Mar 16, 2008

HARD SELL TOUR DIARY- DAY 7 (MARCH 16, 2008)

If I ever decide to publish a memoir about my time spent in London, there would surely be a chapter dedicated to John Henry's Rehearsal Studios. Located off of Caledonian Road (near where the old Mo' Wax offices were), John Henry's has hosted many a panicked DJ Shadow and Quannum rehearsal, going back to at least 1997, when I had two days to assemble an opening performance for Radiohead's big arena tour of the UK. [A recording of this set can be heard on the Endtroducing Deluxe Edition CD.] Living on oat cakes, tea, and take-out pizza, I would desperately attempt to cobble together something coherent out of whatever records I had remembered to bring.

One memorable week had Ben Stokes and I assembling the entire 2002 show (see the In Tune and On Time DVD), knowing that in a short time we would be onstage at the Manchester Academy...as it turned out, that show was the first complete run-through we managed (and, thankfully, we made it through unscathed). That's why whenever I enter the confines of John Henry's, I am filled with anxiety and, on some level, despair...preparing for the live experience is especially challenging for me.

Fortunately, things were different this time, as Cut and I fell right back into the Hard Sell routine with little problem. After two consecutive run-throughs and some tweaks, we were ready for the London show.

I had high hopes for London, and I wasn't disappointed. Despite being nervous for the first few minutes, the show went well, and the crowd was as receptive as ever. England is home away from home.

The next day was Dublin, Ireland. We played at the Ambassador Theatre, the same venue I did two solo shows at in 2002. The crowd was great as always, but Cut's mixer was wired wrong and everyone could hear him cueing the foot pedal loops. Normally we simply mute the main mixer out so that we're able to work in headphones while the other is spinning, but on this night the mutes weren't working. Not sure how much the crowd was able to tell, but I'd be surprised if they didn't...it sounded like a train wreck a few times. Fortunately we were able to iron it out at the halfway point, and the rest of the show went well. Again, the generous Irish crowd bailed us out!

Tonight is Hamburg, Germany...Kid Koala is on now and doing his normal stellar job. More later (when and where internet access permits).

Thanks for reading,

DJ Shadow