Wednesday 15th December 1999Colchester - The TwistWoke up feeling cosy and warm but with a little bit of a hangover.It was 8am and we had a lot to do. Firstly, we had to go into Cheltemham town so that Der could do a bit of business, then we drove off in the direction of London, where both Alain and Harry both had things to sort out before we couldhead off to Colchester. I managed to spend an hour at home opening mail and replying to urgent email.. Unfortunately, I couldn't upload the tour diary, as the server appeared to be down. If you are reading this, it means that the problems are solved and we are all happy bunnies. After all of the running around today and due to the horrible weather, we arrived in Colchester very late and everyoneat the venue was looking a bit stressed. We apologised profusely and tried to get get our soundcheck done in top speed. Unfrotunatelty the doors to the public were opened during our soundcheck which was a bit crap and it was even crapper for the first band on , Whose Misstress, who had to soundcheck and then go onstage immediately afterwards. I felt a bit bad for them until the singer slagged off Carter and then I wished him evil. The band played some good tunes, but I was a bit put off by the crap sexist jokes and the sub Damon Alburn posturing. Anyway, the main event of the night for me was to witness the final gig of Pharmacy, who you may remember from previous gigs or tour diaries. They played a lovely set, I really thought that the crowd would have given them more support seeing that it was indeed their last outing. The final prescription from Pharmacy is something I'll remember for a while, especially the sad look on Nina's face. The world will be a less joyfull place, I'll miss them. I was a bit worried that the general 'down' feeling to the gig would ruin our gig, but I needn't have worried, the people in the venue were up for a bit of old style cheese 'n' roll. We played a pretty rockin' set, to an appreciative crowd. I dedicated Benjamin and Jumble to Pharmacy and especially to Nina. Here's the setlist. Aren't We All Queen Bitch After the gig, I went out in to the audience to try and flog some CDs and t-shirts. Managed to sell enough to pay for the petrol to get to Stevenage. We all went back to Casa Pharmacy, where they were holding an aftershow party / wake to celebrate their last gig and the thing that was Pharmacy. We drank a lot of lager, had a sing song featuring Robbie Williams and Beatles songs which promoted the neighbour to bang on the front door and threatening to call the police (I feel I've been fleeced). It was a good night and a very comfortable floor indeed. Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!
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