June 20^th- Catch up on a few messages and get some breakfast. Head down to the hotel gym again and get going into a good workout. My Ipod is running on shuffle and Whitesnakes "Still of the Night" comes on. A few seconds into the intro part of the song the gym door swings open and Mr. Coverdale makes a grand entry....."Ash Baby". Un frickin' Canny!! Spend some time catching up with DC whilst we work out. It's good as we haven't seen each other in quite some time and he fills me in on the latest happenings. See Uriah from Whitesnake for a little while, he's wearing a pink t shirt that shows a Unicorn shagging a Dolphin! Something tells me that he didn't have regular mushrooms with his cooked breakfast this morning......



Get my gear ready later and the tour bus picks us up from the hotel to go to the venue, the Manchester M.E.N. Nice big dressing rooms for us and a big white wall in the bathroom for doing photos of Phil and Sav for Jackson guitars. Take some shots of the guys onstage at sound check, Viv continues his ongoing tradition of flipping me off as I walk around and shoot. I have to snap myself out of it sometimes, the band sounds incredible. My Mom and two best mates are coming to the concert tonight. Mom has never been to a concert before so I'm kinda wondering what her reaction is going to be.



Head out to the box office at 6pm to take Mom her tickets and passes. I wait around a little while and see some of the folks from the Whitesnake forum that I know but haven't met. It was really nice to meet them in person. I see Mom and my mate Staffy turn up and greet them, they both did a double take like they had to be sure it was me. Was kind of funny seeing that. My mate Kev couldn't make it as he got caught up at work having to fire someone or something very thrilling. It disappointed me for him as I know he's a big fan of Whitesnake and Def Lep. I walk them both past security and into the venue and up to their seats. They're at stage right on Phil's side with a great view of the stage. I come back later on and take them both backstage where I introduce them both to the Def Lep guys. She's gushy over Phil and thinks he's dishy. I introduce her to Joe and he says "So you're responsible for him!" as he points to me! Love it! Take them both around to the Whitesnake dressing room and get The Cov to come out and say hello. He's his usual charming self and full of hospitality. We pop into the band dressing room and see Doug, Timothy, Reb and Uriah. Timothy and Doug come on over and give her a big hug and we do some pics... Staffy is unusually quiet and I don't think he can believe it all., I'm surprised his thumbs aren't steaming away as he's the king of obsessive texting.

They head back to their seats and I head back to the dressing room while the guys are getting ready. Find a white wall and set up some lights and do a photo shoot with Joe, then Phil, Sav and lastly Rick. Right in the middle of shooting Rick I have a major Dejavu moment which really throws me off my game for a moment. Strange how that happens where the exact moment is something you've had before. I seem to have had quite a few of those this year....strange. Joe is in a great mood and we exchange filthy limericks whilst we shoot. He graciously poses for the Peanut Gallery on my website and we get some great shots! I'll post the outcome in the Peanut Gallery real soon.

Shoot some video of them warming up and then head out to the stage to shoot the show. The audience are a lot more alive than in Birmingham and the band clearly feed off this with a performance that is the best one yet! Get offstage and pick up dinner in the dressing room before we're due to leave. Mom and Staffy really enjoyed the show and are still buzzing from it all when they leave. Meet some sweet Def Lep fans from the website forum outside the venue gates before we jump on the bus and head back to the hotel. Hang out and unwind in the hotel bar for a couple of hours with Joe and Uriah from Whitesnake before the day catches up and knocks the crap out of me. It's been a great one!