Wednesday, 07 May 2008

... What a fortnight it's been... It feels sort of odd being home; in a good way!

Not that I'll be home for long... I'll be back out in Dublin this Friday for the Late Late Show...

Germany was good fun, and the place is beautiful... they've really got it sorted out there. The food was good, the grass was green, the autobahns were fast, the sun was shinning, the people were friendly, the streets were clean, the bakery's were second to none, the beer was world class and to top it all, they had banana flavoured airwave sweets: y'know like the chewing gum...BUT BANANA....AND SWEETS! very odd, and oddly enjoyable. The down side was the daily drives, everyone from the other band travelled in a tour bus overnight after each gig, whereas me and the Tour Mole (Roger the tour manager... works the tour and looks a bit like a mole) stayed in hotels and made the drive the next day... kind of a big mistake there. The shortest drive was nearly 6 hours and the longest wasn't far of 8... by the time we got to the venue we'd be late for soundcheck, so I'd rush through that, then try to eat something as quick as possible before going back onstage, which caused a lot of wind issues as you can imagine....

By the time I landed in Dublin Airport last Thursday, I was fit for nothing, but had to go straight to a radio interview, but the pay off was that Joanne and Ella came to meet us in Dublin so we then went for a great meal on the coast in Bray; beautiful!

I woke up the next morning with a voice like a donkey with laryngitis and being that I was meant to be playing Waterford that night, it wasn't the best timing... I ended up having to pull the gig... I was gonna go ahead and do it but I think it would've put me over the edge... so I headed up to Belfast to convalesce, slouching around in my boxers eating crisps and watching kids DVDs with Ella and generally not leaving the hotel bed for much longer than it took to go to the toilet...

After a couple of days, I felt a whole lot better... and then it happened! The Belfast gig was upon me, and I was well geared up for it. There's really nothing quite like playing your hometown (even though I'm actually from Bangor but you know what I mean). I don't know if there was something in the water that day or whether everyone attending the gig had some magic soup before coming out, but it was electric from the get go. There's also something about a standing gig that keep everyone on the front foot, and unable to fully relax; I think that gives a very positive energy to a gig, well certainly for me anyway. I never like feeling too safe...

The Belfast gig was like a courtship... I truly feel in love with them throughout the night. A lot of the songs I sang, they sang back at me like the really meant the lyrics and owned them. It was a profound and beautiful experience. the highlight by far was the stage diving episode. Duke Special had come along to sing with me, so that had everyone on a major high, including me. We sang a song from the album called 'I was Made', which is quite a tender song but we made it into something else by the end... I had looped up a cacophonous racket on the loop station until there was nowhere else to go with it, bar to dive off the stage; so I did. What a release... all those years of being in a grunge band and I never once stage dived... I was in many a mosh pit but never crowd surfed... usually because I was in the crowd and spitting with the rest of them instead of being on stage and singing. I can tell you now, if you come to a gig and it's standing and there's enough of you, you can rest assured I'll be diving on you!!! I LOVED IT! I can't believe I've never experienced it before, it's almost embarrassing....

there was no sign on stage diving in Dublin the next night (but it didn't stop us from having a good gig)... it was seated so I would've broke my back I reckon... great venue though, the Academy... I highly recommend you go and see something you like there, it's got a real vibe!

Anyway, I'm waffling on here... I actually just wanted to say Thank you Belfast for my most enjoyable gig to date... well done... Love, Foy x