Tour Diaries: London Calling!
It was one of the biggest celebrations of the year in the centre of London – and Bipolar Empire were on the bill! Drummer Callum McAdam kept a diary of the day for Hot Press...
Callum McAdam, 31 Mar 2010
WE GET THE NEWS
It was fantastic to have the opportunity to play the St Patrick’s Day Festival in Trafalgar Square, courtesy of Hot Press and Visit London. We’re on a campaign in the UK at the moment to win hearts and minds, so it was a gig we were really looking forward to from the moment we heard that we’d been chosen. We could communicate with 20,000 people all at once. Brilliant…
THE NIGHT BEFORE
We were playing Sunderland on Saturday – and, no, Andy Reid didn’t show up with his guitar! It meant that Joe (our bass player) had to drive through the night to get us back to the capital, and so we didn’t hit the sack till 7am. Bloody hell. Back up at 9am. Needless to say, after two hours sleep, we were all feeling a little bit grumpy!
TRAFALAGAR SQUARE HERE WE COME!
Not for long. It was 10am when we got to Trafalgar Square, right in the heart of London, and it looked truly amazing: there was a massive open stage with big screens on either side of the stage. Already, about 4,000 people had gathered and as the morning went by they kept on coming. The excitement was intense. So were the nerves…
IT’S INTERVIEW TIME…
The sun was blazing down and we were in full swing at one of the biggest gigs of our lives. Just as we were getting into the mood, a lovely lady from BBC Radio approached us and asked would we do an interview – needless to say, we were happy to oblige. We had a great chat about the band live on air and threw in a couple of jokes. We then slipped backstage to the artist area, where we met the totally insane, and legendary, Hector Ó hEochagáin, who was MC for the day. We had a chat, more than one cup of coffee and then the madness began...
TIME TO PLAY
Before we knew it, we were whisked onstage to do a 30-minute set. We opened with ‘Tempomanic’ and blasted the ears off the crowd – just to warm them up! The onstage sound was great so we were lovin’ it. We played seven songs in all, dedicating ‘Only Darkness’ to a great mate, Stephen Reynolds, who sadly passed away recently. We ended with ‘Feel That You Own It’, which is one of our really big songs, and the reaction was great. Relief all ‘round. They like us!
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