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Into the blue - May 2014

It was such an up to be greeted by our wonderful friend from Blue Sky, Vania Santi, along with the blue skies of sunny Rome! That night she took us to a terrific restaurant near the Piazza Navona, and we felt enveloped in that fabulous warm Latin atmosphere...

The Rome show was incredible, with thunderous excitement from the crowd! We were on cloud nine...

It was great to hook up too with special friends Angéla and Maurizio Vicedomini, who Jo and I travelled with up to Cesena, home of Blue Sky. At the show there we gave Vania a plug, as she was standing as candidate for the local council, and her team did really well.

Both Cesena and Pordenone were fab shows and we celebrated 100 Genesis Revisited shows... The 100th gig has come round so fast!

Then on to Trento, a fantastic town surrounded by the Italian Alps. Close friend Nick Clabburn, Jo and I enjoyed exploring some of its atmospheric old streets. There were fab crowds again in both Trento and Milan. A big thank you to Sergio, Vania and everyone from Blue Sky who always make our time in Italy so special...

On arrival in Barcelona we spied a place of many fountains and waterfalls, the Fontana Magica. Jo and I immediately sought it out, and it is indeed a magical place! We also visited the fascinating Sagrada Familia cathedral, designed by Antoni Gaudi, and still being built! It looks like an enormous grotto in the midst of the city, like some strange out of place building in a Tim Burton movie. What a creative city, full of inspirational surprises! And the concert that night went down really well with a fabulous crowd...

And so on to the last place of the Euro tour, Lagoa in the Algarve, Portugal.

It's incredible how this tour has taken us from the cold and at times snowy north east area of Russia and Scandinavia to the hot south west tip of Europe, where the sun beats down... We all swam, paddled, felt the sand between our toes, drank in the sea views and explored the cobbled streets. We were perhaps at our most relaxed as we floated on to the stage that night!

It has been an amazing tour, and it's hard to take in all the extraordinary sights and experiences in one go. Every country in Europe is unique and like a different god. Everywhere we visited welcomed us with open arms and we felt uplifted by all the crowds. My thanks to all who came to the gigs, and also to Brian Coles, the agents and promotors, band, crew and everyone who made these shows possible.