Pete's Europe Tour Blog

Belfast - Odyssey Arena
12 June 2011

FM Tour Diary: Pete's Europe Tour Blog - Belfast Odyssey Arena - 12 June 2011

Woke up not exactly full of the joys of spring, probably due to being full of Budweiser the night before. We set off about midday, it's just Richard and me travelling together. The hire car has seen better days, that's for sure, and has an annoying tendency for a "fasten seatbelts" warning to flash on a screen and beep continually even with all the seatbelts fastened.

We arrive at the venue about 2pm, it's another huge arena. We head into catering and time for some more soup. I'm not entirely sure what it is but it's another winner, with lots of coriander, yummy. Journey and Foreigner's soundchecks are ahead of schedule so we get quite a bit longer for ours. We're able to iron out yesterday's sound gremlins and we leave the stage with it sounding cracking.

Time for a quick shower, get changed and it's showtime once again. Into Wildside and the sound on stage is great. The auditorium is filling with every song. It's all seated tonight but the crowd is well up for it. We finish up to resounding cheers. By my calculations that makes it four stormers out of four. Good work band and audience alike. Into catering for some dinner consisting of beef, mash and veg, another winner. Oh my lord, there's banoffee pie for pud... it would be rude not to, wouldn't it? Foreigner have just gone on so I watch the entire set from side-stage. The boys are on fire tonight, they were good last night but tonight they're amazing. Great songs, great show from a great band. Respect to Mick and the guys.

We're heading back to Dublin this evening so there's no time to catch Journey tonight. I can't actually believe "Who's Crying Now" is not in the set. We say our goodbyes to everyone and thank them for the spectacular treatment we received.

I'm travelling back with Rich again. We miss a turn but get back on track again using the satnav in my phone. Amazing this technology lark. It's quite a pleasant detour - apart from the incessant beeping - through some nice villages. We're in no mad rush so it's cool. Got back to the hotel about midnight. All the band and crew meet in the bar to celebrate the end of the first part of our little European jaunt. The crew have got an early morning ferry to catch, Jem is up at 5am to get the first flight out as he has a meeting to get to, so tonight is a far more subdued affair. Richard and I finally succumb to the welcoming pull of our beds and the last time I check the time before turning out the light it's just coming up to 3am.