It took us 19 hours to get here...ouch...and that was with no delays, that's just the way it is these day, especially if you are transferring through a major terminal like Heathrow. At least we had a couple of good movies on the crossing (Little Miss Sunshine and The Queen) which helped while away the hours and kept ones mind off the fact that a very thin sheet of aluminum, and 35,000 feet of fresh air, separates you from your in-flight beverage and Moby Dick. I've said it before and I'll continue to say it, I hate flying.

It wasn't a completely incident-free journey; Margo forgot her laptop on the plane and didn't realize it until we were on the terminal transfer bus at Heathrow. She and Ryan had to hop off the bus and backtrack through Heathrow's high security rabbit-warren to try and get back to the plane. You will all be pleased to know that they were able to breach every "secure" site along the way, but they weren"t carrying any liquids or gels. The computer was recovered, but it was a good thing that we had a three hour lay-over. Once we landed in Brussels we discovered that my acoustic had gone missing. It too was eventually found (also at Heathrow) and recovered. And the last little turn of the screw was that the van that was sent to collect us and our equipment in Brussels and drive us to Antwerp was about half as big as it needed to be (this always happens in Europe).

Eventually (19 hours worth of eventually) we arrived and were pleased to find out that Spiritualized was playing at the same festival that we were playing at, they were playing that night and the venue was right across the street from the hotel. All very good things. Their performance was interesting, but not what I was hoping for. After traveling for so long I needed the aural onslaught that they can provide, but this was an acoustic show, with a string quartet, three back-up singers, acoustic guitar and electric piano...I needed to be punched, not massaged.

The festival that we are participating in is called De Nachten (I'm sure you all know enough Flemish to translate it). It is a two day arts festival, complete with poetry readings, photo exhibits, video gaming rooms (I did say "arts festival" right?), and lots of music, cigarettes and beer. The main draw of the festival seems to be the all night disco/rave/gathering. The average age of a festival attendee is probably slightly less than the number of years we have been together as a band. It all takes place in the complex that houses the cities two symphony halls: a very odd facility, that feels more like a rec center than symphony hall. Our show was, like Spiritualized, interesting...extremely ragged. After traveling for 19 hours and having a very long day to adjust to European life we all had a few issues to work out...we probably scared a few young Antwerpeans, turned a few off and, hopefully, won over a clutch more.

Oh yeah, it was Margo's birthday.

London's calling.