thomas dolby, radiohead, sigur ros, and whatever.

over the last couple of months i've been really enjoying Thomas Dolby's weblog. he's been documenting his one-man-show tour across the US, and i have to say it's very entertaining.

I've seen lots of big artists try and do 'tour diaries' and it usually comes off like something they got their publicist's intern to write for them. you get the feeling you're reading a press release. Thomas comes across as a real guy, though, and definitely a synth and technology geek, who doesn't talk down to his fans. the posts are chock full of details about his live setup, his equipment, and all kinds of stories about how he goes about writing and performing songs. as a musician it's fantastic stuff to read, and i'm sure even non-musicians will be entertained.

his last post was about the tour coming to a close, but a really hope he continues posting, it's great to hear what he's up to.

there are definitely some other good tour diaries out there. from sigur ros to the fascinating diary being kept by radiohead's audio engineer of their recording and tour rehearsals. as a musician myself who's looking at an upcoming US tour in a couple of months, it's very informative stuff to hear stories from 'the road.' you notice that whether you're playing big stadiums and arenas, or clubs for 15 people, life on tour is definitely a different kind of life.