I have been kind of absent for a while now due to various reasons, predominately the death of my father but more recently my preparation for a 40th birthday party bash here in Symi Greece on 17 April.

It was the first time I had performed a full two one hour slot scenario since June 2000 and it was fabulous.

It was an outdoor gig in the centre of the island up in the mountains and although rain seriously hinted on three occasions (gently spitting) it didn't actually come on.

Rachael, whose party it was, had also organised the release of 40 sky lanterns and although it was a little too windy for them, at midnight when they were sent on their journey into an almost cloudless sky and an almost full moon. The music played during their release was Where Were You (Jeff Beck) and Rachel's Song (Vangelis) and it was truly beautiful, spectacular and amazing to witness!

Symi never does and never will do anything other than awe inspire

I rocked, they rocked and we all rocked and a great time was had by all.

I was using cubase, guitar rig and BFD2 on my 7 week old 17 Macbook Pro and Apogee Duet sound card and although the wallet and the bank balance are a lot lighter, the reliability was well worth the expense.

My sets were :-

First

01 - Sweet Child Of Mine (Guns and Roses) With support surprise release of fireworks!! 02 - The Summer Of 69 (Bryan Adams) 03 - Wishing Well (Free) 04 - Just What I Needed (The Cars) 05 - Everybody Wants To Rule The World (Tears For Fears) 06 - Parisienne Walkways (Gary Moore) 07 - I Need Somebody (Bryan Adams) 08 - Don't Stop (Fleetwood Mac) 09 - Knock On Wood (Eddie Floyd) 10 - Another Brick In The Wall (Pink Floyd) 11 - I Don't Want To Miss A Thing (Aerosmith)

Second

01 - Addicted To Love (Robert Palmer) 02 - Alright Now (Free) 03 - Bed Of Roses (Bon Jovi) 04 - Let t Be (The Beatles) 05 - Highway To Hell (AC DC) 06 - Easy Lover (Phil Collins and Phil Bailey 07 - Smoke On The Water (Deep Purple) 08 - Since I've Been Loving (Led Zeppelin) 09 - The Sultans Of Swing (Dire Straits) 10 - When Mother Time Is On Your Side (Cool Beyond Zero)

Also available but not played :-

Ain't No Sunshine (Bill Withers) Always With Me, Always With You (Joe Satriani) Badge (Cream) Candle In The Wind (Elton John) China Grove (The Doobies) Comfortably Numb (Pink Floyd) Coming Back To Life (Pink Floyd) Crazy Little Thing Called Love (Queen) Crying (Joe Satriani) Desperado (The Eagles) Drive (The Cars) Everything I Do (Bryan Adams) Hold The Line (Toto) I Saw Her Standing There (The Beatles) Jane (Jefferson Starship) Reelin' In The Years (Steely Dan) White Wedding (Billy Idol) Wonderful Tonight (Eric Clapton)

Home again soon but this was a holiday of all holidays and has also set me up for the return to the gigging scene when I get back to Scotland, sadly not that far away now, although all good things must come to an end!!

More soon