Friday 24th

Meet Mel at the airport and we check in.

In complete contrast to our holiday trip a couple of months ago, it was a breeze. No queues, no grief. Indeed we were not questioned about carrying on our instruments as well as hand baggage by anyone.

Whilst I felt under rehearsed and a touch ill prepared, there was at least a great sense of relief to be flying off to foreign climes and being a musician again. Also the added joy of spending time with Mel. Asking nerdy teenage questions and learning more about his early career. Mel's early professional gigs included a stint at the infamous clubs in Hamburg following the path of the Beatles, amongst others. This band, somewhat unusually at the time, consisted of mixed races and cultures and were called 'The Dago's' A fact I hadn't heard before and something that continued to make me laugh for day afterward.

My ear popped on the flight and didn't come back, which was rather disconcerting. We arrived at the hotel at about 2:30. As the sound Check not till 6:30 this gave me nearly 4 hours to catch up of the kind of practising I should have done weeks ago.

Sid Smith was kind of our support act, as he gave a lecture on Prog before we took the stage. It seemed to go down well from where we were, which was stuck behind two closed doors with nowhere else to go. Even the jokes seemed to translate from Geordie to Italian.

And so we played. This was the first show as a solo artist since my appearance at the Morning side club in Paris with John Greaves some 15 years ago. The gear worked, apart from a dodgy stereo guitar lead, and I didn't forget to bring anything. With no crew, tour manager or sound-man there would have been no one else to blame if I had! It all seemed warmly received and any doubts that this approach would work were finally squashed. Mel, of course, played an absolute blinder.

There wasn't a huge crowd, but those who did attend where there to se me, which was terribly humbling. Speaking to people after the show I discovered that some had travelled a long way. Someone from Trieste, one from Milan and another from Rome and the very nice Mike and Eve (I hope I remember your names correctly) who had travelled all the way from surrey, no less.



Had a very late dinner in the excellent company of Sid and his pal Kimber.

Exhausted, but pleased, relieved, excited and optimistic.