I drive the mystery machine down to Ricky’s via Rich & Chris (& their gear) on Friday night.

FranKo rehearse the new set after Tommy joins us from flat-hunting. He shot two. Ha.

The set features new song ‘See You’ and the radically re-worked ‘Nobody Knows’, and Rich has created tracks on the Korg to enhance them.

We sleep. Ish. It’s -14 degrees though, and the room the four os us are in (minus Ricky, in hos own room) can’t hold the heat. I crawl to the lounge at 6am and get more sleep.

We stop in at UK Undiscovered Radio in Chapel-en-le-Frith, and meet Craig, who will do the interview. He’s a legend, feeds us all, and creates havoc talking about the fans (wind machines) on the set of EOTS. I’ve posted a clip of the audio that he sent through. Naughty. The show should be broadcast next Saturday.

The show. Rich’s guitar cuts out in ‘Lucky’. Amazingly, he deduces it’s a fuse, locates a new one and fits it before the song ends.

Tommy says,”Rich, if I’ve ever said FranKo didn’t need a guitarist, I take it back.” They have got through a guitar-free ‘Lucky’, and an appreciative Manchester audience cheer their approval. It actually sounds ok. But it was tense waiting to see what was gonna happen.

The fans are fierce tonight, really dedicated, and the band work hard to speak to them all, but manage.

We head off to Nottingham to stay with our good friends, th Ws. Mr W has cooked a ham anticipating our early morning (1.30am) arrival. We’re lucky to have such good friends - true music fans, and kinder, more supportive people you couldn’t wish to meet. We will be spoilt rotten :)