It was late morning on a warm Saturday and we were just outside the venue - the Spirit of 66 - a small 350 capacity club. I went inside along with most of the others and had a look around. It had a vibe I could tell. There were various old metal signs from the 1950s and 60s America, but unlike your TGI or Hard Rock corporate visions this was much more like the real deal - as if Chuck had left a few of his old possessions to be picked up later. It was all wooden flooring with a balcony set above the back of the hall. This was where I was headed as, yes, breakfast was being served. Rolls, bread, jam and Nutella, which was my spread of choice for the day. I washed it down with some OJ and a few cups of coffee to wake me up. I think I've said before, it's nice to be in the centre of things and we certainly were. Our promoter Francis was particularly helpful and friendly, and although the venue is quite small - no bigger than a large pub (in fact it reminded me of the old Nags Head in Wycombe) - lots of bands come back after they get their fame and fortune to play warm-ups and one-off gigs because of the vibe and friendliness.

As it was Saturday there was a party feel in the air, and by mid afternoon we had met quite a few of the travelling contingent who had flown over for one or two of the weekend shows. Paul, who did our album artwork, had come over with a couple of friends, and various other people from around Europe had made their way to the square and were standing by our bus just outside the venue. JM and myself had a chat with them while Kate recounted merch and sorted out what she needed for the evening. Then Bob, both Johns and myself went to find some food and browse round the shops. After that we went back to the club and found they had a few PCs with internet access, so John Mitchell decided to go online, along with most of Spock's. I sat around waiting my turn, when John called me over to show me the Kino site. The forum was buzzing with lots of really good feedback, which made us feel good about what we were at.

The soundcheck started with Spock's, then us. This was by now a well-rehearsed part of the day and went swimmingly, although we were running late and the promoter was worried about us having time to eat before the doors opened. We went through a couple of things namely bits of 'Losers' Day' for the breaks we kept getting wrong and a bit of something else (I'm making it up now but we probably did), ending with a verse of 'Leave A Light On' for Rob. The doors did get opened before we ate, which meant trying to tuck into a hearty meal while chatting to fans, signing autographs and generally being in a bit of a goldfish bowl (oh well never mind it goes with the territory - and if no-one took any notice of us, we'd still moan I'm sure!).

The place was packed and you could tell that the audience were up for a good time. The click started and we were on with 'Leave A Light On'. By now we were starting to sound more and more like a real band with all four of us feeling the same things at the same time, allowing the music to breathe and have more meaning. Again 'Swimming' was great and also 'People' was really good, with Bob and I getting the heavy groove just right. 'Perfect Tense' was becoming a favourite and I was starting to play around a little with some of the parts of some of the songs - something I always do when I'm familiar with songs as it stops me getting bored, I could never play exactly the same thing night after night. 'Losers' Day' was particularly well received and we came off stage with a feeling of a job well done. This was all fitting into place finally.

After some backstage banter and a chat about our favourite moments, I got showered and changed and we then started partying with friends and fans in the audience. JM got into a squirely mode of getting various people to order rounds of drinks on his behalf, allowing his mind to be focused on the job of diligently getting through his share, with Bob, John Beck and Paul backing him up as mates should. Yep it was the weekend no doubt about it, and conveniently the bar was near the merch stand so people could buy CDs or T-shirts and ask us to sign them without too much moving away from the drinks involved. It was a win-win situation. That kind of malarkey went on throughout the rest of the evening with poor old Francis at one point showing concern for the amount of his profit we were pouring down our throats. I say we, but as you may or may not know, I stopped drinking some years ago, and was already thinking about how they would feel the morning or indeed the evening after. Amazing how the body conveniently forgets to remind you what hangovers are really like until it's too late. You can guess how they'd be feeling tomorrow so I'll leave it there for now.

At the end of the evening we said many goodbyes and thanked the promoter who was a very decent chap and wrote off our bar bill. All I can add is that the others just about managed to find the bus (right outside the venue as you may recall) and at some point in the early hours we pulled out of Verviers to drive to the German border with Switzerland.