Elevation Leg 1: 2001, North America

It was pouring with rain as I left home and got a cab to Victoria. We€™re flying from Gatwick, which involves taking the train from Victoria Station, the route to which takes me past Trafalgar Square, Whitehall and Buckingham Palace, so I felt like a tourist for ten minutes.

There€™s quite a few of our touring party on this flight so the reunions have already begun. Everyone seems in very good form, slightly stunned from the unusual experience of having had time off at home over the summer. When the postponement happened, it seems most people either couldn€™t, or chose not to, fill the intervening couple of months with work. I, of course, spent the time redesigning the show as some of what we had planned for the North America was tied into the tour opening during World Cup week in Africa, all of which is now ancient history.

On arrival in Turin buses awaited us to go to our various hotels. It turned out that everybody in my party had the wrong hotel information, but we did eventually make it to the Hotel Fabulous. We€™re on tour.

Later I headed out with some of my lighting and video peeps for dinner and strategy planning. Sitting outside in a narrow, cobbled street on a perfect evening, eating fabulous food, it€™s hard not to wonder what the hell is wrong with alcohol consumption in the UK. We sat there till quite late, the streets full of people, walking, drinking, eating, with not a pissed wanker in sight. When I think of London€™s West End even by 10.30pm on a week night, it€™s a pretty shameful state of affairs. Anyhow, let us not dwell.