Tallinn, Estonia - Oct. 13, 2005 Hello everybody, We finally played our first show on this 3rd leg of the Phil Collins "First Final Farwell Tour". We rehearsed for 2 weeks straight in Neuchatel, Switzerland. I was starting to feel a bit like Bill Murray in “Groundhog Day”. Then we had 4 days off so that the stage and equipment could be transported to the first show in Tallinn Estonia. When you’re all geared up and ready to play, it’s hard to wait that long to do your first performance. Anyway, the first Tallinn show went very well. We had a fun time and the audience was great. Hearing Phil communicating in this Estonian language was fascinating. It sounded like a combination of Finnish and Russian. He’s been doing this sort of thing since the Genesis days and I really admire his flair for languages. He wrote everything out phonetically on paper and read it to the audience. He didn't do this for very long but gave it a good go. He then asked the audience if it would be all right with them if he spoke English. They enthusiastically applauded! I think they appreciate that he gave their language a respectable try. He will do this to some degree in every country. Generally people tend to speak English as their second language in some of the countries that we will be visiting on this tour. We are now commuting from Helsinki for these first 4 shows this week. It helps to have a “home base” for a few days. We are coming back to Tallinn on Sunday for a second show. Both shows are sold out. In between we are playing 2 nights in Helsinki........ Friday and Saturday. I'll let you know how that goes! Best regards, Daryl
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