The Riptide Movement's Diary From Delhi
Drummer Gar Byrne's firsthand account of his band's unforgettable trip to India...
The Hot Press Newsdesk, 31 Oct 2012
We go into a huge marketand see loads of lads walking around holding hands, linking arms. Apparently it just means they're friends and homosexuality is frowned upon here. Some difference from Dublin, I can’t imagine Tomo and Rasher walking up Talbot Street holding hands without getting some grief.
We sound check for the festival in a room at least twice the size of the Olympia so it was a great practice run for that! Backstage, got into the kurtas walked on stage and the crowd went NUTS! Technically speaking this is the worst gig we’ve ever done, never has so much shit gone wrong, first song JP’s [Dalton, guitar] amp blows, second song Gerry breaks a bass string, third song my snare bursts. Anything that could go wrong goes wrong. But Mal has the crowd in the palm of his hand, he commands them like an army to chant the hook from 'Thieves In The Gallery' and man they scream it. I can barely hear the band from behind the kit. They nearly stormed the stage. After an encore, we sign albums, shirts and bare skin, took photos, got roses from girls. JP gave some chap his t-shirt and he comes up to me going, “Where is Mr Dalton? I need a picture with him, his t-shirt (sniff) it smells like him.”
Go for a bite in the Garage Bar, have pitchers of local brew and say goodbye to our new crew. We walk outside to a wild dog fight, literally thirty dogs all barking, going for each other, and running through us to get at each other. Mal leading the way back through our hotel lobby, JP notices that Mal has a hole in the back of his pants you could fit a watermelon into! We're doubled over laughing at it, even the night porter is in stitches. Mal: “Thank Jaysus we were wearing them gowns or the whole crowd would have had even more to cheer for!" Just another night in Delhi.
Monday
It's 5.30am, my alarm clock is banging from the other side of the room, I’m groggy and my last travel entry is 3.30am. So two hours ago. We’ve had a total of eighteen hours sleep since we left Dublin.
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