The last date of the 2009 tour was in Lowestoft. It was hard enough to get going again after 2 nights off, but what made it complicated was the arrangements to get all the equipment back to Northamptonshire and to Southern Ireland. I'd hope to have my new van ready with the seats fitted so that Cozy, Lee, Richard and myself could travel together but we could get the extra seats fitted in time. So..
Richard drove his car with Lee and Cozy on board while Sue and I tooke the van. The satnav took us off the beaten track through deepest Suffolk and we eventually arrived about 15 minutes after the others. It was a sunny afternoon, but very cold in the easterly wind as we went to look at the sea. (when you live as far from the sea as I do, one takes every opportunity)
After a quick soundcheck we were ready to go. Once the show started it was apparent that Nina was struggling with her voice. More than 30 shows in less than six weeks, with all the travelling and all kinds of weather had taken its toll.
We had to cut one song and Nina changed some vocal lines to minimise the effect. During the interval we arranged to change a couple of things and the second half passed without the audience noticing that anything was different. It was a good end to a good tour. All seven of the touring party got on well with no personality clashes; we turned up on time every time, got on well with the theatre management in all the venues and performed before many thousand Patsy fans.
We had a few equipment problems but nothing that the audience could hear (except when the mixing desk desk locked up and muted every channel at the Harlow show. Nina solved that one by singing unaccompanied until the PA was reset- to huge applause from the audience.
Anyway, once the house had cleared we set about packing everything away, only this time we needed to separate the equipment to go into different vans for the journey home. Once everything was loaded we said our goodbyes- until the next time!
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