Got back to the hotel after last nights gig and sat in the bar for a couple of hours yakking with Joe and going over photos from the concert with him. Check out of the hotel mid morning with the band and head over to the airport to catch the flight for Birmingham. Get checked in and go through security which is considerably easier than how we fart around in the US airports. Find the gate and then the hankering for English chocolate gets the better of me and I break down and get two Mars Bars which I proceed to devour not just one but both of them! I was doing so good eating healthy as well... Shite!

After a 2 hour delay we take off and arrive in sunny Birmingham. The tour bus picks us up at the airport and takes us over to the NEC. Have a scout around the venue and see the Def Lep tour book/poster on the merch stands. It's a big fold out double sided thing with a huge band pic of mine and the other side is all of my live shots of the guys from last year. They did an excellent job with the layout and remembered to put my name on there as well! The Lepps know how to look after ya ;O) One of the big time Def Lep fans than the band has known for years is backstage. His name is Nori, a very polite Japanese fella who happens to be one of Mr. Ross Halfin's assistants. He brings gifts for all the guys and is just a really nice fella.

The crew set up a little area backstage again for Phil to do his martial arts workout and I grab some shots of him pounding the crap out of himself and Jean again. Joe comes along and we take a couple of mock scrapping shots of him and Phil in a standoff...too funny! Grab some pics of him later posing with one of his new Jackson guitars before he goes on.

Great show tonite but the crowd are considerably less lively than the one in Glasgow...must be something about the Midlands here in the UK... it was raining and it is a Wednesday so they're excused a little I guess but hell, come to a rock show and let your hair down folks!

Dinner after the show in the dressing room. We are in Birmingham so a very hot curry it is!! Phew! A ring stinger! Hang out a while afterward for a little with my chums in Black Stone Cherry. A couple of weeks back I got a copy of their new cd that is due out in August and was blown away... The first one was great...this one runs circles around it!! The feedback from WS and Def Lep on these boys is great and the audiences approve most enthusiastically... Give 'em a try!

The band splits up between a couple of buses, I'm with Jean, Malvin, Mark and Joe as we head up the road to Manchester. Sit up front with Joe and Malvin and get to work uploading pics to my laptop and start reviewing and choosing images. I tell you, traveling with Joe is great, he's a one man comedy routine of one liners and innuendo! It's just like listening to my mates and I...Priceless! And Malvin and Mark are top blokes! Get to the hotel, check in and crash about 4am... Tomorrow's a day off. Gonna need it methinks!