Sam Roberts Day 10, Montreal, QC

So this is it, the final show for the Chemical City record and it's in the boys hometown. It's a little crazy trying to keep everyone happy with all the guest list and media requests, and I was running around with my head cut off all day. I didn't eat til about 9:30pm and I didn't even notice that I hadn't eaten.

I love the Osheaga festival though, probably my favourite one in the world, definitely top 2. They take really good care of everyone, great food, great bands, great times. I met up with the We Are Scientists guys who I hadn't seen in a few months, as well as one of the guys I toured with as part of the Sean Lennon family. It was a really good day when all was said and done.

When we finally decided we had enough, we made our way back to the hotel around 11pm to drop our stuff off before heading out for the night. We eventually ended up at a place called Korova, where we were about 10 years older than everyone there, but we were able to just hang out in the back and relax for the first time in a while.

And that's all folks. I get a train home tomorrow morning and go back to waiting for my phone to ring. Hopefully it won't take too long...

Sam Roberts Day 9, To Montreal

At 7:30am we all piled into the bus for the ride to the airport. We got there with plenty of time, had some breakfast, which included the lamest toasted bagel I've ever had, and made our way to the plane. A quick 4 hour trip to Montreal was not eventful in the least, which is always good in a plane, and we got dropped off at the hotel and took a few minutes to plan our night.

We eventually headed over to a party hosted by one of the guys in Apostle of Hustle, where we were joined by the Stills guys, a couple people from Feist, and a few others well-known local music types. It was a pretty good time, good way to spend the evening, and I even managed to grab a slice on the way back to the hotel. Not bad for a night off.

Sam Roberts Day 8, Calgary, AB

Today is the last show of the western run, and Calgary is good place to be, and we have the night off here too.

Again, the day was smooth. It went by pretty fast with all the running back and forth to press, meet and greets, soundchecks, hotels, show, etc...

It felt good to be done after, moreso today than other days because I got us reservations at Saltlik, the best steakhouse in Canada, and we all share that opinion. We were really excited to head over there, and we were not let down. As usual, we had killer cuts of beef, great food, drinks, desserts, everything was great. It was nice to have a night when we could just relax and head to the hotel when we were ready.

After dinner, I went out with a couple of the guys to a place called HiFi where I met up with a friend from the road, but we couldn't stay out too late because we had an early flight to Montreal in the morning... Oh well, almost had a free night...

Sam Roberts Day 7, Regina, SK

And so, I make a triumphant return to my favourite city in Canada. How can you not love Regina?! Like I said, it is better than living in a cardboard box under a bridge...

We got to the University a little early, parked the bus, and I started looking around a bit. Everyone was actually great to deal with and really nice. The day went by pretty painlessly and everyone was happy.

After the show, we were directed to a tapas bar for dinner, and, I don't believe I'm writing this, it was really good. In Regina?! Crazy! The paramount event of the night, however, was the creation of the Touchdown (tm). Our sound guy, Marty, is a die-hard CFL fan, wearing the Bomber blue for life. He also enjoys tequila, and somehow, he decided to mix it with white grape juice, and a drink is born. It was a hit. There's also the Converted Touchdown, which has a lime. It's amazing, not only as a drink, but that it was born in Regina. Definitely the highlight of the day in Regina.

We stopped by someone's house around the corner afterwards, and then headed back to the bus for the drive to Calgary. Of all the times I've been to Regina, this was not the worst.

Sam Roberts Day 6, Brandon, MB

I survived the early wake up and flight to Toronto, met up with a couple guys there and got on the flight to Winnipeg. It was on time, smooth, all good. Got off the plane, started looking for the guys who came in from Montreal, headed towards the bus, and then I got my first headache of the day.

The plane used for the Montreal flight was rather small. We travel with many large roadcases for all our gear. This does not add up for baggage crew, so they left our cases in Montreal! They didn't even get on the plane! The guys got there early, had more than enough time to kill after check in, you'd think someone would let them know that their baggage won't make it, but no. Air Canada: We're not happy til you're not happy.

Fortunately we stumbled upon the right guy to help us out at the baggage department in Winnipeg. He was easy to deal with and helped us out a lot, taking the time to track our bags and make sure they made it to us on the next flight. So after an hour or so of dealing with that, we had some time to kill before the cases made it, so we went into town for lunch and eventually headed back to the airport to pick stuff up. The sad part about the whole thing is that the next flight that had our cases was also a small plane, so unfortunately, about 12 people had their bags bumped off the flight to make room for our stuff, and we saw them all waiting, looking confused at the baggage claim, wondering why their things weren't there...

So with all the stuff in the bus, we started driving to Brandon for the show. We were really late, but they were able to shuffle things around a little to help us out and everything ended up going off without a hitch. We couldn't stay too long after the show because we had an overnight drive to Regina, but we were able to hang out with the locals a little bit and have a drink before taking off.

I can't wait to get to Regina! Compared to living in a cardboard box under a bridge, it definitely doesn't suck.

The Stills in Ottawa

In the middle of the Sam Roberts run, I just happened to have one night off in Ottawa, and The Stills just happened to be playing, so I went out to mix them at the Carleton University Frosh Week show.

It was fun to be out behind the console again after essentially doing the equivalent of a touring desk job. Not that I don't like the tour managing, but it was nice to not have to think about stuff for a night. The show was pretty fun, they played well, the kids loved it, all was good.

After the guys checked into their hotel, we had a chance to go out for a bit, so I took them to the Aloha Room at Barrymore's, but I had to leave after a little while so I could wake up for an early flight out west for the 2nd leg of the Sam tour...

Sam Roberts Day 5, Bala to Montreal...

Today started wayyyyy too early when I had to drive our guitar tech into town at 6:30am to get a ride to the airport in Toronto. I went back to bed right after, but it just wasn't the same. I had to see the next group off just before 11am, and around 1pm, I hopped in the truck and we headed out to Montreal.

The drive was smooth, pretty painless and we made really good time. Once in town, we unloaded the gear, I headed to the hotel and a little while later, met up with the Stills guys and went out for a couple drinks. I didn't want to stay out too late because I had to catch a train the next day, but that didn't really work out and I decided to skip my train and go for the later one. Worked out a lot better that way...

Sam Roberts Day 4, Bala, ON

Day 2 of the Kee shows started with another trip into town for coffee, but we got to spend most of the day just hanging out by the lake. That's the beauty of playing the same spot multiple nights... no setups and soundchecks every day, more free time for us, and when you have 3 days at the cottage, that's a good thing.

I just had to make a quick run to the club around 6pm to do some paperwork, then at 9 I went back to drop off our guitar tech. There were a couple ambulances and police cars that zoomed by going the opposite way, so I didn't think much about it. Got to the club, got ready to make my way back to get the band, then the venue manager told me to hurry up, because those emergency vehicles I saw were headed to a head-on collision that happened right near our cottages. They were closing the road, and if I didn't make it there and back to the club in time, we might get rerouted and that could take over an hour, instead of the normal 5 minute drive. There was nothing there when I got back to the cottages, but by the time I got the guys in van and we headed out, there was a roadblock set up. By some stroke of luck, it was right at the edge of our street, so we were able to squeeze by and get to the club on time for the show. We later found out that 2 people died in the accident (they were not going to the show), and that put a rather large damper on the evening...

We finally made it over for the show, went well again and it looked like we'd be out in no time at all. Then the guitar tech locked the keys in the truck. The place happened to be swarming with cops, so I figured they could help us out, but no luck. Apparently Bala cops don't know how to jimmy a lock. Fortunately, Bala bouncers do, and some even have slim jims in their own cars. So the guys graciously got to work on helping us out with that, and what seemed like 2 hours later (really maybe about 30mins), they succeeded, so I went to start the truck to move it into position for the load out. But the battery was dead. So the bouncers saved the day again by getting a truck over to boost ours, and a few minutes later everything made sense and we were able to head back to our pads on the lake for one more night, definitely needing to unwind a little bit.

Sam Roberts Day 3, Bala, ON

Today started off with a bit of a bonus. We weren't supposed to have the 2 bed roadhouse with our cottages. We were supposed to have a much nicer 4 bedroom cottage up the hill, which I promptly moved into and secured as soon as I found out. Another great thing that happened was that I discovered a decent coffee shop, so I made my way into town first thing for some espresso. I never thought I'd have that luxury out in the middle of nowhere...

Tonight was the first of two shows at the Kee To Bala, pretty much a big boathouse on the water where 900 of your closest friends can enjoy some loud rock music. The guys play 2 nights at the end of every summer and it's become an annual event, a pretty big deal in the area. The crowd loved every second of it.

When it was all said and done, it was a good show, lots of hangout time afterwards before heading back to our cottages to enjoy what was left of the night. The beauty of having the 3 cottages now is that we could designate one of them as the party cottage, so for the next couple nights we can make all the noise we like without disturbing any neighbours.

Sam Roberts Day 2, Muskoka, ON

Today was one of the weirdest shows I've done, but at the same time it was pretty cool. The band got booked to play a private birthday party for the son of one of Paul Coffey's best friends. Sam being a massive hockey freak with a man-crush on Paul Coffey, couldn't say no to the gig.

So we show up at a cottage after a relatively short drive, made our way through the winding dirt roads and everything... It was a small, brown, nice looking cottage with a small boathouse. We started looking around, didn't see anyone, so I called to find out if we were actually at the right place, because the address and directions brought us right to this door. Turns out we were supposed to be next door. At the big, monstrously huge, beautiful "cottage" that looked more like an estate. It had a boathouse too, and even a 2nd one. The boathouse alone was nicer than just about every house I've ever been in...

After absorbing our incredible surroundings, we got to work, set up the band on the back patio, did a quick soundcheck and enjoyed the boathouse sundeck, right on the water, maximum relaxation. We still can't believe that this is their cottage.

The hosts were great, made sure we had plenty to eat and drink, the caterers took really good care of us, and the show itself was kind of cool. Not very often that you get a group of people pretty much on "stage" with the band.

We spent a bit of time there after the show enjoying everything the "cottage" had to offer before heading back to the cottages we were staying at, which were slightly north in Bala, and though very nice, not quite comparable to what we saw today. We only had 2 four bedroom cottages and a 2 bed roadhouse...

Sam Roberts Day 1

So today I began life as a tour manager. I got the tourbooks, a portable printer, laminates, added minutes to my phone plan, I'm set to go. Today was a smooth entry, just had to make my way to Toronto to meet up with the guys and tomorrow morning we hit the road in the classic van and truck combo. I ended up spending the night in the hotel room going over details one more time to make sure everything was covered, kind of a classic tour manager evening...