Sean Lennon Day 34, St. Petersburg, RUS
We were greeted at the station by the promoter and our new bodyguard (yes, we traveled with security in Russia... In fact, at the show there were 4 guards in the dressing room hallway alone). St. Petersburg is quite different from Moscow, and I would suppose from the rest of Russia as well. It's very European in design, with some stunning buildings, especially the cathedrals. Unfortunately, today we really didn't have time to walk around at all. We had just enough time to drop our bags at the hotel (which were packed in the van by bribed baggage guys) and run to the Baltic House Theatre to get ready for the show.
Things went pretty smoothly all day. After the soundcheck, we decided to take some time and walk around the block, to at least see something. Apparently this was a bad idea.
Over the course of the day, we had mentioned we wanted to get out for a bit on a couple of occasions, but we were told not without a guide, because the streets were hard to navigate, the drivers don't stop for pedestrians, etc... We didn't think too much of it, we are master navigators at this point in the tour, and it's not like crossing a street in London. So when we got back, and one of the promoters got really mad at us for going out, it was a bit of a surprise. Apparently, it's really common for folks like us to have trouble with police, regardless of paperwork, and had we been stopped for whatever reason (they actually don't need one at all), we'd likely still be in a St. Petersburg holding cell at this point in time. I don't know why they couldn't just tell us that in the first place...
Anyways, after the show, we did have a bit of time, and the promoters had organized something at a local pub. It was called the Liverpool Pub. There was a chance there would be something about The Beatles on the wall, just maybe, but everyone decided to head in anyways.
There wasn't just a couple things. It was a shrine. And there was even a Beatles cover band playing that night (and the press agent with us had nothing to do with this, of course. Really. It's true. Why would he lie to us?). That tends to make things a little awkward in this traveling circus, so how would we solve that problem? Easy. Vodka. Before we knew it, Sean was sitting in with the band, playing drums. It was just a couple songs, because we really couldn't stay out late. We have a 7am lobby call to fly to Tel Aviv.
Things went pretty smoothly all day. After the soundcheck, we decided to take some time and walk around the block, to at least see something. Apparently this was a bad idea.
Over the course of the day, we had mentioned we wanted to get out for a bit on a couple of occasions, but we were told not without a guide, because the streets were hard to navigate, the drivers don't stop for pedestrians, etc... We didn't think too much of it, we are master navigators at this point in the tour, and it's not like crossing a street in London. So when we got back, and one of the promoters got really mad at us for going out, it was a bit of a surprise. Apparently, it's really common for folks like us to have trouble with police, regardless of paperwork, and had we been stopped for whatever reason (they actually don't need one at all), we'd likely still be in a St. Petersburg holding cell at this point in time. I don't know why they couldn't just tell us that in the first place...
Anyways, after the show, we did have a bit of time, and the promoters had organized something at a local pub. It was called the Liverpool Pub. There was a chance there would be something about The Beatles on the wall, just maybe, but everyone decided to head in anyways.
There wasn't just a couple things. It was a shrine. And there was even a Beatles cover band playing that night (and the press agent with us had nothing to do with this, of course. Really. It's true. Why would he lie to us?). That tends to make things a little awkward in this traveling circus, so how would we solve that problem? Easy. Vodka. Before we knew it, Sean was sitting in with the band, playing drums. It was just a couple songs, because we really couldn't stay out late. We have a 7am lobby call to fly to Tel Aviv.
posted by t. at 4:45 PM
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