Hamburg

The poor Faithless crew had flown straight to Hamburg from Argentina for two days of production rehearsals… The lucky band members had got 48hrs at home, which to some was fantastic and to others just a bit of a tease…

So, slightly refreshed, they arrived at Hamburg airport in a chirpy mood and ready to rock…!

Maxi was immediately accosted by some Ibiza cats, who had seen him out there in the summer...

At the hotel, LSK found a throne to sit on while waiting for everyone to come down for lobby call…

…

Eventually they did and it was off to the venue to run through the new set up…

…where a surprise lay in store for Maxi…

It was a hydraulic platform that would raise him 3-5 meters in the air, during ‘Flying Hi’…

Maxi looked like he had strong reservations...

…

…

…

…and predictably it got sacked…!!

…

Then it was back to sitting around as bits of equipment had final tweaks…

…

…

Eventually it was all working well…and, with everyone satisfied, they left the stage…

…

The next morning LSK & Maxi went to check out a shop called ‘Sneaker Freaker’, which they’d spotted from the bus on the way into town…

…

Then in the afternoon it was back to the venue to spend the rest of the day checking out the lights and having another extended soundcheck, before the gig in the evening

…

…

…

Maxi signed his favourite microphone for Mark Kennedy to send to auction in aid of the Nordoff Robbins Music Therapy foundation…

…

Dave continues to work on his 'secret project'...!

…before getting ready for stage…

…

…

…

Blissy in the new designer dress she'd just been given...

…

…

…

…

—-

…

After the show there was barely time for a quick drink…

…

…before jumping on the buses to drive through the night to Antwerp…

…

—–

If you can’t see the Videos – Visit  www.faithlessblog.co.uk

…

 

South America Part 3

Five years ago Faithless spent six days in Buenos Aires, and at the time, they didn’t consider it long enough…

This time they were given 20 hours…!

A very hungry LSK and Maxi stepped out of the airport to catch the last bit of warm sunshine they would see for a while…

…

…

Maxi strips a couple of layers off…

...while Hells Bells(production) pretends to avert her eyes...!

Then disaster struck…

News came through that the equipment was still sitting on the tarmac at Santiago airport in Chile…

Blissy immediately started contingency plans… which involved getting a scaled down ‘Faithless Sound System’ show organised…

…

 

Blissfully unaware and enjoying sunshine and tunes, LSK & Maxi awaited a lift to the hotel…

…

After much trouble trying to find percussion equipment for Sudha and getting the Faithless Dub tracks e-mailed from London, it looked like they might just pull it off…

The band members who weren’t taking to the stage decided to come and support Maxi, Blissy and Sudha… even though the temptation of a glass of Argentinian red wine and an early night must have been strong…!

…

The dressing room area was awash with UV lights…

Which made Maxi’s shoes and tie turn a nice shade of Orange…

…

…

A quick listen to the dub tracks was in order, to provide a reminder of the changes different to those in the live set…

…

And all too soon it was time to hit the stage and give it to them extra hard, in an attempt to  make amends for not being the full band…

Everyone was already gutted about the situation but found it all the worse when they looked out from the stage to see an amazing 30,000 people ready to party hard all night…

…

…

The three of them gave it their all and got everyone jumping from front to back, but while pleased to have been able to perform at all, the overriding feeling of disapointment at letting the fans down still loomed heavily in the air…

…

—–

The next morning it was straight to the airport to fly back to Europe… Where the Arena tour was scheduled to begin…

By this point in the tour, jet lag, irregular meal times, sunstroke and homesickness had driven most people to the brink of madness…!

…

…

…

Thankfully, the British Airways crew were very understanding…

…

42 hours in the air during 8 days!

—-

If you can’t see Videos – Go to www.faithlessblog.co.uk

 

 

 

 

.

South America Part 2

The plane journey to Santiago was supposed to take just three hours…it ended up closer to four… but everyone agreed it felt more like ten..!

Some of the crew hadn’t slept in days and were at the point of collapse…

Harry lent his pillow, and his support, to the hardest working sound tech, Luke(LT)…who had been awake for 40 hours…!!

…

Finally, by 11pm, everyone made it to the ‘W’ Hotel in Santiago. Unfortunately, they seemed completely unprepared for Faithless’s arrival and there was a lot of sitting around in the hotel lobby…

Once rooms had been sorted, both band and crew met up for a much needed beer at the bar…

…

Stan ordered 6 beers and, what with being a bit dazed and confused from the travelling, and not being on top of what the exchange rates were, almost signed the bar receipt…

…before noticing that is was for 67 beers..!

…

…

While they were not very organised at the ‘W’ Hotel, the style and design was pretty special…

…

The next morning Maxi, Sudha, Dave and Jo headed out into the sunshine to see some sights of Santiago…

…

First of all, it was up the Cerro San Christobal, where you get an amazing view of the city…

…and see the statue of the Virgen de la Inmaculada Concepcion, which is 22 meters tall and was donated by the French in the 1920’s…

…

…

Next was a short trip into town, to the presidential palace… Where rumour had it that the miners’ escape capsule was sitting outside as a tourist attraction…

…alas it turned out it had been moved to the beach just a couple of weeks previously…

…

After a spot of lunch, Dave headed off to work on his video blog ‘The Randall Report‘

…

Maxi, Sudha & Jo, decided to check out a little art market…

…just had to wait for the driver to come with the mini van…

…

…

…

…

Maxi puts in a quick call to the President, to invite the miners to the concert...

…

With a late show time at Creamfields Santiago, there was a nice early evening slot for the band to head out for a communal meal…

…

Full-bellied - Maxi & Dave stroll back from dinner..

…

View of the Andes from the Hotel

…

On arrival at the venue, it seemed to be in a state of transition…

…

Maxi puts on a thermal top... Harry takes a nap...

…

…

Bomber, Faithless's Stage Manager, pops in for a swift refreshment

…

…

While the Faithless boys do ironing and crack jokes…

…the Faithless girls are doing their hair…

…

…

…

…

About 20 minutes before stage, a few of the boys partake in some ‘Black Powder’…

Black Powder is a pre-training supplement drink, (as opposed to a post-training one, which helps your body recover) providing your body with a huge nitrous oxide boost, which means your body is charged and ready to go…

…

…

…

…

…

…

With all warm up rituals complete, everyone gathered in the corridor to await transportation to stage…

…

They congregated at the side of stage to await the words ‘Showtime’…

…

…

…

..

…

—–

…

Dave stashes some wine for later...

…

Maxi & LSK reflect on a great performance and beautiful crowd...

…straight back to hotel afterwards, for as much rest as possible before another early start…

…

The next morning, basked in glorious sunshine, it was all aboard the vans and off to the airport…

…

BUENOS AIRES Bound….

—-

IF YOU CAN”T SEE VIDEOS – VISIT  www.faithlessblog.co.uk

…

 

South America – Part 1

Things run differently in South America… and with the logistics of moving 21 people and 1.5 tons of equipment from country to country, any preconceived ideas of this leg of the tour running smoothly can be chucked out the window…

Lets start with an apology to the Mexican fans, for this blog not making it to Mexico City to document the amazing time that Faithless had there…

It should be stated that while the gig was the hardest to make come together for the crew, the band have claimed it as the best show this year…!

However, we kick off in Sao Paulo, Brazil, with the Faithless B rig arriving at the venue on time…

…unfortunately, quite a few tools and bits of kit seemed to have gone missing in transit…!

Shortly after the equipment turned up, the jet-lagged band members arrived off their ten hour flight from Mexico, with tales of pyramids, eating worms and an amazing gig…

…

With time not being on their side it was pretty much straight to the venue for soundcheck…

Blissy discusses lights with the (stand in) LD 'Arty' & 'Bomber' the stage manager.

…

...and shares a joke with Ben (Stilts) the Faithless monitor engineer...

…

…

Dave tries a coffee kick in an attempt to beat the jet-lag...

...while Andy seems to have had too much coffee already!

Sudha is a perfect match from head to toe!

Before long, everyone is feelin good and everything seems to be working…

…well, almost everyone and everything…

Luke, Stilts & Nobby try to get a bit of local kit to behave itself.

…

After a spot of dinner, it was back to the dressing rooms to hang around til showtime…

Dave works on his 'secret project'... ...Watch this space!!

…

An interview with MTV got sprung on Maxi & Blissy…

Maxi shows his feelings at being jet-lagged and interviewed...

…but manages to hold a smile at the right moment…

…

…

Then there were the Brasilian record distributors to meet…

…

…

…

Meanwhile Sudha and Andy had got into a small misunderstanding in the corridor…

…

…

Sudha won bragging rights and promptly relayed her killer moves to an impressed Maxi…

"so I went in with a quick one-two to the ribs..."

…

"...and finished off with an uppercut!"

…

A quick query from Blissy as to which side of the stage they would enter from…

"...the right-hand side!"...came the response.

…and it was Showtime!

—–

Now, we don’t know if it was to do with the fact that Mexico was So amazing, or that the Sao Paulo crowd were a bit ‘too cool for school’…but for the first time since Cannes 2007, Faithless didn’t deign the undeserving crowd with an encore…

—-

—-

The next morning another early start was in order, to try and beat the crazy traffic of Sao Paulo and make the flight to Chile…

…

A sleepy beauty - Sudha snaps a memory of Sao Paulo

…

More sleepy Faithless heads

…

…

…

After check-in, everyone met up in the bar to take the edge off the day and wait for the plane…

…

Tony (production manager) & Maxi look at LSK's artwork

…

Santiago bound…

—-

 

 

Bratislava – Slovakia

The sun was just rising as the Faithless tour buses rolled into Bratislava…

…

…

A bleary-eyed band fell off the buses and straight into the hotel for breakfast…

…

…

While most people went to catch up on a restless nights sleep… LSK braved the cold and went for a wander around town in search of some sought after grafitti pens…

The plan was to follow where the Grafitti was most prevelant…

…

…

LSK’s plan worked…!

Pleased with his purchases, he called Maxi to see if he was up for some trainer shopping at the local mall…

Trainers readily got replaced with beers..!

 

Then all too soon it was time to head back to meet the others and make their way to the venue…

…

Once at the venue, another two hour soundcheck ensued…

…

Nobby tunes Maxi's firebird

…

…

…

…

 

After soundcheck everyone rushed back to the hotel for an extremely quick bite to eat…

before heading straight back to the Incheba Expo Center…

…

…

A few albums needed signing…

…

…then there was a bit more standing around waiting time…

…Which the boys used to try out LSK’s new street hockey stick, which he’d bought in Kosice…

…

…

Soon enough the time came to head to stage and greet yet another beautiful crowd of Slovakians…!

—–

…

With an early flight to catch, there was no time for hanging around…

A quick autograph for a freezing fan and it was off to the hotel for bed…

…

—-

The same sunny sky that greeted Faithless’s arrival, was present once again for their farewell…

The exhausted band momentarily basked in the morning glow…

…before arriving at the airport to board another plane home…

…

Where a quick turn around would take place before the enduring journey to South America!!

—–

IF YOU CAN’T SEE VIDEO – CLICK HERE

…

Kosice – Slovakia

It had been quite a long time since the last gig… There was a few weeks off, a couple of weeks of rehearsals and then Maxi developed a bad chest infection, which rendered him completely out of action for a while… Unfortunately, this bad timing meant that a fair few gigs had to be postponed…

The whole band had been feeling disappointed at letting the fans down(none more so than Maxi), so everyone was glad to be back on the road…

…the fact that they were met at the airport by a couple of new, bright and spacious, european tour buses, added to the good vibes…

Tho everyone pointed out that it wouldn’t be quite as much fun without Ratty and Carl, who had driven the band everywhere since March…

…

Stan, Maxi & LSK chat away into the small hours...

—

Kosice is Slovakia’s second largest city and absolutely brimming with architecturally beautiful buildings and many museums, galleries, and theaters.

Although sunny and bright, the wind had a nasty edge to it…

…but that didn’t stop Dave and LSK going exploring…

…

…

…

…

Then it was back to the hotel for a quick lunch…

…

…before heading to the venue for a two hour soundcheck…!

…

…

Everyone was feeling a little rusty as it had been a long time since last playing…

…so Stan put on a recording of rehearsals for all to listen to and recall their parts…

…

LSK took a wander around the outside of the Steel Arena and was shocked at the amount of things that were banned…

…

At last, evidence of the high profile advertising campaign…

…

Back inside the Steel Arena sound check was well underway…

…

With cobwebs inside most heads and a few new songs to practise, it was a worry if two hours was going to be enough…

…

…

The faces showed a fairly indistinguishable mixture of confused and bemused…

…

…

…but it was sounding great and was now just up to each individual to remember their timings…!

…

with Maxi engrossed in playing guitar LSK was there to help rescue his timings…!

"Is it me...?"

…

…

…

Eventually, everyone seemed happy and it was just left to the lighting guys to get their stuff in order…

…

Before showtime, Jo made everyone sign their Australian visa’s…

(It’s definitely happening people of OZ!)

…

The Faithless Boys got together for a group picture, as they hadn’t seen each other in so long…

…

The drummers did their stretches…

…

LSK & Maxi talk stage tactics...

…and it was time to head out there and put on a show…

…

…

SHOWTIME!

—-

The show couldn’t have gone any better, (to everyones relief)… not one noticeable mistake between them…

…apart from Maxi becoming overwhemed with the joy and beauty of the Slovak crowd and forgetting half the words of ‘Muhamed Ali’…!

…

No time to hang around afterwards, it was straight onto the buses for an overnight drive to the capital of Slovakia, Bratislava…!

—-

IF YOU CAN’T SEE THE VIDEO CLICK HERE