(Click on the thumbnails to see the full-sized pictures.)

Portsmouth - 28/04/01

And so it ends. Hiromi's put the tour monsters back on the shelf beside the toy van that Chucho gave me and it's a bit like the whole tour really. Just put away now. Catch myself wondering if they (or it) come to life at night or in some other place/way, like Toy Story, so I sneak in to photograph them in the small hours but they're still asleep ... or look like it. The silver foil one reminds me of the figures in a painting my mother did ......

Nice day off watching Fulham scrape another 1-1 draw with Wimbledon after which we head-off in a predominantly male pack to the pubs around Westbourne Grove ..... pub-talk includes: "The heart is a muscle. You keep muscles healthy by exercising them" .......

Meanwhile, Hiromi has noticed the reference to her as 'power wife' in the diaries and points out that in fact she's solar powered and doesn't work very well in England at all and furthermore we need to go to Spain to recharge her batteries ....... you have to admire this kind of thing ..... I set off for Portsmouth about midday .....when we all arrive Robyn's got a whole bunch of brilliant pix of the tour from Michèle which we should be putting up soon (Note: you can find these in the members area)

Good gig really. Tight, strong, pretty accurate, nice jam in UM... but we are detaching a bit, from each other and the music, that's the way it feels to me anyway - our separate lives are rushing back in like cold air.... But it still felt great. More new songs at soundcheck and at the gig Spencer the DAT-man is there so you'll probably be able to find his audience tape somewhere on the net. We didn't play UM through and through, but we did a nice improv beginning on Hots with Robyn bringing the rhythm section in one-by-one a la soul band.....

Morris and I get a great present from the front row – two mini-bottles of Jack Daniels, one each, which must be a reference to our Glasgow 'moment' so the diary's definitely getting read! I get a couple more CD's but I'm not sure when I'm going to review them 'cos the diary's over for now ....... it's a good thing really. It was great this time, but a repeat might be a bit, erm........I dunno, I just think next time we'll do it a bit differently ......

We all say goodbye but not for long cos we're having a little drink at the feghorn tomorrow night [NOTE: It was all going great when I left soon before midnight. Apparently they went on till 4 am and appearances included songs from Scott from YFF, Mike Mills and John Wesley Harding] ...... and so it ends..... fade to moonlight.....

— Matthew