Anyone going from L.A. and coming back to L.A. after the show?? Please i need a ride.

Yes, any place near from the SBBowl for the prebeers??

Experience enhanced by company of Mark, Steve, Kelly, and Dave. Also met VinceLA after the show. Special thanks to Mark for another Viking pin and the heads up about the early showtime.

Great gig, and a great location, worth the drive up from LA.

http://youtu.be/Vwxb_eVXGB4

So we took the Pacific Coastal route up from LA, takes slightly longer than the Freeway, but with the ocean view as a companion it was better to travel than arrive.

Santa Barbara is a beautiful town, full of sea breeze, prettiness & charm, not surprised to hear Martin Gore has chosen to make this area his home. Must have been a tough call over Basildon though. The bowl does it justice too, as Johnny Marr announced "it's a lovely spot to play music". An open air venue set up in the hills with a view out over the mountains is hard to beat.

Great to see everyone again, the loyal Cali NOOLers turned out as always...Andy, Theresa, Vince, Steve, Kelly & Molly.

No Electronic tracks from Johnny Marr this time, which was a shame but closer How Soon Is Now remained powerful and not even the stunning landscape could dilute its melancholy. DJ Mario from LA, who also played at The Greek in October, dropped some great house tunes which set the mood nicely for New Order - we were lucky enough to meet Mario the night before in LA with Andy Rob that took in the Mack Sennet Studio in Echo Park where Quest Love (The Roots) DJ'd and The Standard in Hollywood. The Mack Sennet Studio made it's name as a movie set and boasts Key Stone Cops and Harold Lloyd scenes from its former life. Now converted to a club space, it was sparsely attended which made it easy to spot UK national radio jock Nick Grimshaw enjoying the LA night life after Coachella. Big thanks to Mario's agent Alexis who was the pied piper of LA and made us very welcome within his collective of DJs, musicians & producers.

Meanwhile, back at the show, New Order were as impressed with Santa Babara as we were, with Bernard joking ( I think!) about moving there and becoming the new mayor. The
environment rubbed off on them as they delivered a tight set (as Andy lists above) with stand outs True Faith & TPK. Tom in particular entertaining with a forceful bass performance. Thanks to Andy Rob again for back stage passes.

That brought our tour to a close & I'm sure all the travelling Vikings would agree that the Santa Barbara experience ended things on a high. Now back home but the band have one more hurdle to clear in a few hours time back in the searing heat of Coachella.

Yep, that's him - mariocotto@kcrw

Intrigued they've brought back World, first non-Regret Republic track since 93 I think! How'd it sound?

Thank you Sir. Yeah, World is a bit limp and needed the Perfecto treatment to kick sphincter. Given that they're not adverse to dabbling in the remixes live I was kinda hoping they might fade in with that great Perfecto intro at least. Maybe one day...