Here goes with events of weds, arrive in Dublin
from Stansted airport, got given priority boarding
fucking bonus, no need to queue with the mortals.
Got dragged aside by security, which I didnt mind,
no strip search tho, damn.

Arrive in Dublin just before 11am, walk through customs
etc, no probs. Barely time to find the arrivals boards
when G calls me to say he's waiting on his case in arrivals.
5 mins later, were trying to work where to catch bus
into town, it's windy and pissing with rain.
Manage to find the express bus and were heading into town.

By midday were dropped in O'connell St and I have done
my research on this bit so I know exactly where to go
for the hotel,
Head down over the river, 2nd right, 2nd left,
there's the hotel.
Room not ready, should be ready by 3pm.
Porter takes luggage into storage till we get back.
No worries, Baggage free,lets go checkout the venue
that only I have a ticket for. G doesn't.

Again, I have done my research,
Turn right out of hotel, turn right at bottom of road,
150 meters ahead I can see about 100 ppl sat gathered,
ah that must be venue me thinks, sure enough it is,
these poor fuckers who don't have a ticket, are waiting
for the 20 or so tickets that the theatre issued each day at 4pm.
I suspect that's due to the 130 odd that went missing.

I stroll up all happy and giddy and am frankly shocked,
This theatre is no Sydney opera house,
from the front, it looks like a boarded up shop
with 4 floors of shitty bedsits above.
It's barely wider than a standard terraced house,
Still not peturbed by that, nice and intimate me thinks.

We wander away to check out what Dublin has to offer,
I was pleasantly impressed, a very cosmopolitan city,
all shades and accents of humanity buzzing through the
busy upbeat streets. Very busy I might add.

By 1pm, enough wandering aimlessy, I need a drink,
thankfully not a witherspoons in sight,
we stumble across some little traditonal pub on a side st.

Inside there are about 5 punters, clearly regulars I guess.
Have a nice pint of cider, then off to wander again.
Catch a bite to eat, buy some booze and head back to hotel.

Chill out for a couple of hours, chat about what I hope for 2nite,
trying not to get myself too overstimulated,
A couple of stiff scomforts, and time to wander,
plan to drop G off at a gay bar(gay bar) and go to gig,
there's a gay bar(gay bar) near the venue, but we are approached
by a tout who is offering tickets for tonight,
we say no, then G says why don't I buy one, and we talk about it.

We walk past him again and i ask how much he wants?
He says some price and I say ok and walk off,
He says do you want it?
I say no thanks, I have one.
Fucking attitude and abuse from the guy. Oh well.

We head to the gay bar(gay bar) for a drink before I head back.
Gary still saying what if I can get one tho,
decides he wants to come too if he can get a fair priced ticket,
we go back to venue, original abusive cunt tout is nowhere.

Police are outside venue, eventualy G gets a deal on a ticket,
we jump up side alley so I can compare it to mine.
It's genuine, oh the joy and relief.

We get into venue and head for the bar, of course.
Get a couple of drinks from a smiley barmaid
when G spots a woman with a pink VIP pass,
we stand next to her, trying to suss out who she is.
She is an American who reminds me of that dreadful woman
on some channel 5 show about life laundry or something.

Bertis walks through bar and I get all excited.
Bertis Downs is R.E.M.s manager/lawyer/friend.
I get all excited.Say hello bertis, who says
hi, enjoy the show.
the pink pass woman had gone, oh well.
More about her later, another pint of cider.

ooh, time to head into my seat,
Get to my seat, who is sat in it?
yup the woman with the pink pass.
I stand there, and she asks"Am I in your seat?"
Yea bitch pink pass or not fucking move.
Is what I wanted to say, instead I reply yea, sorry.
she moves, I'm sitting with 2 girls from Atlanta,
We chat a little while waiting for my boys,
they saw last nights show also, and enjoyed it.
So i was hopeful and nervous.

My boys walked on stage,

Living Well* nice and upbeat rock song
Middle Distance* ditto
Circus Envy from Monster album, awesome.
Mr Richards* nice tight song gonna be a grower.
Wolves Lower chronic town ep, classic.
Houston* yea was alright.
West of the Fields! from Murmur OMG wow.
On the Fly* good song, nice guitar.
HarbourCoat!!!!! fuck me awesome from reckoning album.
Man Sized Wreath* great tune sounds like classic rem.
Carnival of Sorts!!!Fuck me hard twice,chronic town ep wowowowowowow
Disguised* nice playfull, even tho peter argued about the end, so it was done again.
1,000,000 OMG am i dreaming chronic town ep.
Accelerate* kool, are these really middle age men?
Horse to Water* love it.

My boyz leave the stage.

During the gig I notice a guy sat in the seat in front of me,
who keeps getting out of his seat to lean over the balcony
to take pictures, yet the security don't stop him.
He has a GOLD pass.
Bertis comes down to chat to this guy,
the girls and I say Hi to Bertis,
who is very sweet and holds hands with us individually
for a few seconds each, asking if we are enjoying it.
We all gush about how much we love it.
then he dissapears.

My boyz walk back on stage.

Second Guessing classic from reckoning.
These Days from lifes rich pageant, I am dreaming
Until the day is done* beautiful track
I'm Gonna DJ**

* denotes new song
** sort of new cos it hasnt shown up on an album but did debut in 2005 tour.


Then that's it, all over.
All happy and buzzing, say goodnight to my Atlanta girls.
Head round to the front of theatre so I can get t-shirt.
Queue is massive, I don't care I ain't leaving without one.
G heads off to get a burger to soak up the drink.
we agree to meet up outside in 20 mins.
Stuck in the queue for t-shirts, there is a mad drunk Italian
girl with angel wings a few places ahead of me who is extremley
loud and annoying. 2 Irish girls in front of me start bitching
about her to which I start laughing at their comments.
I say to them, so I am not the only one who wants to slit her throat
and stuff those wings down her fucking neck. they laugh and we chat
about the gig to pass time in the queue.

After about an hour we get our t-shirts, grab some chips
and our seperate ways, no sign of G.
Get back to hotel and theres G munching a burger and chips.

We chat about the gig, I am buzzing and over excited.
He goes to sleep, It's gone 4am by the time I nod off.
I am up at 6.45 and lay in bed thinking about last night,
the alarm call comes at 8am, and G gets up and we have some brekkie.
I get G on his bus to airport in plenty of time for his morning flight.

My flight is not till late afternoon, so I wander around town
for a few hours people watching, before heading for my own flight.
By 7pm I am back home in Tottenham, exhausted and exhilerated.

It's now saturday night/sunday morning, and has taken me all this time
to write my tale of the Dublin rehearsal.

If you want to see some pics of my night at the gig,
Click here.

If you want to see some of the rehearsals, checkout youtube.