This was the big one – a sold-out gig in our home town and the penultimate night of the tour. It’s a fantastic venue that I’ve played in several times before, and it was spinetingling to hear Toumani’s kora echoing round the vaulted ceiling as he and his band did their soundcheck:
Our dressing room was a bit pokey, to be honest:
I found somewhere handy to keep my backstage pass:
The band set up the mobile CD pressing plant and got cracking with churning out some CDs as we’d nearly sold out of all the stock we brought on the tour:
Ben Eshmade from Arctic Circle turned up to do an interview with Stephen and Ellie – this picture captures Stephen mid-transition into an acoustic rock god:
We played an absolute blinder, and Toumani joined us again onstage for our medley of Be Mankan/Love Will Tear Us Apart, which went down a storm:
As usual, Toumani and his band played a great set:
And again, Stephen joined Toumani onstage for his encore:
They are totally BFFs now:
Afterwards we all went out for a celebratory curry in Kentish Town at the Bengal Lancer – it was yummy 🙂
The only downside was that it was a pretty late night, yet again, and we had to be up early for a Very Important Day on Saturday…
