Everyone seemed very jaded this morning...a long day in London and almost 6 weeks on the road seemed to be taking its toll! It was also a very early start for half the crew - although Steve and Sam had been very sensible and travelled through the night so was ready to rock n roll very early in Cardiff. A few cups of coffee and some motorway service breakfast seemed to do the trick and get the rest of the team geared up.

This was our last gig of the UK Tour and one that we were all determined to ensure would go off with a bang! The photocall had been arranged outside the beautiful Cardiff National Musuem - and many of the bands had arrived even before the BritBus...they must be keen in Wales! We were pleased to see the local media turn up to interview and photograph the bands, plus another radio interview for James on route. The media support we have had on the tour has been really outstanding and should fill up our press book in no time...

We were as always inundated with people wanting to play Guitar Hero on the bus - which has for the entire duration of the tour been a great attraction (and distraction!) for so many people. We had a bus load of students banding on the tour in Cardiff asking if they could come aboard and play....how could you ever say no!? Thanks also to all those that also came along to the gigs and compete our out live Guitar Hero stages...your Guitar Hero World Tour prizes should be in the post by now!

After a few circuits around Cardiff city centre Steve steered the Bus to our venue for the night; The Globe. This is a really neat venue about 1.5 miles out from the centre. It has been converted from an old theatre so has an excellent sized stage and good sound, plus is very professionally run. We would certainly come back here again. We had a very early load-in and sound check today as we were also hosting an industry panel with the PRS - something we intend to expand upon next year.The panel talked to all the bands and local guests for about an hour - covering everything from music publishing, online promotion to live touring. It would have gone on longer, but the queue outside was streadily getting bigger so it was really time to open the doors and let the punters in!

We had a busy night ahread as we had 6 bands lined-up to perform and they included:

Bensem                             www.myspace.com/bensem

Dreamer                            www.myspace.com/dreamermusic

Panz Agenda                      www.myspace.com/panzagenda

Supergene                         www.myspace.com/supergene

4th Street Traffic                www.myspace.com/4thstreettraffic

Graveyard Johnnys             www.myspace.com/graveyardjohnnys

Wales is certainly well know for its vocal ability...and the bands demonstrated that so well! It was such a fantastic night and the venue was completely packed with gig goers coming from all over south Wales. We ended the night with all the bands coming on stage for a group photo and officially celebrating the last night of the tour. Cardiff had indeed gone out with a really BIG bang!

It was also quite a sad night for the crew as they had all been together on the road for 6 weeks and it was finally coming to an end - we had all become one big, if not slightly crazy family. A Big thank you must go to Steve, Sam, Paul, Kat, Josh, Owen, Ed, Jess, Wullie, Henry and James - you all did an amazing job on the first ever UK BritBus Tour. It is also vital to pay extra special thanks to our presenting sponsor Guitar Hero - they were just the best partner we could have wished for and helped entertain thousands of punters on Guitar Hero World Tour in the BritBus and on stage at our gigs up and down the country. The same thanks must of course go to our sponsors and partners at Virgin Atlantic, Highlands & Islands Enterprise, NME Radio, Global Angels, Gibson, Paiste, Carlsbro, Aquarian Drum Heads & Ashdown Engineering.

From everyone at BritBus, thanks once again and look forward to seeing you all again soon....hopefully in the USA!

After only 24 hours to recover from the fun and antics in Inverness & Rockness the crew had a 12 hour drive back to London...once again Steve at the wheel of the BritBus and James the splitter. It had to be the journey from hell, but we all made it in once piece if not a little tired and grumpy!

The London gig was always going to be an interesting day - London is so huge and with so many restrictions everywhere we knew it was going to have some challenges. We arranged to meet the bands early at the London Eye for a photocall. The crew turned up on-time and ready for action but, there was no BritBus! London traffic had slowed the proceeding already...but as always, through hell or fire, Steve finally made it! The London Eye proved a great backdrop for the bands photo-call once we convinced security we were not terrorists. James and The Foxes headed off to NME radio for an interview and some promotion of the days events - NME have been great partners for the tour and have plugged us for amost two months - top people, so if you don't listen to them already, make sure you start tuning in now.

After picking up the band from NME Radio the BritBus headed off for a tour of London...it really was quite an experience! With bands performing on the upper deck we crossed bridges, went through tunnels, circled the Houses of Parliament, gate crashed Absolute Radio (miserable sods didn't let is in though!), got chased by Police motorbikes at Buckingham Palace, got stuck in the middle of Soho, rocked Camden and ignored traffic wardens....the list just goes on!! It was certainly an adventure, but actually went much smoother than anyone expected.

We did finally make it to the Islington Academy for load-in and sound check...maybe a few minutes late, but we did survive the day all in one piece! Islington 02 Bar Academy proved a great location and before very long the venue was packed to the rafters - all the bands made a great job of promoting the gig. The bands that performed on the night included:

The Foxes                         www.myspace.com/thefoxesband

Tempo Shark                     www.myspace.com/temposhark

Elmor                               www.myspace.com/elmormusic

The Dirty Chimes               www.myspace.com/thedirtychimes

Trail                                 www.myspace.com/trailmusic

Prospect Lane                    www.myspace.com/prospectlane

It was a great day and night and a big thank you to Natasha Bedingfield who came down to the venue to show support to all the BritBus bands. Natasha's mum runs an amazing Charity the BritBus partners with called Global Angels - please do check it out: http://www.globalangels.org/

It was finally time to load-out and get ready to roll onto Cardiff, the last gig of the 2009 UK BritBus Tour...