Spying pregnant buses in London

A little update on A&B antics.... 

Tonight we're playing in London (Ontario) and we arrived a few hours ago.  There are certainly a few nods to the city it borrows its name from:

Seems Canada is obsessed with our London Underground logo

A "London Taxi"?  Hmmm.  It looks more NYC to me....

A little different from the Covent Garden I know! 

Sam (our bus driver) managed to get the bus right next to the venue as usual for our crew to unload and set up all the equipment for the show tonight.  We have a lot of stuff in our trailer and the crew are doing an amazing job of setting up all the screen panels and lights to make the show special.

Sam managed negotiate a route through what seemed to be a pretty busy car park.  It amazes me how he can be so relaxed parking such a big vehicle in a tight space when I struggle to parallel park my car sometimes!  I suppose it's all in the mental approach to these things.

As I was chatting to him after we parked, he managed to sneakily press a magic button that caused our bus to give birth:

Pregnant bus?

When I turned around inside the bus after our brief chat, I was greeted with an even wider front lounge - as if we needed any more space!

Front Lounge 2.0

I was left wondering if Sam has any more tricks up his sleeve with this bus?  It really is a great place to be and is very smooth on the road, not least thanks to Sam's driving.

When we arrived, Sam also spotted a "Spy shop".  My dark side quite fancies the idea of bugging our Tour Manager, Seamus, so I headed over there after lunch to see what I could pick up.

Unfortunately upon arrival the store was closed, but I managed to spot a few interesting bits and pieces through the window including an innocent looking alarm clock (amongst all the standard "phone tapping" stuff) that had a secret camera built in.

Presumably this is designed to enable you to catch your partner having an affair?!  Just who is buying this stuff I wonder?  Are there a big population of private detectives or people that need keeping an eye on in London?!  I'd better watch my back while I'm here!

Sherlock Holmes anyone?

Anyway, a little about the show last night (check Facebook.com/aboveandbeyond for a nice shot of the crowd) in Guelph.  I think the lasting memory for me, was Paavo grabbing what looked like a fuel hose (or some kind of weapon) which was actually a CO2 gun.  He then proceeded to fire the thing off in time with the riff in Norin & Rad's "Bloom" to rapturous applause and cheering.  Quite a surreal moment that the audience seemed to love, managing to drain the whole supply of CO2 in one swoop.  I suppose that was last night's "air horn incident".

Thanks to all the team last night for making the show happen - it's amazing how a mundane Monday night can end up feeling like a weekend night :)

Back in London, I hope the crowd make us feel as welcome as the stores have:

Thanks for the welcome.  It's spelled "Jonathan", by the way ;)

Till next time, goodbye!

Jono x