After Werchter, Belgium show 25 or so of us (band and crew) head to the airport in vans for a charter flight to Berlin. This will begin our 3 shows in 3 countries in 24 hours. Usually we just pull on to the tarmac and board the plane, but here they make us check our gear/bags and go through regular airport security. This takes forever, as we have a lot of guitars to carry on. Ugh!

Finally get on the flight, strap my guitars in the seat next to me. Fall asleep for a few minutes as we take off. Wake up and I just missed the food and drinks. A couple of the guys share their plates of dessert with me. Yummy, just what you need at 2am, snacks loaded with sugar. Land in Berlin, it's raining, unload directly into vans on the tarmac and off to the hotel.

Arrive at the hotel around 3:30, quickly crash, as we have a 5:30 lobby call for the crew.

Wake up at 5:15am, slept through my first alarm. Quickly grab a shower and off to the first gig of the day, Live8. Gig is in Berlin at the Siegessäule (famous monument and roundabout). Load in, it's pretty small stage for such a big event. Quickly set up our gear and do a line check. Audioslave crew arrives, say hello to a few friends, and we stake out our claim on stage right. Around 9:30, head back to the hotel for a few more hours sleep.

Up at 12:30pm and over to Starbucks for a Chai tea (I seriously think of ordering a coffee, something I've been off of for over a year). Run into the band's road manager, who proceeds to buy a dozen coffees and all the sandwiches and bagels they have, and my chai tea. Brings the line to a screeching halt. Pretty funny.

Meet the band in the lobby and van it over to the gig. Now it's time to wait around until it's our turn...

Watch a few of the German bands on the bill, plus some of the video from the other Live 8 shows. Finally get to see Audioslave, they play four songs including one from Soundgarden and a Rage Against the Machine song. Wish I could see their full set.

We're on next and it's chaos at changeover. The audio crew for this show is terrible and we lose inputs for the acoustic guitar and keyboards. No time to sort everything out, as it's live TV and we must go on. We're introduced by Tim Robbins, who I didn't even see, too busy working. I try to get the acoustic sorted during the first two songs, but to no avail. I make do, by faking the acoustic sound through my electric amp. Seems to work OK. We do 4 songs and we're off.

Back in vans to the airport, we still have to fly to Denmark to play a full set at Roskilde Festival. Again, we get the full security treatment, and are slow to get to the plane. We arrive in Denmark, and it's a 40min drive to the festival. Once we arrive it's straight out of the van, on to the stage and set-up for the show. We have about an hour to get it all sorted before we go on. Two different people from our crew bring me food (thanks Tara and Sean) as all I've had so far is french fries. Quickly eat while I'm working. I'm bummed out that we just missed the Foo Fighter's set.

Show goes on time and we play another great set to 100,000+ people (Roskilde Festival hosts 350,000+ fans in three days). Load out and grab some more food outside the band's dressing room. Wander up to the stage to catch a few minutes of Duran Duran's set (killer), and then off to the bus for sleep.

Arrive at the Werchter Festival late (afternoon), as we had a long drive. Grab lunch, then load-in. Since we're late, most of the space is taken up by other bands. The band that is on after us (we are the headliner) has taken up all the room downstage. Thanks guys!! Jerks. Set-up my stuff and say hello to the Garbage crew. Run into some friends that are here with Velvet Revolver, and meet Slash's tech, who's a great guy. Also see a buddy who's here with Elvis Costello. Roadie reunion day...

Watch some of Garbage's set, then grab a great spot on stage right to watch Velvet Revolver. They play a killer set, their last one before Live 8, then they head home. Before our show, I see Elvis Costello backstage, always the gentleman.

We play a scorching 2 hour set and the crowd is ours.

Today is the beginning of our 5 shows in 5 countries in 4 days. Down to the gig around 1pm. It's in an old market for a long destroyed slaughterhouse, which is as big as an airplane hangar (trucks are all parked indoors). Setup my stuff and grab lunch alfresco (outside). Put my bike together and ride most of the afternoon, both inside and outside the venue. Weather is really nice, warm, but not oppressive. Have dinner with Jason and Janet, it's yummy as usual. Set goes well, kids are insane. Loadout and then overnight to Belgium.

Another long (17+ hour) drive day. Seems most of the audio crew and some of the lighting guys have defected from bus 2 to our bus, as bus 2 is without power. Cool, we have 14 bunks anyway. Wake up and we're still in Spain, watch the countryside for awhile then back to bed. Wake up, still in Spain, catch the roman ruins again outside Figueres. Back to bed. Wake up, this time we're in France. It's early evening by now and we still have hours to go. Joff, our swaggie, starts making Ham and Cheese sandwiches (jambon et fromage), they smell amazing, so he makes me one. Best bus food ever!! A man of many talents.

Arrive at the hotel around 7pm. It is very tall Radisson. The lobby is on the 32nd floor!! Get to my room and hang my wet clothes everywhere, hopefully they will dry some. Stay in and watch a DVD.

The entire crew arrives in Madrid around noon, about 4 hours later than usual. Being that we had a long drive and a long loadout in Barcelona last night. I do put laundry in, as I have nothing else to do. Grab a shower and some McDonald's, as catering can't even do lunch, due to the late arrival. Finally get the stage after 3pm, the PA doesn't get hung until after 7pm. Band was supposed to soundcheck at 6, but we get to it after 8, then off to catering for dinner.

Our set isn't till 10pm, so I watch a few minutes of our opener while tuning and cleaning up. As my back is turned, they stop playing and as I turn the stage right guitar player is gone. Seems he had a seizure of some kind and fell off the front of the stage, breaking his guitar in the process. Paramedics and other personnel arrive and he's taken off, we hear later that he is OK but under observation for a few days. Everyone is releived.

Our set gets pushed up, and again another great Spanish crowd. After the show, I go to production to find all the laundry in one bag, which means you have to sort through someone else's underwear to get your stuff. And it's all wet to boot. I don't mean damp, I mean wet, as in not dried. GREAT!! Also, one of my shirts is missing, it just happens to be a new one, that was not cheap, even better. Take my soon to be mildewed clothes to the bus and get in my bunk. I'm not feeling very social.

Try to get to the gig early to do laundry, but the ride our swaggie Joff has set up doesn't materialize, so go in with everyone else at noon. The areana we're playing in is extremely hot, if the A/C is on, it's not working very well. Turns out to be the hottest gig I've done with this band, and it's probably the best crowd we've had too...

After the show, it's 'Taco' night in the bands dressing room, so we grab some to go, before they take it away. Yummy too.

Long drive day, 15+ hours. Did pass some cool Roman ruins near Figures, Spain. Get to the hotel in Barcelona around 5pm. Grab some Chinese for dinner and basically just hang at the hotel.