UK tour blog part I - From city delights to wuthering heights
May 2017

Band about to go onstage...

Steve at Cardiff Castle

Arriving in Cardiff, Jo and I enjoyed exploring the castle with its ornate rooms and fabulous ruined keep. A wonderful contrast between new and ancient in Cardiff. It was also great to join Geoff Downes and his wife Martine for lunch. The show that night took off like a rocket, as did the Reading gig a couple of nights later, where we were joined by my irrepressible mum June.

The Birmingham show at the beautiful Birmingham Symphony Hall had a fantastic vibe, sold out and looking and sounding incredible with an enthusiastic crowd, which was terrific as this was filmed for the next live DVD! Lovely to have John Hackett and Amanda Lehmann guesting with us too...

John guested again at our next gig in Sheffield, which was again great fun, followed by totally explosive shows in both Bristol and Manchester.

On a day off, Jo and I hired a car and drove to Haworth to visit the Bronte house and the desolate moorland. We felt the powerful atmosphere surrounding Emily Bronte's Wuthering Heights, which influenced several parts of Wind and Wuthering. The word Wuthering means wild and blustery, which we felt on the windswept craggy heathland, high up on Penistone Hill...

And so the tour continued on to Liverpool before heading south to Portsmouth, both wonderful invigorating shows! It was also an honour to receive the CRS best guitarist 2016 award from Steve Pilkington in Liverpool and to become part of the Guildhall Wall of Fame in Portsmouth.

The UK tour continues tomorrow as we head from coast to coast for the Cliffs Pavilion in Southend...