...and they will be back in fall!What can I say, that hasn't already been said? The tour was brilliant, I can honestly say, hand on heart and hope to die, that this past week has been the best one in a long while.
So this is the last time.
My journey is under way...
I had booked the train down to London, arriving at 2pm at my favourite train station St. Pancras which I love dearly and knew before they have carefully restored it - what a tragedy it would have been had they followed through with their plans to demolish it!
As I arrived I rang V as she was supposed to pick me up and provide me shelter for the night as my train back into the Midlands was not due until 2pm the next day.
As I finally got through to V's phone I said that I was in London now and she sounded rather surprised even though we had planned this well in advance. After about an hour waiting at KingCross with my backpack on me shoulders and a Frappe Caramel Dulce Leche Starbucks thingy (after having bought a toothbrush and paste as I forgot to pack this) in my hand, V finally showed. It was almost 3pm and the event was supposed to start at 4pm. The bus to hers took about 30 mins - we had to get changed and ready VERY quickly.
Rushing back to Kings Cross, not sure which bus to take to the Canal 125, we finally arrived at around 5pm and it turned out we hadn't missed much as Riley & Hank were running late too, leaving poor Jason to deal with the excited crowd of female fans to deal all by himself.
Sometimes I am not sure whether he enjoys all the attention, as he is such a nice and quiet guy - can he actually say "no" ? :)
There was BBQ and the potato salad was great, I had trouble eating it all even though I was starving it was that much.
The venue was very nice, I loved the fact that it had a balcony decking outside - the fans were all a little more dressed up than usual which gave the whole venue a special touch.
Not much happened until Riley & Hank finally showed, urging the guys to do a very quick sound check. Jason stood amongst the crowd listening out for the speakers at various points in the audience.
Then nothing happened for a little while which gave me an option to finally have a little chat with Jason after all this, although again, all the questions I had slipped my mind the very minute I could ask them. Nonetheless it gave me the chance to get to know the man a little and he is really just as nice and caring as I thought he would be. Very honest and open and genuine, a quality I appreciate in people in general. What you see is what you get. Even tough Riley can be very much outgoing and "loud" and Jason is generally more "quiet" he seems much more confident in himself and he doesn't seem to get too stressed by his fans. My little chat sadly was interrupted but I didn't really care, I probably would have made a fool of myself anyways after a certain point and it was just nice to see him talk to these other guys, having a genuine conversation about music and the Stones if I remember correctly.
Anyways, the gig kicked off with Riley and he apologized for not having done a proper sound check beforehand but I think at this point no one really cared any longer.
By now I should know the lyrics by heart as their CD is all I am listening to this week, but somehow there is still an element of surprise to their songs and I like to keep it that way as long as I can - same goes for Jason. I felt like I was the only one in the crowd not singing along (and coz I am so tall I have no where to hide) but somehow I didn't feel like I wanted to sing along - I do it in my car, if I know the lyrics, which I still haven't managed yet ( I can sing Crazy Love though if that counts) - and again, I want to leave the singing to the guys I came to listen to - I don't want to hear anyone else singing really...
Jason's last G-string
Right, LOR's show was great, Riley screwed up some lyrics at some point which was very entertaining - I think he finally allowed himself to relax a little. I can understand that they want to deliver a great performance, but on the last day of the show anything was allowed to happen.
Hank was squeezing the last juice out of his guitar in a solo and Riley joined in and they were so overwhelmingly good, that Jason who was patiently awaiting his turn aside the stage, burst out clapping - what a great gesture!
No rest for the wicked though, as Riley did break yet another string on Jason's guitar (so was his own guitar broken since Birmingham then, so it wasn't just a dead battery?) - and Riley dearly apologizing, handed the guitar back to Jason who didn't seem to mind, which is surprising, because I have met guitar players(and not even professional ones) who would not let you even touch their guitar - so that Jason was lending Riley his guitar must be a great act of trust and faith in the guy.
So, while Jason was cowering on the floor, putting a new string on, Riley had nothing to hide behind now and performed a little more a Capella than he was used to. Hank had to play a little louder.
When Jason handed his guitar back to Riley he said "I wish you wouldn't keep breaking the same string - that was my last g-string" - this is the great thing about Jason's jokes, they take a while to settle in peoples mind, they come so unexpected.
Hallelujah!
When it was finally Jason's turn to take over the stage and his own guitar back - still intact, he started off with "Hallelujah" which maybe wasn't such a good choice to start with as he missed a note in the first verse, but who cares. Everyone is entitled to a mistake, if I want to hear a flawless performance than I'd listen to a studio album. It's the ever changing unexpected events of a live gig that keep it fresh and personal.
As always Jason delivered a great performance. Can this man ever go wrong? The only song I could actually sing along was the "Sitting at the dock of the bay" and I liked how he changed the lyrics to "I left my home in VA - heading for the UK" - he is the only man I know who can sing a song whilst smiling a cheeky smile and may I also point out, actually has genuine eye contact with people in the crowd! I have never seen this anywhere before.
After Jason was done (yet they didn't want him to stop) Riley and Hank came back on stage to join forces in a medley and they were murdering their guitars - in a good way! At one point Hank was ready to finish up the guitar-athon and he said "Are you done, coz I am done"
The end is nigh
Throughout the tour Riley kept joking how all these fans who kept following the gigs have become like family now and that together they could be the biggest band - imagine the size tour bus! So it almost wasn't surprising when Riley suddenly pulled out his phone and said "this will cost me 20 pounds or something, but I want you guys to say Hi to my mum" - so he called her, the crowd yelled "Hi Mum" and then they sang a song all together, the band and the fans! (I am not sure what Mum did say to this, as I couldn't hear her very well, so if you read this and where closer to the stage, feel free to leave me a comment.)
It was nice to see that the boy from Iowa hasn't lost all his sense for what's really important, because I have a feeling that LA/Hollywood can do that to some people - stay true to yourself, no matter what!
After the gig they hung around as usual, I got my picture taken with my new friends as a reminder that this was not just another weird dream. I felt like such a fan but I didn't care anymore. It takes me some time to warm up to strangers but now they are no strangers anymore. I genuinely respect these guys for what they do and the effort they put into all this and I couldn't help but give them a hug - you have given me a great week, one I will not forget so quickly.
As a thank you Riley presented a red rose to everyone from the Slique Events Troopers who had worked so hard to bring these guys to you - so do go check them out on myspace and tell them that they rock!
Ergo?
Maybe we will all meet again fall for part 2 - I will definitely be there, wherever I am by then. I hadn't heard of the LIFE OF RILEY before, and only a bit about JASON MANNS, but through this years tour they have at least found 3 more loyal fans/listeners: Me, Smiley & mmmms...and many more we hope.
Thanks again for a great time!
-posted by N.-
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