European Tour Diary: Day 17 - Milan, Italy

Italy!!!! Fuck yeah. Always wanted to go here. I spend the majority of the journey attempting to pick up some basic Italian. After tonight we have 4 days off in Milan and I hate feeling so ignorant, not being able to communicate at all, so I at least want to know how to say the basic stuff. I find it really interesting (though I’m pretty sure nobody else in the band cares when I bang on about it…) how close many of the European languages are.
We arrive at the venue in Milan, and my first impressions of Milan are that it ‘s pretty grimy. The venue is in quite an industrial area, but the venue itself is small but cool. The sound system is great, and we like these smaller shows as they’re more cramped and sweaty, kinda like our own shows at home. We graze the rider then me John and Fraser head over to a radio station down the road called Rock ‘n’ Roll Radio to do an interview and play an acoustic song. The DJ is cool and speaks great English but still feels the need to apologise for not being clear enough. We point out the constant truth wherever we go on this continent, which is that undoubtedly his grasp of English is far greater than our grasp of his language. We sign the walls of the corridor outside the studio then head back to the venue. As it gets dark the heavens open, and Milan gets approximately 10,000 times more miserable. Loading out in this will be fun.

There’s no backstage so we loiter around in the front of the venue while people stream in and get ready to play, and laugh at the fact that here the toilet is stuck in the middle of the room with urinals lining the four walls. No cubicle, no nothing, just a toilet on a small platform. Like a throne!

Tonight’s show is probably my favourite of the tour so far, the crowd really get into it and there’s a great atmosphere. Yes! Awesome, thanks Milan. We watch Danko Jones play for a while and wait to load out. When the venue is clear we run out to the van in the downpour, throw open the door and start slinging stuff in. If water damages any of this stuff we’re fucked, but everything is cased up so we should be ok. We squash everything in and shut the doors then head to a bar next to the radio station we were at earlier for some late night dinner and drinks. Our fantasies of fine pizza and pasta are soon dashed when we see the menu. 7 servings of Chicken nuggets and chips per favore.

We are all exhausted, but excited at the idea of having some time off, though it feels a bit strange the idea of parting ways for a few days. A few of us are going to stay here in Milan, some are planning to go to Lake Como, others Venice, and there is even talk of travelling to Monaco. We get into cabs and go to our hotels to pass out.

-Gus



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