JEFF SCOTT SOTO Offers UK Tour Recap

December 31, 2007

Legendary hard rock singer Jeff Scott Soto (TALISMAN, JOURNEY, YNGWIE MALMSTEEN) has posted a recap of his recent UK tour on his MySpace page. An excerpt follows:

"The UK dates were great. Well, [it] didn't start without drama.

"The Glasgow show pulled out the week before we left the U.S. I guess they got scared that we'd pull out of the show based on the TALISMAN problems earlier in the year so they pulled out for us; not cool! We ended up getting a last-minute replacement show in Nottingham which although was a small turnout (umm, NO time to advertise!),it also was one of those 'special' shows that only happens when the audience is intimate. It's one of those things with my solo band, we never go through the motions at any shows, they're always treated as their own entities depending on the audience, turnout, venue, vibe, etc.,

"The first gig in Sheffield was great. I'd played the Corporation before with SOUL SIRKUS, and to my delight, returned with more folks in tow! The only problem that night was the lack of sleep I had before showtime. We'd flown over the day before and I was awake pretty much from the time I got up in the early morning L.A. time until we landed, early morning Manchester time. I passed out about 11am and sprung up at 7pm. Not bad — 8 hours. Only problem is I was up from then 'till showtime the next night! Ain't jetlag a bitch? By the time we hit the stage, I was up 26 hours, by the time I got to bed, it was 32 hours! Thank God we had the next day off!

"Dudley was also a pleasant surprise with turnout and show. We were all a bit more rested and having Sheffield under our hats (it'd been a month since we played together and no rehearsal, add jetlag, you never know what to expect!),the show was already a well-oiled machine....well, OK, a few spare nuts and bolts, but great fun as usual.

"Nottingham was night 3 and London night 4. The Islington Academy is a great live venue and the night was electric from the first chord. It's always worrying playing London, as is NY and LA; most big city crowds don't react like smaller suburbs but that night was on fire, both band and crowd.

"The last show of the tour was Belfast, Ireland. We got in the day before to get some rest and relax a bit from the hurried travels the previous days... Yeah, right! I was up at 4:30am, bright-eyed and bushy tailed, headed downstairs to see if I could get a coffee or orange juice to find Howie and Gary had been there for hours killing time online (WiFi didn't connect in their rooms). Howie and I made our way to the earliest 'whatever was open' and got a just-opening McDonalds. Nothing like a little taste of home, eh? We got to the venue which had recently undergone a change in ownership and the original sound system was yanked out so a temporary one was brought in as to avoid yet another cancellation...wish we weren't the guinea pigs for such undertakings! The soundcheck was a nightmare and the constant feedback during the show didn't make things any better but what better than a sauced up Irish crowd to soak in the music and help us forget the traumas of bad sound."

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