Dido Corp.

I just spent the weekend hanging out with my dear friend, who happens to be FoH for Dido the last 4-5 years. In fact he got involved with her, while he was doing FoH second stage for Lilith Fair. Anyway that is besides the point, what I was getting at was to see how the "other half lives". In comparison to our little "tour that could", she has a whole universe behind her.
Lets start with the Buses, and yes that is plural. 4 double decker top-of-the-line European Tour Buses, 4 huge trucks full of gear (but not as huge as the Stones or equal, but big enough). Granted they haul there own PA, video and everything else along with them. So you might be asking yourself, how many people does it take to build the nest for the Queen B (or should it be D)? .....at least 50... is that not crazy?
Gear, crew, catering, entourage, band, managers etc etc.. and she is small potatoes compared to some.

Anyway, it was interesting to see the inside of the bus, cause I only ever have seen the two different ones in the US that we had. I was telling my friend about the whole story regarding Buses and mentioned that they had ordered a 14 berth and in LA, the Eagle drove up.. He promptly said, "but I have never heard of an Eagle with more than 12 bunks"... Funny and not wrong!

I have seen Dido this year about 3 times, and you know what? I think she has some talent but not a whole lot of stage presence. She is just not interesting to watch, She had an amazing light show and I think she needs it to distract from the fact she does nothing on stage... I guess it is not fair to judge that way. It is not every person who seems to pour out their souls on stage like h can. So I should just be happy that she allows me to see my friend on a semi regular basis, and that it is nice to also see the lovely crew boys that have been with him for ages on this and the Avril tour of past.

They had a record load out last night, they say thanks to the efficient unionized Dutch crew. And are now counting down to the last 11 dates on their tour, which now includes Belgium and Paris and then a few dates in Australia. I most likely will not see Mark again until sometime next year as he lives in Western Canada and me over here in the low countries. Oh well such is life in the (poverty jet set).

Hard to believe that it has been a week since I came back.. seems almost like so long ago now.. I wonder how everyone is doing, getting on with their jobs and regular lives.