25/10/2026
Phenomenal sold out show on Friday in London. I loved photographing it. ♥️
Chopper’s Blog. After a few weeks rolling round Europe we've spent the final 10 days of this tour here in England and Scotland. It's been great to play some new venues in cities like Bristol, Manchester, Leeds, Nottingham and Birmingham... and to see some different parts of those cities.
The shows have been really special - watching the audience react to the first few bars of Ernie, singing along to Flashback and Wandering Eye, and then dancing their arses off to Avengers and Shiverman are memories that'll stick with us.
Of course, playing London's historic Ally Pally to 10,000 people was always going to be a high point. It's crazy to stand on that stage and see the audience fill out the front, and then back to the front of house sound desk, and then keep growing all the way to the back of the Great Hall. Even walking round the outside of the building is a bit overwhelming, the scale of the place! When it's filled with singing and dancing Fred-Heads it's a beautiful sight.
Hats off to our crew for pulling it together on that one too - they worked their arses off as per usual.
We've had some amazing (mainly food, booze and record related) side missions too - pints and bangers'n'mash at Clifton Sausage (Bristol), charcoal-grilled Tandori at The Vine (West Bromwich), sloping through the rain to get to Rub-a-Dub records in Glasgow to find one of Cory Champion's own records.
Stopping by the Another People Place party at Civic House was a personal highlight. I've been building a similar sort of soundsystem to the one they use and to hear such great selections played through it last night was brilliant... watch this space as I get my system out of the shed and into use over summer. It was great to have a dance too... and to just be a punter again was totally grounding, and just what we needed.
We finish tonight in Glasgow - home town to one of our crew, Sam Bessa-Reader who is so lovely we're taking him back to NZ for summer (Scotland's loss / Aotearoa's win). We've played in this city a few times and there's always an incredible energy in the crowd, so I know it'll be a blinder. We look forward to partying one more time on this trip.
Then it's home time. Time to reconnect with our whānau and friends, walk the dog, mow the lawns... and then plan the next adventure, which is coming round the corner pretty quickly.
Thanks to our crew who work tirelessly, our drivers (Jack The Lad, Big Tony & Tats) and to everyone who came to a show to dance and sing, and celebrate 21 years of Based On A True Story - what a ride it's been.
Also - love and miss you MU, always.
Pic Chur Gem Rey
