Hey --

It was a big weekend of performances last weekend for the band and me. We started off in Paris on Thursday, where we performed at the Solidays Festival in the Hippodrome de Longchamps. The other bands that were on that day were the Sunshine Underground and the Editors. Thought I might have caught some of their set before I played but they were on at the same time as me...did manage to see some good French bands that I hadn't heard of before, so it wasn't too bad. The festival itself is held on behalf of the main charity in France that aims to raise awareness for HIV. 100,000 people go every year so I was happy to be involved and hopefully we helped raise some awareness for the condition.

After the gig in Paris, the band and I drove on the bus overnight to London to play Live Earth. It was one of the biggest gigs we've played, so I got some friends down to see the show. All the acts were only allowed 15 minutes on stage, but we managed to squeeze in four songs, -- "Alloway Grove," "Last Request," "Jenny Don't Be Hasty," and Louis Armstrong's "Wonderful World." Gig went well I think, and afterwards I got to meet Damian Rice and Dave Grohl before watching the Chili Peppers and Foo Fighters play their sets. I've seen them live a few times, and they're always on top form!

On Sunday, the last gig of the weekend was at T in the Park in Scotland where I was playing the main stage. It was good to have most of my friends and family in the crowd who all made the effort to come down and catch up. I looked over to the side of the stage mid-set and saw Damian Rice standing there, which was crazy -- I've been listening to his records for years, and there he was watching me! After the gig, me and my mates caught a bit of Ocean Colour Scene, Kings of Leon, and Queens of the Stone Age, who were all brilliant. The QOTA drummer is immense -- the guy just doesn't stop the whole way through the set! After the festival, I headed home to Paisley where I had the week off. Me and the girlfriend managed to head down to Alton Towers Theme Park for a couple of days before it all kicked off again. There's a new ride that they've just added called Rita that goes from 0-100mp/h in 2 seconds. Bloody brilliant, but couldn't walk straight for half an hour!!

-- Paolo

Check out the video for Paolo's newest single, "Last Request," here!