Playing only a handful of gigs now makes the few I have so much more enjoyable, and so it was with my all-night set at Radio Bar in Riga’s charming old town. I’d played the venue twice before when the DJ booth had been situated on a balcony overlooking the dancers below. This time, manager Jensens had set it up on a slightly raised stage right next to the dancefloor, which brought much better interaction with the crowd. Radio Bar is a house music venue, and it made for a stimulating challenge to play five hours of house both old and new. A dancefloor full of girls right up until the next DJ, Jevgenis took over, was a welcome sight. There’s a pretty good set of pictures from the night here:
Flying back on the Sunday brought a 7 Euro ‘Departure Tax’ rip-off to leave the airport, about as welcome as a dose of crabs. All other airlines absorb this charge into their airfares. Ryanair has to be different, and forces you to queue and pay it separately at the airport. This truly is a loathesome company, every bit as disgusting as its deplorable boss Michael O’Leary. Unfortunately, always operating on limited budgets causes it to be the only practical option in so many cases.