A miserable, rainy day in Manchester: to make it worse the venue was a horrible little shit-hole on Man U’s campus with a backstage area that smelled off stale beer, vomit,  and Mr Clean, so the only refuge was our bus, which is a dirty little hobbit hutch, that smells of Fabreeze, diesel, piss and Pete’s dirty socks. We spent the day watching; the co-eds stroll by the bus; the Leafs play the Habs (a kind soul gave Pete a DVD of Saturday night’s game that he had taped off of the satellite) and; the 1959 version of On the Beach starring Gregory Peck and Ava Gardner (a happy little film in which all of the characters spend the entire movie waitin’ ‘round to die).

Despite the venue and the weather we had an excellent audience tonight and a very good gig. Thea Gilmour, a terrific singer/songwriter from the area, joined us for tonight’s show. She’ll also be with us tomorrow night in London along with Ryan Adams. Thea’s voice sits perfectly with Margo’s and her presence is already an excellent addition to the Trinity material. Tomorrow night should be a lot of fun.

*****

A little bit of a difference today…bright and sunny, the west end of London and the Royal Albert Hall...our lives are so strange.

We had a very good extended soundcheck/rehearsal. Both Thea and Ryan showed up in excellent spirits, we were all pretty hyped to be in Royal Albert Hall. There may be better sounding, bigger, more ornate halls scattered throughout the world, but there are few  with the history of this place: to perform on this stage would be, should be, a highlight in anyone’s career. We had an excellent night. Ryan and Thea were amazing, the audience was spectacular…definitely one for the rocking chair.