When the tour bus takes off down the l'autoroute without you...

...keep smiling. Here endeth the lesson.

First of all - yay that this has over 3k plays:

Second - don't come crying to me when is sold out...

Pre-order links here.

Third - I am glad to be involved in this:



Now, where were we?

After brilliant Helsinki, Teenage Fanclub forged on to Cologne (where I was reminded that I played a random solo gig in The Blue Shell, many moons ago).

We sold out of gig tickets...

Yay.

And tapes...

Cute, huh? And the wee cassette's nice too.

Post gig Kölsch in Cologne.

Then we were off to Switzerland.

Vadian! (*googles Vadian*)

Untitled

Loved this venue - a wee converted cinema.

Guitar George Borowski opened for us here and did a fine job.

Cheeky wee Swiss number - good for what ails you apparently.

Quite.

Quite.

Untitled

Untitled

Un- *burp* - Untitled.

Bologna venue was near the  church tower. The Franciscan Friars left Teenage Fanclub a welcome note in the dressing room.

Tiramisu in Bologna (not as nice as mine when I'm on form - by the way).

Zaragoza tapas

Window shopping. One for my Christmas List if Santa is reading...

Untitled, Zaragoza

Didn't know she lived here

Nice city to reflect on.

Caesar hails a taxi.

They do one tapas here - but they do it deliciously well.

Sweet? Savoury? Och, both.

More Zaragoza window shopping.

Before Madrid soundcheck I zipped off to the Prado to look at Las Meninas.

I snapped a wee bit of Goya before getting a row.

Bridge, Madrid.

Que pasa, Tio?

Paella con arroz negra, Madrid. All done with squid ink apparently.

"So I said to him I said - I wouldn't pay that if I were you..."

Building, Bilbao.

I managed to grab an hour in the Guggenheim - which was amazing.

After Bilbao - where the audience were loco in a good way - we drove through the night to St. Mallo for cidre et galettes - and a gig at La Route Du Rock festival.

Cidre et galettes

Then on to London where I hooked up with some pals including Harry Pye who gave me a signed David Hockney book.

Me and him.

Norman's back in London.

Me and Paul blinkin' Cook!

So, I've eaten the best crisps in the world (Oslo) and reindeer sausage (Helsinki); visited the Rijksmuseum (Amsterdam), the Prado (Madrid) and the Guggenheim (Bilbao); and shaken hands with a real live Sex Pistol (London!).

Teenage Fanclub have played for some stonkin' audiences (1800 full-voiced Madrilenos was one of several highlights) and met some great people. Next stop - Japan.

Meanwhile I am reading this:

It's not exactly a rib-tickler but the chapter A Portait Of Manoug had me chortling out loud.

In other news, some of my music popped up in this, and the rugby documentary Building Jerusalem for which I provided the soundtrack is now on Netflix.

Now - did I mention that my album with Harry Pye Bonjour can be pre-ordered here?