We’re all back at home, in one piece. More or less.

What can we say? I think Ray speaks for us all when he told me it “far exceeded his expectations.” You guys made us feel welcome and more importantly, missed. We can’t thank you enough.

I’ll post more about the Dundalk and Electric Picnic gigs, but for now, give us a few days to adjust to the jet lag and the post-tour depression. We’ll figure out how to showcase all your photos and video, and see what’s to be done moving forward.

For now, thank you all so, so much, and here’s hoping we can do this again and have as much fun.

After the gig, found a couple I had met earlier. Turns out that she had passed out from, uh, over-excitement I guess. Flat out on the floor. Two fans immediately whisked her out to the patio to resuscitate her, and then one went back in to tell her boyfriend that his girlfriend had passed out.

Of course, he was too busy dancing and hadn’t noticed! It wasn’t until the song finished that they were finally able to get his attention and let him know that his sweetheart was outside…

Second - wow. You guys are great. Seriously. That was one hell of a night. I must have lost a stone during the gig, and I know I’m not the only one. And you caught me when I fell backwards. Fantastic.

Finally, if you took any photos or video, let us know. We’re happy to post it here, or link to it on Flickr or YouTube or whatever. Hey, here’s an idea. If you post anything to Flickr, please tag it “TPE2008″ so we can easily search for ‘em.

With video, what I’d really like is a copy burned to DVD or CDR if you could. What I’ll do is take the master recording done last night and add the various bits of video together to make a DVD of the entire gig. Sound good? Sure it does.

Dundalk, here we come…

Doors open at 8PM, and we’ll be going on around 9:30, so those of you who rely on public transportation should have no problem. See how good we are to you?

Here’s what I’ve got for the paid list - if I’ve left anyone off let me know in the comments or send me an email (smack@thepetrols.com).

Eileen Fisher + 1
Mark Brady + 1
Maeve Manogue +1
Nigel Wilsher
Tony Cripps + 1
Paul Forrest-Jameson
Caroline Taylor
Justin Morrad
Jamie Blomfield
Steve Pryde
Jeff Prior
Gareth Knight
Greg Sharkey + 1
Darren Hudson + 1
Colm McWilliams + 1
Leigh Harris +1
Martin Smy + 1

Just finished our last rehearsal - I’ve gotta say it’s sounding bloody fantastic. Can’t wait to see you all.

s.

Those of you who asked for two, you’ll be down with a plus one.

I’ll be in London as of Tuesday afternoon. Guess I’d better get to practicing, eh?

Some of you did not get tickets to the show. I know. You’re not alone. We’ve held back a limited number of tickets for this exact purpose. We’ve decided to hold some of these specifically for you, our web site devotees.

There is a very limited amount. I’d say first come, first served, but some of you don’t check the site every day. So here’s what I’m going to do. Let me know if you need tickets in the comments below. These are going to be at the door, and non-transferrable, so don’t even think about touting/scapling them. You’ll pay at the door and go in.

If there are more of you than tickets, then I’ll randomly pick amongst you, and announce the results on Sunday or Monday.

Sound fair? I really hope we can sort you all out.

By a two to one margin, design #2 wins!

Just so you know, the band was pulling for design #1, but we said we’d let you choose, so that’s that! Lord knows we put out some of the ugliest t-shirt designs ever seen, so this simple, elegant design will be a nice change. We’re pulling together the resources to print the sucker.

We’ve had a lot of requests for, ahem, larger sizes. Any other special requests? Do the ladies want girly-tees? What about kid sizes for the nippers? Remember folks, Christmas is coming, and nothing says “I love you” as much as a TPE shirt.

(Oh, and by the way, by popular demand we’re changing the back from “Stradbally” to “Electric Picnic.”)

(That way you can only vote once.) To log in, choose the “Log in” link at the bottom left.

= = = = = = =

Okay, here are the four designs we’ve picked out. Here’s #1:

And here’s #2:

Here’s a variation on the ‘believer’ theme, #3:

The design is a little small, so here’s a closer shot of the design of #3:

And finally, a totally different look, sorta Ramones-ey, #4:

(Okay, so Raymond’s name is misspelled. We’ll fix that if this is the one you guys want.)

So what do you think? I know which one I like, but I’m not going to tell you. The back of all these shirts will be the same:

So there you have it. It’s up to you. Vote early, vote often. No! Don’t cheat. In fact, I think the poll software is clever enough to only let you vote once, so you better choose carefully!

Petrols are great! Incindiary! Fire! Ignition! Still more fire metaphors and puns!

Clearly we created a monster. Still, we love our friends in the press.

Read all about it here.

All three TPE shows are sold out. 

That being said, we have held back a limited amount of tickets for the London show. We’re not sure if we’re going to make them exclusively available to folks here on the site, or just release them on the night. We’ll keep you posted.

Stay tuned for T-shirt designs! We’ve got some good ones to put up, and should have them up in the next week or so.