering now, and have been stabilized but remain in critical condition. I just hate that a handful of people can ruin a whole night. Oh well, roll with the punches, tomorrow’s a new day.
After the show I went up to Stevie‚s room to tell everyone about the mic stand brawl, she was not happy about it. But it makes for a good story, doesn’t it?
We went back to the hotel after load out and had a drink before retiring. Tomorrow morning we take a bus to Birmingham for 2 days off and then 2 shows. This leg of the
tour is flying by; it feels like I‚ve been out for a couple days, and we’re already halfway done. For some people who are anxious to get back to their families and such, that would be a good thing, but for me, I’m a youngin, with very little to call my own, so I’m not ready to go home yet…I’m just getting started with Europe.
