Monday 28th November 2005
Helioscentric Studios

Today I went down to the studio to visit the boys as they continue to work on the follow up to Hopes And Fears. It was a pretty uneventful drive into the countryside. So uneventful in fact that I completely zoned out, missed my turning and as the all tree-lined roads suddenly looked the same I laboured under the illusion that I actually knew where I was going. Despite being here a million times I tried in vain to follow my instincts and find Helioscentric but all I achieved was to drive in a circle for an hour running over a squirrel in the process. Salvation came in the guise of a postman with what can only be described as an icicle hanging off the end of his nose and twenty minutes later Tom was stood smiling in the doorway of the studio as I pulled up.

Tim was sat by the mixing desk with Andy while a new song blasted out of the speakers. It was a real out and out rock song with some incredible vocals provided by Tom. While the track shook the dust out the rafters Tom scribbled notes on his lyric sheets and Tim sat head back and eyes shut listening. For those of you that have seen the Strangers DVD you'll have a fair idea of what Helioscentric studio looks like and today, much like on the DVD it was rammed with Tim's pianos and Rich's drumkits. Leads and wires snake across the floors, walls and ceiling linking instruments and mic's to banks of machinery with flashing LEDs at the heart of which is Andy's mixing desk. Everywhere you turn are references to the new songs, rough mix cd's, scraps of paper with new lyrics and a large whiteboard devoted to breaking down the parts of each of the new tracks - what's been recorded and what hasn't. Tim quite often seems drawn to this chart, it's a map of sorts. Today was a day for Tom to lay down various vocals on a couple of very new tracks as well as Hamburg Song and Try Again. Takes were punctuated and interrupted with Tom cracking up and laughing for no visible reason which would in turn trigger everyone else. Tom was on good form and as his voice warmed up and I snapped away, the new songs sounded stunning. Within this environment leaving with thoughts of the drive back to London is never easy.

Rich turned up later in the afternoon to record some drum parts though I barely had time to speak to him before I had to think of heading home but we sat in the lounge for a while and had some lunch. For all of the band between recording commitments and the envitable tangle of getting things sorted back home when you've been away for so long it appears that they are as busy as ever. Tim said he didn't feel like it was any less hectic for them now they were back in the studio compared to when they were on the bus but you could tell they were enjoying the sessions and like most of us, with one eye on Christmas and the potential for a few days off on holiday. Tom and I stood looking at the world map on the wall of the kitchen trying to suss out possible holiday destinations. I think we left it trying to work out if we could squeeze Great Britain into California...

Well I had to leave early in the afternoon to make it back to London for a show though I'll be in the studio later this week so do check back for more updates. Oh, in the end I blew out the show to go down the pub instead with some friends. Inside the pub we met Santa Claus and made friends with a drunk Labrador. I think I made the right move.

Alex.xx.

Saturday 15th October 2005.
New York

Well here I am in the studio. We're all sitting around having just eaten the most ridiculously greasy burger and chips from the deli across the road. I've been eating this junk all week but today even Tim couldn't resist and now he's at his computer doing impressions of Star Wars characters. Rich is in the other room laying down some new drum tracks for 'Nothing In Your Way' while Scott is out in the street spraying KEANE onto the flight cases for all of
Rich's new drums… Tim is now tinkering on a vintage Mellotron having spent the morning singing backing vocals on another new song. Tom I imagine is at the airport and we're exchanging suitably foolish emails back and forth.

Well you know what? I think it's time to sign off for a little while… We're winding up here and the rest of the weekend will be spent in the studio and the bars that surround us - a few hours of fun and games and relaxation. On Monday we all leave. Everyone is flying home to the UK for some much needed rest before continuing the recording sessions for album number two. I'm flying to LA with Ed for a few days before flying back to NY for a day and then onward to London. I'll hook up with the band in the coming weeks down at the studio in England so stay tuned for new photos and diary updates once in a while.

So it's time for me to put down my pen and powerbook and say goodbye. Goodbye for now, but not goodbye for good. Thanks a million to everyone who read this short account of the band's time in NYC. I hope you enjoyed it.

I have to go outside. For the first and only time since we got here the rain has stopped. It's like the weight of the world is lifting. The sun is shining and the sky is blue. For all the highs and lows in any one given day you can't really ask for much more than that now can you?

Alex.xx.

Friday 14th October 2005

A big day today as it was the last show that the band are playing on the U2 tour and the last live show that Keane will be playing this year. The day was spent inside sheltering from the rain while the guys continued the sessions for album number two. It was a pretty busy day with the band recording piano, bass, drum and vocal parts on a number of songs.

At about 5pm we all strolled back to the hotel to get ready for the show. As I walked back out into the foyer I saw Rich standing next to a trolley that was stacked up to the eyeballs with boxes of drums, so no change there then… We all piled into the van and drove up through the rain to The Garden.

There was a really fun atmosphere backstage tonight, I guess what with the touring at an end everyone knew this was the last night we'd all be hanging out together for a while. Everyone sat around having the odd drink and cracking jokes. Tim seemed lost in thought as he wrapped a line of Christmas tree lights around himself, Tom was sat back with his laptop and Rich was stood out in the corridor trying to shake off the cramp that had made his leg seize up. Bono swung by to chat to the band briefly before the show. Members of Keane's crew buzzed in and out of the dressing room as they got prepared.

The show itself was blinding. I took some photos and watched the rest of the set with Adam and Ed. Whilst taking my jacket off I managed to knock an entire tray of champagne-filled glasses out of waitress's hand as she tried to navigate her way through the crowd. I felt pretty bad but I can't understand the sense of having waiters and waitresses trying to flog booze off a tray in the middle of the standing section at a rock show… As Tom sung the final notes of Bedshaped and the crowd roared I realized that was it for 2005. All over. Just studio time now.

Back in the dressing room Adam Clayton from U2 dropped a bottle of champagne into the band and as everyone kicked back and relaxed an endless stream of visitors stopped by to say hello to them. Sitting in the corner it was a really nice scene to observe, most touching when members of the crew came in to say goodbye (for now) to Tim, Rich and Tom. Well beers were consumed and most of us congregated in the arena to watch U2 for the final time. Tom left early as he has to catch a flight home tomorrow. After a while Rich and I left the others to it and sat back down in the dressing room with a drink. The dressing room stayed busy all night with the crew slowly but surely packing away the band's gear for them.

When the time came to depart I left with Rich, Adam and Ed. We walked into what can only be described as a taxi-riot as the streets outside the venue filled with gig-goers desperate for a lift home. My height played to our advantage, as I was able to hail a cab that was about a mile away from us down 8th Ave. It was one of those nights when as you're getting in one side of the cab strangers are getting in the other side. Hard work, though we got away relatively unscathed and made it back to the hotel in one piece. Rich went to chill out in his room while I went out to dinner with Adam and Ed. Ed sent his dinner back three times as they kept getting his order wrong while I filled up on Margaritas. Later still Adam and Tim went back out to the U2 aftershow party and I stumbled upstairs and happily fell into the open arms of my bed.

Here is a small photo gallery for you all. A proper diary entry for today and more photos to follow later.

Thursday 13th October 2005

Today was another nice day in the studio, again no show tonight. I arrived to find Tim already there, notebook and Dictaphone in hand. While I shook the rainwater off my camerabag he strolled into the live room to work on a couple of new song ideas. Ed arrived not long after with his video camera, followed later still by Andy, Rich and Scott. Rich's incredible enthusiasm for all things 'drum' is matched only by that of his drum tech. Any spare chance they get they are out in the local drum shops, online shop or in the
studio either playing, tuning or unwrapping new pieces of drum equipment.

It troubled me, "But Rich it's not like your kit is getting any bigger, where does it all go?"

"Well Lakey, I've actually got about eight drumkits and if you… Oh, no actually there was that one that I… Yes, I've actually got nine drumkits so… Oh you know what, if you count the time Scott and I…You see the thing about my ten drumkits is…"

I didn't quite hear the end of his sentence before they were out the door on another mission only to return a
couple of hours later with three new Yamaha drums. The day was spent working on a new song. I have to say I was really impressed. Featuring a traditionally powerful Keane melody and hook this has to be the most 'musical' song I've heard so far. It had to my ears this incredibly complex drumming rhythm that Rich played with a really beautiful light touch and a bass line that again to my ears had a near menacing groove to it. I don't think I've ever heard them perform anything like it before.

Today was a day of visits with in the afternoon Chris Martin popping in to say hello and come the evening, Fran Healy. Adam and I met up with Ed and we all went for dinner. It was a great restaurant but with some of the most abrupt waiters I've ever met who would spit out (in Ed's case, literally onto his arm) their questions and answers to us. It was pretty funny. We swapped stories: me about growing up in Mexico as a child and the culture shock of visiting the Philippines for the first time as a kid, Adam told us about this American hippie's ill-fated real estate dream. Adam had met him in Costa Rica, where this guy had moved. He'd spent his life saving on eight hectares of rainforest in a noble attempt to preserve it only to find out a couple of years later that the people he bought it off had used the money to level the remaining twenty hectares they owned and build a pineapple plantation… As for Ed, he now lives in LA and what with all the rain he looked like he was already missing the light, space and beach.

After dinner I went for a walk round the block and as I came back in I saw Ed coming out so we both went for a drink. It was the first time I'd got to talk to Ed at length about the documentary he made and to ask him if he liked the artwork I created to put it in. We talked for a good hour or so and I'd love to give you his thoughts on the process he went through to get to the end point but I think the less you hear about the documentary before you see it the better so maybe another time. Lets keep it a surprise.

Well we finished our drinks and got soaked as we walked round the block and back to the hotel. I think the storms have put my TV on the blink as I could hear it but not see it - the picture that is - the TV was stood in the corner of the room where its always been. Oh well you can't really hear a picture can you? Anyhoo I spent about twenty minutes trying to mend that before resorting to spending an hour taking photos of the city out of my bedroom window, amazed that on the 14th floor I actually have a window you can slide open and in the end just grateful that with his fear of sleepwalking Rich wasn't in this room. New York looked like something out of Blade Runner tonight. It looked beautiful, like it was on fire. I couldn't stop staring at it or thinking about the set of circumstances that had brought me here in the first place. Sitting alone in my hotel room and looking out across the city I couldn't see a single human being but I knew there was a million of them around me.

What can I tell, another day in the studio. Ed joined us to do some filming while the band worked on. Today they were recording some 'live' versions of the track Hamburg Song in that they all played together in the studio instead of recording their parts separately.

In the evening the band took everyone in the crew out to dinner in Little Italy. I don't know if I've said this enough but since we arrived in New York has been raining, constantly. I hooked up with Adam at the hotel and we braved the howling rain and flooded streets to reach the restaurant. I have to say it was an excellent night. Everyone was there and we took over half the restaurant. I was sat next to Tim and we had a good long chat about the highs and lows the band have been through on the road in the preceding year. The band have toured and toured and at times they've been stretched wafer thin but as Tim said he can't really complain. His latest take on touring is that it's like, "being on holiday but where you have to play some gigs". We also chatted about the direction of the follow up to Hopes And Fears and the development in the bands songwriting. We talked a lot about Try Again and how I thought that depending on the way Tom sung it in the studio his delivery made it sound either like a lament or a statement of intent. Tim spoke of how the challenge is to decide instrumentally what to leave in and what to leave out. The band are all so excited about the sound of the new songs.

As is the American way we were given an obscene amount of food to punctuate the conversation. Tom got up at one point and gave an impromptu speech thanking everyone for all their hard work over the preceding years. After too much to eat we stepped out into the rain went for drinks into a nearby bar. It was a special night. Gradually everyone drifted off to other bars or back home and in the end it was just myself, Rich and Adam left to stroll back through the rain and into the hotel together.



Tuesday 11th October 2005
New York

Another good day in the studio. Everyone was in this morning. Tom wasted no time in hurling his traditional abuse in my direction before I'd even had a chance to point my camera in his. He seems to have developed an obsession for Odwalla smoothies and sat back on the sofa with a bottle perched beside him like an old friend. He's drinking too much coffee and by the afternoon is usually to be found freaking out in some corner of the studio or another Tim and Tom spent a bit of time practicing some songs on the piano while Rich and Andy listened back to some of the drum takes he'd performed the previous day. By now Tom had distracted himself with the coffee machine. Tim was sitting alone at the piano, bass guitar slung around his neck working out a bass line and key change to the song he was about to record parts for.

It was an odd sight to see Tim playing the bass. The song he was recording has to be the heaviest thing I've ever heard Keane perform to date. As Adam arrived Rich went out to have lunch with a friend and Tim rolled on recording his bass. Once everyone was happy with where the tune was at Tom started to record his vocals. Once Tom felt he'd done enough Tim went back to recording his bass line, which is pretty much how we spent the rest of the day. Come early evening everyone had drifted off and as lobby call for tonight's gig approached Tim and I strolled back through Soho to the hotel. It was late so I pretty much had enough time to go up to my room, dump my camera bag on the bed, pick my camera bag up off the bed and head back down to the lobby where I bumped into Rich who was already there waiting with Tom. Tim came out the lift and we all jumped into the van and drove uptown to the venue.

Because I'd gone in the van we drove straight into The Garden and backstage I had to navigate my way through the corridors back down to the correct entrance to collect my passes that I needed to err.. go backstage. The security at the venue is so tight it's insane and I was worried I'd get caught 'passless' and get thrown out as I was trying to get out. Needless to say the security guard at the front desk was highly unimpressed that I walked up behind him to ask for my pass, which I waited and waited and waited for. He tried to catch me out by saying cryptically, "Who are Kane?" Well the elevator back up arrived about fifteen minutes after my passes did and soon enough I was back in the relative comfort of the dressing room. Tom was in there at a keyboard working on a song idea and giving me the finger every time I tried to take his photo. Cabin fever had clearly set in early as we slumped back and I shot off a ton of photos as Tom pulled increasingly ludicrous expressions and switched from crying out. "LAKE! PISS OFF WITH THAT BLOODY CAMERA" to "LAKE! TAKE MY BLOODY PHOTO!" when I turned my attention to someone else. Tim who was in the other corner of the room looked on in disbelief at his best friends inability to stop arsing about. At least that's what I thought until I turned the camera on him and was greeted with a shocking X-rated display from the sprawled out pianist. I definitely won't be putting those shots out there. In the end we all just groaned and laughed at each other and Tim said it best when he put his face in his hands and cried out, "Oh God! What the fuck are we doing?"
That'll be the cabin fever again. I guess when it sets in you either turn into a prima donna or a version of yourself when you were 12 years old, with Keane it's definitely the latter… At any rate Tom had now stolen Colin's walkie talkie and was amusing himself twiddling the knobs on it and
generally making it impossible for anyone who wanted to reach Colin to be able to do so. Colin had vanished earlier after complaining that his contact lens had disappeared up into the back of his eye socket and after Rob had unexpectedly shone his mag light directly into Colin's eyeball in an attempt to find it. He stumbled off toward the toilet blinded.

We all hung out in the dressing room drinking a few beers and generally having a bit of a knees up. At one point Rufus Wainwright swung by to hang out with everyone and suddenly it seemed like there was about 30 people in the dressing room. I had to check my head that the band hadn't actually already done the show and that I'd walked in to the aftershow party. I stepped out at one point and on my way back in got into an argument with the same security guard who wouldn't let me into the backstage area on Saturday night. I had three large passes stuck to my chest and he still wouldn't let me in. I was so tired by this point I just started laughing hysterically, probably more to the amusement of the gaggle of U2 fans milling about than to myself. Anyhow, he was having none of it and I had to walk all the way around to the other side of the venue where the security guard understood the meaning of the phrase AAA.

In the corridor I saw Rich with the biggest smile on his face. He told me he'd just been hanging out on the stage with Larry (U2's drummer as if you didn't know...) and that they'd had a go on each others drum kits and generally geeked out about being drummers. Larry is Rich's drumming idol -
he used to play along o U2 records in his bedroom when he was a kid and I don't think he could quite believe he'd just played Larry's kit at all. It was pretty special for him I think. We celebrated with beer.

By the time I got back only Tom was in the dressing room. He was stood in the corner muttering to himself, pouring little sachets of vitamin powders into a bottle of Poland Spring. I think its safe to say Tom is pre-occupied this week not only with turning in a good vocal performance at the shows but obviously in the studio during the day. He's been keeping a fairly low profile to keep his voice at its best. Eg. No alcohol and plenty of rest. In direct contrast to their singer's new-found halo, Rich and Tim have been knocking back the beers faster than they can be brought into the room. Rich blames me for egging him on though I'm convinced that it's all his fault that at the end of each night the three of us are stood drunkenly sliding our keys around our room doors for a few minutes before luck finds the locks and lets us in. Indeed if you ever find yourself in our hotel look for the doors with the scratches all over them - those will be our rooms and a map of the journeys our keys made to get us home.

I took some photos during the show tonight and afterward found the dressing room full again and the supplies of alcohol rapidly depleting. We all stood in a group to watch U2. I don't know what it was about the crowd tonight but they were going insane. I think it was the first gig I've ever been to where the sound of the audience cheering was deafening to the point of making me feel a bit queasy. The show was excellent and even Bono mentioned that the audience was the best yet.

While Rich and I went back and forth on beer runs Tim left a bit early and texted us to say he was in a bar in Soho having a drink so I caught a cab with Rich to meet him but not before I'd bumped into Ed who filmed the 'Strangers' documentary and who had flown in to do some additional filming. We all hung out there for a while and in the end there was quite a crowd. Tom dropped in too but wasn't drinking and as everyone else did he adopted an ever increasingly mournful expression. I have to admit my memory of the rest of the night grinds to a halt here. I remember looking up to see Tim, Rich and Tom relaxed and happy with their feet up having fun. I thought we could have been 18 years old again - not that I knew Keane when I was 18 - and sat in any local pub without a care in the world. It was just like normal life. I don't know what happened next but I found some extra key scratches on my door when I looked in the morning. Good times.

Got up way too early and strolled out with all my stuff to go check into the band's hotel for the rest of the week. While standing on Broadway with a pint of orange juice desperately trying to shake off the night before, I spotted Tom walking towards me and we both strolled round the block and into the studio. The day was pretty much taken up with Rich recording drum parts for a couple of new songs. Tom didn't really hang around after the band had had their meeting in the morning though Tim stuck around to listen to the progression of what Rich was recording.

Tim and I scooted off at one point to grab some lunch from the deli across the road and when we returned John Roderick popped in to say hi. Johns band The Long Winters supported Keane this autumn and being a huge Long Winters fan myself it was a real pleasure to meet him. He hung out while Rich worked on his drum tracks and told us about his rapidly approaching stint in the
Studio to start work on his band's new record. My favourite Long Winters album is When I Pretend To Fall and it's well worth checking out.

As the afternoon rolled on I left the studio just before Tim and Rich and jumped in a cab over to Madison Square Garden. I spent some time with the guys from the crew, swapping stories from the night before and generally getting ready for the night. Highlight of this part of the afternoon was
When Kyle strolled in a pair of red and black stripy trousers, which he'd been trying to track down forever. Having found a pair on ebay he was suitably chuffed and they could have passed as a pair of pants to promote How To Dismantle An Atomic Bomb. He also picked up a couple of bright red incense burners, which came in the shape of a dragons for the dressing room. Rock.

The band arrived around 6pm and we all hung out in the dressing room killing the hours until show time. I just put my feet up and snapped away at what was going on around me. It was funny to see the old dynamics hadn't changed in the passing of the months. Tim had his head buried in a magazine, Tom sidling up beside him kept flicking the magazine into his face whilst Rich in an
Unheard of display of laziness asked me to take a photo of the clock that was behind him and pass over my digital camera so he could look at the photo to see what the time was… The afternoon turned into the evening, lots of fooling about.

Well soon enough showtime came so we all strolled out into the arena. I took some shots during the band's set this time. Confirmation came tonight that Try Again is my new favourite song. After the show we all hung in the dressing room. Two of the largest pizzas know to humanity arrived just as I stepped out to take some photos of U2's show. When I was done I dumped my camera back in
the dressing room, grabbed a beer and caught up with Rich and Tim who were watching the show out in the arena. It's such a treat to be able to see so many U2 shows like this so we take every chance we can to watch as much of each set as possible. During the show Bono thanked Keane for playing and bringing their beautiful songs and melodies to everyone. It was a really sweet
moment and I imagined it must have felt quite surreal for Tim, Rich and Tom to hear Bono saying that and the cheer that came back from The Garden when he did.

When the time came I strolled out with Tim and Rich and we jumped in a cab back to the hotel. Although our beds were definitely calling to us Tim and John were up for a drink so we sat in the hotel bar and did just that. Rich was utterly knackered from a whole day spent playing the drums and stumbled off to bed whilst inspecting the new blisters that had appeared on his hands during the day.

Well the drinks and food worked their magic and we all decided to hit the hay. I'm staying on the 14th floor and I totally spazzed out when I saw the view out of my window. There was the city illuminated and blurred out in the cold wet night sky. I turned on the TV but fell asleep before I could change channel.

Sunday 9th October 2005
New York

Today was a day off. I spent the day geeking out in the Apple Store and fighting the urge to buy yet another pair of converse sneakers… In the evening I hooked up with everyone for some dinner at a nice little restaurant near the hotel. It was nice to sit and catch up with Tim and exchange stories
of what we've been up to in the past few months. We all went back to the hotel bar for a few drinks afterwards. Tim and I ordered some of the largest Margaritas known to man. Rich and Scott turned up later in the night and joined us too. The night before Huey had invited us to a bar that he was
going to be Djing at called Bungalow Eight and after we'd finished our drinks Scott and I decided to go down and check it out. It was really entertaining and Huey's a funny fella. Scott and I grabbed some drinks and caught up.

Saturday 8th October 2005
New York City

Got up too early and staggered out into the rain. Staggered back inside and got an umbrella. Staggered back outside and opened the brolly. Was laughed at by a couple of kids as the brolly popped open, flew off the handle and blew off down the street. Amazed that this has happened to me before… Realising I was already soaked to the bone I stumbled off in search of breakfast and the band. I found breakfast in a burger bar on Broadway (I read Fast Food Nation but I really can't help myself) and the band in a recording studio in the city.

In the past year, between me doing my best impression of a ping pong ball between London and New York and the band's constant touring we haven't seen each other in quite a while so it was really nice to sit and catch up. Everyone was well, excited about the shows and happy to be back in NY. The band have been playing a new song called Try Again in their shows and it was this track that they were working on today. The song is beautiful and as ever it was just really cool to be able to sit back and observe them working on it and their ideas about what instruments should come in where and so on. Andy who produced Hopes And Fears with them was there behind the desk and most of the afternoon was taken up with Tom laying down some vocal tracks while Tim listened
intently to the different versions. Rich left the studio first on a mission to hit the shops and find a late lunch while I sat downstairs with Adam (Keane's manager) and watched some of the band's forthcoming DVD. More on this another time, suffice to say you definitely will not be disappointed when you all see it…

Later in the afternoon I too stepped out for some tea and despite the rain, a stroll round Soho before the show. Come the evening the rain was still chucking it down so I jumped in a cab. As it transpired so had the rest of New York City so it took nearly an hour to drive the twenty blocks to Madison Square Gardens. The cab was a bit shoddy and I couldn't do the window up so in the end it was just raining inside the cab and there was about four inches of water in the footwell of the car. I didn't look too close down there though, well it was a New York City cab…

Once I'd navigated my way through the multiple layers of security at The Garden I found the bands dressing room about half an hour before show time. Stood outside was legendary tour manager, Colin, and we caught up for a while as he showed me around the venue. Next I bumped into Scott who is Rich's drum tech, Geoff who does the band's programming and backline, Rob who does
the lights, Kyle who handles the merchandise, Ant who sets up and looks after Iain's sound equipment, Alistair who is in charge of monitors and Dermot the production manager. Everyone was pretty busy getting ready for showtime and in amongst all the organised chaos Tim and Tom were having a bit of a warm up on the keyboard that stood in the corner of the dressing room. Adam arrived with some shockingly tacky golden tablelamps that he'd purchased in an effort to add a spot of atmosphere to the otherwise sterile, striplight lit dressing room. They did the job nicely.

Pre-show was great fun. At one point Steve Coogan and Rob Brydon popped into the dressing room to say hello to the band and Huey, the singer with the Fun Lovin' Criminals hung out with us backstage too.

Soon enough it came time for the band to hit the stage and I stood out in the arena to watch. Having not seen the band play live for a good few months I really enjoyed it especially hearing my new favourite song, Try Again. Madison Square Garden really is the venue of venues and the band were clearly chuffed to be in the rather wonderful position of opening the show for U2 and they sounded blinding. After the set we all relaxed in the dressing room for a while. The Edge and Larry from U2 popped into the dressing room to chat to the band. I finally got to hook up with Iain, the bands live sound engineer, and a few beers were consumed by one and all.

We were all really looking forward to watching U2's show, which for the most part I did with Rich. We watched from out in the crowd and would dash to the dressing room every now and then to top up our drinks. U2 were pretty spectacular and had a light show that could have easily illuminated half of Manhattan. That woman off the telly show that tries to get people to use low energy light bulbs and not leave their TVs on standby overnight would have been beside herself.

A few of us stayed on for drinks at the aftershow party. Later still the band were invited to join U2 at their hotel where they were having a few drinks. I headed down too and it was a really lovely evening. We all had a bite to eat and a few drinks and chatted away to Bono and The Edge - we must have headed home at about 4am in the end. All in all it was a really special night and a pretty privileged place to be. I'm not moving over to the band's hotel till Monday so we said our goodnights out on the sidewalk before jumping in cabs home.



Friday 7th October 2005
New York City.

Hello all. I arrived in New York on Friday evening. The flight over was luxury with shed loads of space as there were only about one hundred and fifty other people on the plane, one of whom turned out to be Heidi who owns Helioscentric Studios where the band recorded Hopes And Fears. It wasn't a totally random coincidence - she was coming out to watch one of the shows. We bumped into each other in the departures lounge and spent the next seven hours at 35,000 feet catching up on the past few months. Flicking through the in-flight entertainment and realising my brain couldn't cope with anything too demanding I opted to watch War Of The Worlds - (blargh), The Descent - (scary biscuits) and The League Of Gentlemen's Apocalypse. The last of which had me in stitches.
I listened to Rufus Wainwright and Kate Bush on my ipod until the battery gave up the ghost. Heidi it turns out is addicted to Tetris though I had to steer clear as I knew it would only end in tears and achy thumbs…

At the airport we hopped into a cab to take us to Manhattan. The weather sucked and it took hours to get into the city. Rain, rain, rain. Heidi had to whiz off to make it to the show, which by all accounts, rocked. I didn't go as I had to prat around with my new powerbook that I'd bought the day before having managed to drop my old (and much loved) powerbook earlier in the week. I'd watched helplessly as, in slow motion, it divided itself into five pieces as it met the floor - though, I hasten to add, not before I'd archived off my artwork for the bands forthcoming DVD so it wasn't a total disaster… In all credit to Apple it stayed with me long enough to let me copy off all my emails
before it breathed its last. Sniff sniff… In the end I did manage to catch up with some friends and actually get some sleep for the first time in days, which was probably not the most rock n' roll way to spend a Friday night in New York, but I enjoyed it. Hooking up with the band tomorrow.