I had only been in Berlin for 24 hours and was already massaging the amazing Stereophonics. I wasn't even close to catching my breath or unpacking, but nevertheless, not tired enough to turn down such a gig. My friend Quinner, whom I've known since 1992 is on tour with them. He invited me to come rub everybody down. I have never met this band before and certainly wasn't familiar with their music. A friend of mine from the UK told me “they are as huge as Coldplay! Go see them!”. I was so tired from my jet lag, I was really not in the mood to go anywhere, but dragged my tired ass to the Columbia Hall anyways to see them all.
Glad I did. What a great bunch of people. The management was sweet as pie and so was the band. The singer, Kelly has an incredible voice, rough and strong, super powerful. It was a sold out show and the place was heavin' with Brits who live in Berlin. I could hear every song perfectly from my massage room. I didn't see much of the show, as they smoke so much in Berlin, the air makes your eyes blood red within minutes. The band was not amused at how smokey the place was. It's so ignorant when people smoke at concerts, the smoke kills the singers voice and makes it hell.
^ Kelly and I (slap that arrogant look off my face k?). You can see my Leopard Bra, how cheesy..
Anyhow, the bands main members are Kelly Jones (singer/guitarist/song writer) and Richard Jones (Bass). They come from South Wales (yummy accents!) and have been friends since like the 3rd grade (that's what Quinner told me anyways). The drummer is from Argentina and is called Javier Weyler. The keyboardist, Barry, is from Manchester and had gorgeous eyes, like most Mancunians by the way…. I didn't take his picture though, slipped my mind, too much going on.
^ Richard (6 feet of fun)
After the show they all got a massage and we hung around havin' a laugh and what not. The roadies were in and out of the dressing room and even they were cool. One of the cool things about being in Berlin is that when bands pass through, they are usually on their way to another country and they give me certain things that they can not bring across borders, loads of small change and other goodies… YAY!