Belfast
Day two begins, rather unceremoniously, with us getting on the train to Belfast.
Train? I hear you say … not very rock and roll … so let me explain:
All our gear is curently in a van, on it’s way to Oslo, where the main part of this tour starts. These first two shows in Ireland we’re playing with The Gallows before heading into Europe with Funeral for a Friend.
The Gallows are letting us use their equipment as a favour, so with nothing apart from a couple of guitars and a little bit of personal luggage, the cheapest and easiest way to get from Dublin to Belfast is on the train. Only takes two hours.
Jason asleep on the train 
The Limelight in Belfast is one of those almost legendary venues that’s firmly fixed in the touring circuit, and I can see why. The people here really have their shit together, makes the day much easier.
Unfortunately we’re on a flight at 7:30 tomorrow morning, so as soon as the show is done I head off back to the hotel, leaving the guys in the band to have a drink or two with The Gallows.
Oslo
We fly from Belfast to London, then hang around in Heathrow Airport for a few hours before getting on the plane to Oslo. Airports are like giant money traps: you cant escape paying £10 for a not very good breakfast and weak coffee. It’s just part of life, you cant escape it.
Airport boredom 
We make it to Olso in one piece where Brad, our driver, is waiting for us with the van and gear. For the first few days we’ve got a normal ‘splitter’ van. If you don’t know what that is, it’s a van that’s split into people space at the front and a cargo compartment at the back. There’s room for all our equipment and six seats. It’s not overly comfortable, but without the huge expense of a full size tour bus it’s the easiest way fornow to get from gig to gig.
Everything looks goood for the gig tonight. It’s a bit of a strange crowd, but what the hell, lets see if we can win them over … so I start the intro, the band walk onstage and … nothing. Colin’s bass is completely dead with no explaination at all. It’s all hands on deck to try and figure out what the problem is. Even the FFAF crew cant work out why it’s not making any noise, so rather than dick about and waste any more time trying to solve the problem, they let us use one of FFAF’s bass guitars and plug into their bass amp, just so we can get going.
Gig pics 
We get through the show with no more problems and once again it’s time to pack up and head for the hotel for another early night. We’ve got an eight hour drive to get to Stockholm tomorrow before we even think about actually doing a show.
Stockholm
We have to be at the gig for 2pm, which means leaving at 7am. Bad enough on any normal day, but spending the first third of the day in the van is a miserable way to start: everyone using what little space we have to try and get comfortable enough to sleep for a little while.
The van of DOOM! 
Once we get to the gig, things are looking a little better. It’s not long in the clear light of day before Colin has found the problem with the bass, and with a little help and a loan of a few tools, has it fixed and fully functional.
The crowd are in a much better frame of mind tonight, and when the band take the stage, there’s a good flow of energy going both ways … gets everyone up and into it.
After the show, we have a few drinks with the FFAF boys, no-one’s in a rush to get away tonight, we have a travel day tomorrow to get the ferry to Helsinki.
Our hotel for the night is actually more of a hostel type thing and it used to be the Stockholm City Jail. The cells have been converted into little hotel rooms: all very strange, but it’s nice and it’s clean, which is all we need for the night.
Ferry crossing
It’s a day on a boat. Not much to do but wander around in circles, eat and drink. Nothing exciting to talk about, no strange tales from the midnight Karaoke … honestly … there aren’t …
