Americana on the Road….
Life on the road anyone?
Do you ever wonder what it is like to be a real, touring act on the road and living that super exciting life? Well, read on as I recap what our last little road tour was like for this Americana duo!
We recently returned from our first 9 day tour and wanted to share all the excitement about band life on the road.
Day 1
So after family drama about who was gonna watch the dog, water the plants, take Grandma to Costco, etc… we FINALLY head out! Ahhhh – our FIRST gig of the tour.
After a mere 4 1/2 hour drive, we get ourselves psyched for our first big night. We adopt our first bit of tour strategy which means that we head straight to the venue as soon as we get to town. This enables us to get a feel for the neighborhood – i.e, do we need to fear for our lives after the show gets out, will our car still be there – you know that kind of stuff.
We arrive at our destination. College town. Dead of Summer. Venue looks okay – along a pretty busy street and down a few doors from a tattoo joint and liquor store. Street parking looks ok. Time to find a hotel and rest up!
We find a hotel in town with a good parking situation. For us this means making sure the bits of gear we leave in the car are safe and we can easily access the car. Car safe = a good thing. Rest. Long night ahead!
Are you getting the impression that a lot of this has nothing to do with music? Well, that’s what happens. Your focus becomes the process of getting there, finding the venue and then trying to mind meld with the venue before your show. Trying to gel with the venue and the other performers for the night. That’s the primary objective.
Are we opening for someone else? Who else is playing? Go to their twitter, find their facebook – start to mingle. That sort of stuff. Drink some coffee. One more twitter – maybe a vine post. More coffee. Rest.
Next.. showtime! – we get there, find a corner to stow our guitars and then the fun begins. First question:
hmmm – is it a yoga studio or dance studio – not quite sure, especially since there were lots of folks, both young and old, either dancing to mystical vibes and falling on the floor or doing a full vinyasa on the floor before the artists’ show. In both cases, there seemed to be a good use for the dance floor at this show!
We were told our show goes on at 12:30 a.m. Really? Will there still be people left? Anyone? Did I mention that we are usually early morning people? Well – thus begins our big shift into night time schedule. This means, rise at 10:00 a.m. – try to catch any free breakfast at the hotel, pack, hit the road. Lunch at 2:00 or a combo lunch – dinner at 4:00 p.m. Find venue, repeat….
This venue was really cool because the sound guy was really into lights and made sure to use all possible variations during our show. Luckily, the feature band stayed behind to catch our show – or, rather, they stayed because they HAD to. Their gear was still on stage and they stayed out of customary support for the next band to play.
So – after some super smoke machine effects and an amazing light show set, we are done. Our car is safe on the street! Hooray! Success! We make our way back to the hotel – always hot and sweaty. We say goodnight to the front lobby folks as we pass through the empty lobby at 2:00 a.m.
Goodnight! It was a good first night on the road!