One morning, I got a call from David, the bands’ manager, asking me if I could come on the UK Light ‘Em Up Tour. I started planning my trip, got into the process of the visa and made preparations for my departure in couple of months.

Everyone was excited for me that I was going to the UK to spend time on the road with the team, the band and the crew. My family and my friends were telling me to just go and have fun. And fun to the max it was.

The day arrived and my wife dropped me at the airport. It was the first time flying in my life, so I was excited about it. The first flight from Skopje to Vienna was an amazing experience and I couldn’t wait to get on the next airplane.  After I arrived in London I got my way to the hotel. I was a bit nervous about getting lost, but everyone was so nice and I got there in no time. My hotel room was freezing, but good and so it began with a meeting later that evening with me, Cat and Mark.

The next morning, I got breakfast with David E, Tommy D and Brendon K and had a really nice chat. I finally met Tommy D, FOH and the Tour Manager, and then the rest of the crew members later that day. We got onto the tour bus and went to Brighton where we stayed for couple of days for rehearsals. It was great to hang out with the band, we went out shooting content, laughed a lot with John telling jokes all the time. I met DL for the first time, which was awesome, he is totally focused and you can see his passion for rock music and the band.

On the road, I was sidekick for David Pear, our brilliant photographer/videographer, who I asked a load of questions all the time, and he bared with me and never told me to f**k off! LOL!

The first concert in Brighton was amazing. I tried to film some live stuff for our social media, but the internet kept dropping out, so I needed to improvise. David P is so good at what he does, he helped me with it! The next two concerts everything went perfectly on the social media side.

The band was amazing! The first song they started with was Light ‘Em Up and it was a blast! Powerful guitars, John’s voice is amazing and sounds just like the album. The crowd was so engaged with the band and were singing the songs, even the new ones! A truly good time to experience the concert from an audience perspective and from backstage! On another note, the band did a blues song and everyone loved it too!

It was my first time seeing the backstage jams live, hanging out with the band, chatting, and listening to them joking around doing funny stuff before the show.

Later that evening, we got on the bus for a midnight drive to Torquay. It was my first time being on the tour bus, it was so good! I quickly discovered the Wi-Fi, the sockets, the TV – everything in my domain haha. Everyone was so tired, but we started watching a movie and one by one we all went to get some sleep. The bunk bed was perfect! After a couple of hours, we arrived at the Torquay hotel, got to my room and set up my mobile office to do my stuff.   After breakfast, I went out for a walk and met up with DE. I walked so much that day checking out the sights!  The time passed quickly and before I knew it, it was time to go out with David P and John to get some more content, after fifteen minutes it started raining, so we went in to check the venue.  Very conveniently the hotel was right across the street. That night, the concert rocked! We had a lot of fun backstage and we laughed about the movie “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan”.  The next day on the bus, we all watched it on the TV… hilarious; it was a cool trip from Torquay to Southampton! While driving, we watched another movie and DL suddenly said – Isn’t that Stonehenge… And we all grabbed our phones and quickly took some pics through the windows as we were passing by.

We arrived at the hotel in Southampton which was at the docks and the rooms had binoculars. It was my last day of the tour, so I wanted to check out the town. So, I went out for a walk and bumped into DE but, but once again, it started to rain, so we dropped into a bar for a coffee. After it stopped, we went for a walk to the venue which was 10-15 minutes away. We checked out the venue, the backstage and returned to the hotel and guess what… it started raining again (crazy weather in the UK, lol). That evening the concert was amazing as well. Another rockin’ show with the band on fire and an amazing crowd of Rock lovers….  Backstage we laughed that there was hummus on the rider from Zohan as well.

The next day I was leaving, the whole week passed like a dream. DE, DP and Doug said goodbye wishing me safe travels home… I got to the airport and as soon as the plane took off, I started reminding myself of the good time I had in the UK. It was really a great week and amazing an experience to be on the road with everyone! Great bunch of people and I love working with the guys! Cheers till the next one!