Simon on the road with Paul Weller...

I jumped at the chance to do some dates with Paul Weller. I didn't know too much about new drummer Steve Pilgrim but did know that there would obviously be a shadow, be it positive or negative given he had ‘taken over’ from Steve White. As you would expect there are two ways to play it in a circumstance such as this.... try and emulate the previous drummer or remember what you’re about and what you have to offer. Without doubt Steve Pilgrim makes this gig his own, he has a completely different approach than Steve, not better, not worse just different and I have to say it was a great experience. Steve was a great drummer to work with as he is such a nice guy.

We did a couple of shows in Cannock and Dalby as part of the ‘Forest tour’ which saw us playing some pretty damp fields in the middle of nowhere! As you would expect there were some pretty big crowds none-the-less.

 
Athens, Greece

We went on to do a few shows around Europe. There were shows at the Eden Project in Cornwall, Athens (Greece), Cactus festival in Belgium, and the ill fated Benicassim festival in Spain.

 
A hire kit out in Athens

 
A closer look at Steve’s set up....and Animal!

 
On stage at Cactus Festival in Belgium

 
Benicassim Festival.

Where do we start on Benicassim! What a nightmare. There were bush fires, 70mph winds and ultimately a cancelled show and what can only be described as an absolute nightmare.

We loaded in and got set no problem, the Kings of Leon were on after us and I had been looking forward to this show very much as a load of guys I know are on the KOL crew. After hooking up with everyone we were all set for a great day and show.

As the afternoon went on the wind started to pick up dramatically. It was soon clear that the stage was becoming unsafe. Our boys went on and got a few songs in before our tour manager made the decision to pull us off. It was absolutely the right thing to do as it was without doubt unsafe. During our set the stage was being rebuilt as it was taking an absolute battering!


 
The stage the next day...they rebuilt it and the show went ahead unaffected!

As the night went on the wind got increasingly worse and just tore through the entire festival site. We were stranded on site until 05:30 the next day as there was still equipment stranded on stage so we and the KOL crew had to sit it out and wait until we could get all our gear away.... nightmare!!

 
I guess there’s no chance of any breakfast at catering?!....

 
This is what was left of one of the beer tents!

All in all it certainly was an eventful few weeks! I’m looking forward to the next round of dates in November.

See you soon!