Ed O'Brien on BBC Radio 1

Ed O'Brien rings Radio 1's Evening Session from the dressing room at Toad's Place in New Haven, Connecticut, two hours before the fourth date of an American club tour, with David Gray supporting. New Haven claims to be the murder city of the world, and walking to a tandoori diner the night before they heard bangs, assumed guns and decided on fireworks. The crowds run to 700 or 800 a night and the sets are an hour, fast and frantic. They travel on a 45-foot bus called Wave Dancer, with a horse riding the waves painted on the back and bunks like coffins. Next come New York, 10 more American dates, two weeks in Japan and more of America, and they get home two days before they play with R.E.M. at Milton Keynes.