The Stills in Western Canada (May 6-20, 2009)
Day 1, To Vancouver, May 6/09
I left my place at 10am today for a 12:45pm flight. Even in NY traffic I figured I should be fine, but after only going about 30 blocks in an hour, I had a slight feeling of worry brewing... Serves me right for booking a flight out of Newark. Never again. It took 1h45m to get to the airport. Absolutely ridiculous. At least I made it I guess...
And then the flight was delayed a little while, not big deal, waited it out. Eventually got on and had an uneventful flight to Chicago. Once in Chicago, I had a 90 min stopover, so I figured the best thing for me to do is use the lounge (I love lounge access). So I find it and stop outside the door to find my Star Alliance card before going in and there's this guy near the entrance obviously trying to hook up to the free internet they have inside the lounge. While I'm getting my card out, I look at him for a split second and he just happens to look right up at me, and it turns out it's one of the guys I toured with about a year ago with Morcheeba. More ironic is that we'd been emailing each other recently to try and figure out when we'd cross paths again, and here we are at O'Hare, totally randomly running in to each other. Awesome. So we go inside the lounge and have a couple drinks before I had to run and catch my next flight to Vancouver. He still had a couple hours before flying out to the UK...
The flight to Van was delayed, of course, and even once we finally boarded, we sat on the runway for another hour. This tour is off to a flying start. Hahaha... ha... sorry. I slept through most of it, and most of the flight, so it was all rather painless. Once I finally did land, I met one of the guys at the airport and we headed into town to check in to our hotel. Chilled out for a bit, grabbed a bite at the hotel restaurant and then went out to meet friends at the Railway Club.
The night wasn't too long or crazy. I started to feel the time zone a little bit so I went back to the hotel before it got too late. Got lots to do tomorrow, have to keep it together a little bit anyways...
Day 2, Vancouver
Today was random supply pick up day. It started well with a trip to Wicked Cafe, which is by far the best in Vancouver, and breakfast at Templeton, which is amazing. Then our van was dropped off by a poor soul who had to drive it up from Portland, OR, leaving at 5:30am. He was a trooper though, a good man. After picking up random supplies at Home Depot, we got the trailer and we're now officially road-ready.
To celebrate, we made use of some gift certificates received at the Juno Awards back in March. They were for a restaurant downtown, for a rather large chunk of cash. There were only two of us in town at dinner, so we splurged. When the bottle of wine is $150, you know you're in for a good meal. It was a place called Diva at the Met hotel, the food was spectacular. The best tour meal I've had in Canada.
As soon as we were done, we had to head out to the airport to pick up the rest of the guys who had just flown in. Once we got back to the hotel, we went to a place a couple blocks away called Morrisey's to kill the rest of the night. We had a few friends come out, I had a couple family members make an appearance, and overall it was a good, laid back evening. Again, not a late one. Tomorrow is the first show, also the biggest, and it's going to be a long day...
Day 3 Vancouver
When you have a day that starts well and you have the opportunity to duplicate it, you just have to go with it so that's what we did. Wicked Cafe first thing, followed by breakfast at Templeton and all made sense. I went back to the hotel to do a little work after, spent some time in the hotel gym. I was foolish enough to try some new leg exercises that burnt out all the muscles, so for the rest of the day just standing and walking was rather uncomfortable and pretty annoying...
Anyways, before we know it, it was time to head to the Commodore. It's a great venue and a great way to start a tour. We took our time getting everything settled during soundcheck. First day, so we had to piece it together a little bit. We had dinner at the club, the catering is top notch there, and show time just came up without us even noticing.
It was a packed house and it made for a really cool show. The crowds are getting more "interesting", let's say, with the recent radio success and Juno wins. People that normally wouldn't come to a Stills show. It takes them a couple songs to figure it out, but it all comes together at the end. The mutants are getting it.
After the show I had a brief minute to say hi to a couple friends and family, but I had paperwork to catch up on and money to count. By the time I actually got out it was close to 1:30am, worked at the hotel til about 3am, then crashed. I started passing out on my laptop, so that was the sign. Have to get up early tomorrow to make sure we can get coffee before catching the ferry to Victoria...
Day 4, Victoria
An early start to the day... Well, not too bad... 10am, but after a long day and late night, it felt like 7am. So we went to the only place we knew could help. The Wicked Cafe. Sick. One last visit before we leave the neighbourhood. Over the last 3 days, we filled two "buy 10 get 1 free" cards. Insanity.
So with caffeine in our systems, we hit the road and hopped on the ferry. It's pretty nice as far as ferries go, better than the UK ones anyways. Painless ride, and in no time we were at the hotel killing a bit of time before soundcheck. Oddly enough, we were able to watch hockey at 4pm. That's a little weird, seeing Hockey Night in Canada in the afternoon like that, but we'll take it.
Soundcheck went by pretty quickly, had a quick rider sandwich and the show crept up... It was pretty decent tonight, Sugar is pretty good as far as dirty rock clubs go, staff was cool, crowd was good.
After it was all over we went back to the bar at the hotel, which was called Big Bad John's. It didn't have much going in its favour aside from the fact that it was open, so we sat in the corner with a couple friends til they shut it down. That wasn't too long since we got there so late. At least it was something.
Day 5, to Calgary
Today is the classic Canadian drive day. We left the hotel at 9:30am to catch a ferry back to the mainland. That was a little painful, as any early morning can be. Maybe this one more so as there was no coffee to be had... While we were waiting we all took a couple minutes to phone home for Mother's Day.
We made it across to the mainland, and it wasn't long before we stopped in Chilliwack for Starbucks and food. After that we just kept on trucking. It's a long one, expecting 14hrs by the end of it. The other highlight was stopping for dinner in Revelstoke at a family restaurant where we claimed to be traveling doctors. I don't think they believed us. It was a short break, still have 400km to go and it was past 10pm by the time we got out... We pulled in late, tired and crashed instantly.
Day 6, Calgary
Today started slowly. We all slept in as late as we could and had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. Before long it was time to head over to The Den to load in and soundcheck. It was a pretty standard day, no drama.
It was a good show tonight. The western kids like the rock concerts. They packed the place and it was hot, sweaty, loud, etc... Everything you need for a good show. Once everything was wrapped for the night I just went back to the hotel to try and get some sleep. It's not painfully early tomorrow, but early enough that I want to get some sleep.
Day 7, Edmonton
We left Calgary around 11am and made the classic Canadian roadside Tim Horton's stop on the way out of town. We made good time to Edmonton and stopped to ditch 3 of the guys at a radio station before heading to the hotel to chill out for a bit before going to the venue. I took this time to run a couple blocks over to Three Bananas, my Edmonton coffee shop, to properly caffeinate, and then I ran back to the hotel *in a snowstorm* to hop in the van and head over to the Starlite. By the way, I'm really not cool with the snow halfway through May. This is brutal.
The Starlite is actually a pretty good place. The PA could use a light upgrade, but it's got a cool vibe and good people. The show tonight was pretty full and everyone had a blast. Really good night. I had a little bit of drama at the end trying to work out some missing merch money, but everyone was cool about it, there was no wrongdoing (probably just a counting error), but by the time it was all wrapped up, I only got out around 2am. That's a little long, so I skipped the afterparty and went straight back to the hotel to crash. At least tomorrow is easy, just have to drive to Saskatoon for a day off.
Day 8, Saskatoon
To get ready for the long drive, the first thing I did was go to Three Bananas for coffee and breakfast. Had a cool talk with the baristas, got another one to go and went back to the hotel to meet everyone and start up. No one else had eaten yet, so we went back to the coffee shop, got some gas and hit the road. The prairies make for long drives. Nothing to see, nothing to do, you just spend the whole day waiting. At least in other parts of the country there's things to look at. We saw some bison at one point. That was a highlight.
When we got to Saskatoon I went straight to the hotel gym. It had been a few days since I've had the chance to do that, so I was on it right away. I stayed in for dinner, and later on in the evening 5 of us met up to go see a movie. We picked Wolverine, which was sort of a mistake. It was pretty bad. Should've gone for Star Trek... Next time I guess.
After the movie, 3 of us stopped at a pub on the way back for a couple pints to relax on the night off and that pretty much wrapped it up.
Day 9, Saskatoon
I took the opportunity to sleep in again today. Tour managing takes a lot of extra time and an extra toll on you and you have to catch up when you can. And this is a small tour. Part of the problem is spending most of each day driving in a van; it's a lot easier in a bus when you can work all day while driving...
Anyways. Started by meeting a few of the guys for breakfast downstairs, then I ran out to the mall down the street. In the snow. Again. When I woke up this morning and looked outside I couldn't believe it. The ground was coated in snow, and now I'm running down the street in it and it's cold and I hate it. Send me back to Australia. I at least went to Starbucks for coffee and was able to find a Shoppers Drug Mart for some toiletries. Then I ran back to the hotel through the snow. Damn it.
Before we went to Louis' Pub, I spent some time at the gym yet again. Gotta do it whenever it's possible... Then we all went over to the club for the afternoon soundcheck. Louis' is a decent place at least. I've been there a bunch of times and I know what to expect, and it's actually ok. I don't mind going there at all. Another good show tonight, which included a crazy fan screaming for a song the guys haven't played in about 5 years. Made for some interesting banter back and forth. I got a kick out of it anyways. My personal highlight was when I walked backstage after the show, a couple Vern's Pizza's were sitting on the counter waiting for us. I love it. It's a really good pie if you're looking for a heart attack, and they only have it out west so I had to make sure I had some before we left.
That pretty much wrapped up the night. Didn't seem like there was a whole lot happening, so I just spent some time doing some paperwork and crashed.
Day 10, Regina
Ah, Regina. Rarely do I find a place on earth more magically, majestically, magnificently, monumentally and completely messed up. I hate this town. It's really no wonder why nobody ever stops here on tour, except us, of course...
At least our day started properly. Last time we were in Saskatoon, we spent an hour trying to locate a coffee shop that turned out to be in a museum lobby, and once we finally found it, it was incredible. This time, with knowledge on our side, we went straight there when we woke up and spent a leisurely couple of hours enjoying various coffees and food. It was great. And then we began our trek to hell.
The drive itself wasn't bad, got in to town, ditched a couple of the guys at a radio station to do an interview (which we later listened to on-air, and they called the city "The Gina", amazing) and checked in to the hotel. We made a quick turnaround and headed back up to the club for load-in. Usually while the gear is getting loaded in, I take a couple minutes to meet the promoter, go over details for the day, get the rider set up, etc... On this particular occasion, said promoter couldn't wait to get out the door. Shook my hand, showed me the dressing room and left. Apparently he had a family event and would return later in the evening...
So that's the kind of day it's gonna be. Welcome to the Gina. So we go through the motions, get everything ready to go. I had to harass the bar manager a few times to get things the promoter should've been there for, but it sort of worked itself out. So we left and went for dinner. Just down the street from the aptly named "The Drink", there was a beer hall-type place called "Bushwakkers" that was recommended, so we checked it out. There was nothing else around, so it was really the only choice... And I can't believe it, but it was actually really good, and their microbrews were great. I finally found a glimmer of hope for this place after coming here and hating it countless times.
So back to the club after dinner, 10pm approaches and the opening act is supposed to go on. To their credit, they're ready and waiting, and they've been awesome the whole tour so far. Unfortunately, there was no staff/techs to get the show started. Apparently my set times never got from the promoter to the club. This is one of those times when it's nice to have the promoter actually present at the gig. Minor details, right? So we wait 30 mins, and eventually they all show up and we get the show going, all is good.
Along comes changeover, we get set for our set, I go to the console to start the show and lo and behold, a promoter appears. Drunk as hell. And starts trying to do lights. This is brilliant. Fortunately he just doesn't have it in him to pay attention for more than 2 songs, and a few minutes later I see him in the corner of the bar with his buddies trying to punch out a mechanical punching bag. At least he's not in my way... Other than that, the show goes pretty well, the kids love it, guys play great, show ends, we pack up to start heading back to the hotel because we have a painfully early day tomorrow.
After the guys are settled I track down the man of the day to try and get paid. He walks me back to the office raving about how amazing the show was, sits down in his chair and gets the "paperwork" ready. I take a look, tell him how much he owes me and he goes to the safe to get the money. Except he can't open it. He tried maybe a dozen times while staring at the combination on his phone and just couldn't get it to open. So he finally calls in the bar manager who, thankfully, is sober enough to get the job done. I grab the cash and get the hell out. I'm done with this guy, don't need to see him again. I go upstairs, grab my bags, round up the troops and we head outside to the van to leave, only to find our poor guitar tech all alone surrounded by roadcases. Apparently the loaders decided it was enough to just get the cases out the door and they didn't feel like packing the trailer. Amazing. So we all help getting things together and a few minutes later we're on the road back to the hotel. Finally. At least the hotel was nice...
Day 11, Winnipeg
Tonight is the final show of the tour, and probably the longest day. We got up to leave the Gina at 9am and it hurt. The bonus was that we were getting the hell out. It'll be too soon if I ever get back to this dump. And so we drive for hours, the lovely flatness of the prairies entertaining us the entire way.
We actually got in a little earlier than we had planned, so we stopped by the hotel. We were a little apprehensive about this one, Place Louis-Riel. It has a reputation of being a dump in a bad part of town, but the manager recently got in touch with me full of promises about renovations, etc... and gave me a rate I just couldn't say no to, so I took the rooms thinking worst case, it's only one night. We pull up, get out of the van, go inside and the lobby is actually pretty nice. Ok, score one for them. Get the keys, which incidentally was the easiest check-in ever, and go up to our rooms. We open the door and are blown away. It's incredible. It's furnished with new leather couches, chairs, a full kitchen, new beds, etc, etc... It's better than most apartments any of us have lived in. Awesome. It's going to be ok after all. After relaxing for a bit, we dragged ourselves up to go load-in.
The Pyramid Cabaret is a dirty old rock club, but it has vibe and the people there are pretty nice. And the promoter is a pro, which was very welcome after last night in hell. The evening went really smoothly, we got doors open just a little late and then a few of us went for dinner a few blocks away at a place called MonDragon. They made great vegetarian food that satisfied even the pickiest carnivores among us, ie. me. I stopped for a coffee on the way back to the club, and then, finding that I was a little ahead of schedule, went back to the hotel for a bit to enjoy the great living room I had.
After my little break in the evening, I went back to the club to see that all was running on schedule. Nice. The show was really good, really good crowd too. The tour has officially ended on a high note. After the show, we have a painless load out (what a difference a day makes) and we go back to our amazing hotel suites. We picked one of them, packed it with all our leftover beer and drinks and invited the opening act over for an end-of-tour party. Great people in that band, we had a really good night, said our goodbyes and crashed. Some of our guys are flying home tomorrow, but 3 of us are cursed with the drive back to Montreal...
Day 12, to Thunder Bay
With some sadness, we pulled ourselves away from our amazing rooms, hopped in the van and prepared for the 3 day drive we were undertaking. We started by stopping for food and coffee at what was supposed to be a real coffee shop, but it was sort of mediocre, oh well... Then we tried to get an oil change but couldn't find the Canadian Tire, so we hit the road and drove to Thunder Bay. And that's how we spent our day. The highlight was a stop in Kenora where there was an old school chip stand where we got great fries. And then we ended up in Thunder Bay.
We tried to go out for wings and beer when we got in and were directed to the most depressing "bar" we'd ever been to. We walked in and there was smoke from the kitchen filling the place and about a dozen locals sitting around drinking Blue Light as though nothing was wrong. Wow. We got the hell out and thankfully found a Pizza Pizza that was still open for another 20 mins. That's a pretty major score for Thunder Bay...
Day 13, to Sudbury
We knew there would be no indie coffee shops here, but we were holding out hope for a Starbucks. Eventually, after driving through a marathon (that was popular), we eventually ended up at a Chapters with a Starbucks in it, only to discover that it was closed because it was a civic holiday. Damn Queen's birthday. So we went across the street for yet another Tim Hortons. This trend is getting a little painful...
And so we drive to Sudbury. Nothing exciting today, but at least our phones started working again. There's kind of a vortex in Northern Ontario where no phones work unless you're on the Thunder Bay Mobility network. Like that's convenient...
When we got in to Sudbury we tried to go out again for food, but this time we were successful. There was a pub less than a block away and it was wing night. Amazing. So we sit down, get a couple pints and wait for our 4 lbs of wings to show up. And they were good. We sat for a bit and watched hockey highlights. Then the bar closed and we crashed.
Day 14, to Montreal
Today was an early one. The guys just wanted to get home and they could smell it. So we hit a Tim Hortons and hit the road. Today's highlight was a brief 10min stop at my parents place when we went through Ottawa. It was a sort of bizarre, kamikaze-like mission. Stopped in front, ran in, said hi, talked for a couple minutes, grabbed mail and ran. Next time I'll have to stay a little longer. We did have to get to Montreal though... Time was moving quickly and we had to unload gear and ditch the trailer by 5pm.
We got all that fun stuff done and by 6pm or so I was in my hotel relaxing for a bit. I went back out again a little later on to watch the hockey game at Pistol with a couple of the guys, and then we headed over to Rockettes for what's supposed to be crazy Tuesdays, but it was really a more low key vibe. Either way, we knew everybody there so it ended up being a good time. We didn't even notice it was 4am when we left, and on the way back to the hotel, we stopped for pizza and called it. Tomorrow I drive to New York, sit there for a couple days, then back to Montreal for another week of good times, rock n roll.
I left my place at 10am today for a 12:45pm flight. Even in NY traffic I figured I should be fine, but after only going about 30 blocks in an hour, I had a slight feeling of worry brewing... Serves me right for booking a flight out of Newark. Never again. It took 1h45m to get to the airport. Absolutely ridiculous. At least I made it I guess...
And then the flight was delayed a little while, not big deal, waited it out. Eventually got on and had an uneventful flight to Chicago. Once in Chicago, I had a 90 min stopover, so I figured the best thing for me to do is use the lounge (I love lounge access). So I find it and stop outside the door to find my Star Alliance card before going in and there's this guy near the entrance obviously trying to hook up to the free internet they have inside the lounge. While I'm getting my card out, I look at him for a split second and he just happens to look right up at me, and it turns out it's one of the guys I toured with about a year ago with Morcheeba. More ironic is that we'd been emailing each other recently to try and figure out when we'd cross paths again, and here we are at O'Hare, totally randomly running in to each other. Awesome. So we go inside the lounge and have a couple drinks before I had to run and catch my next flight to Vancouver. He still had a couple hours before flying out to the UK...
The flight to Van was delayed, of course, and even once we finally boarded, we sat on the runway for another hour. This tour is off to a flying start. Hahaha... ha... sorry. I slept through most of it, and most of the flight, so it was all rather painless. Once I finally did land, I met one of the guys at the airport and we headed into town to check in to our hotel. Chilled out for a bit, grabbed a bite at the hotel restaurant and then went out to meet friends at the Railway Club.
The night wasn't too long or crazy. I started to feel the time zone a little bit so I went back to the hotel before it got too late. Got lots to do tomorrow, have to keep it together a little bit anyways...
Day 2, Vancouver
Today was random supply pick up day. It started well with a trip to Wicked Cafe, which is by far the best in Vancouver, and breakfast at Templeton, which is amazing. Then our van was dropped off by a poor soul who had to drive it up from Portland, OR, leaving at 5:30am. He was a trooper though, a good man. After picking up random supplies at Home Depot, we got the trailer and we're now officially road-ready.
To celebrate, we made use of some gift certificates received at the Juno Awards back in March. They were for a restaurant downtown, for a rather large chunk of cash. There were only two of us in town at dinner, so we splurged. When the bottle of wine is $150, you know you're in for a good meal. It was a place called Diva at the Met hotel, the food was spectacular. The best tour meal I've had in Canada.
As soon as we were done, we had to head out to the airport to pick up the rest of the guys who had just flown in. Once we got back to the hotel, we went to a place a couple blocks away called Morrisey's to kill the rest of the night. We had a few friends come out, I had a couple family members make an appearance, and overall it was a good, laid back evening. Again, not a late one. Tomorrow is the first show, also the biggest, and it's going to be a long day...
Day 3 Vancouver
When you have a day that starts well and you have the opportunity to duplicate it, you just have to go with it so that's what we did. Wicked Cafe first thing, followed by breakfast at Templeton and all made sense. I went back to the hotel to do a little work after, spent some time in the hotel gym. I was foolish enough to try some new leg exercises that burnt out all the muscles, so for the rest of the day just standing and walking was rather uncomfortable and pretty annoying...
Anyways, before we know it, it was time to head to the Commodore. It's a great venue and a great way to start a tour. We took our time getting everything settled during soundcheck. First day, so we had to piece it together a little bit. We had dinner at the club, the catering is top notch there, and show time just came up without us even noticing.
It was a packed house and it made for a really cool show. The crowds are getting more "interesting", let's say, with the recent radio success and Juno wins. People that normally wouldn't come to a Stills show. It takes them a couple songs to figure it out, but it all comes together at the end. The mutants are getting it.
After the show I had a brief minute to say hi to a couple friends and family, but I had paperwork to catch up on and money to count. By the time I actually got out it was close to 1:30am, worked at the hotel til about 3am, then crashed. I started passing out on my laptop, so that was the sign. Have to get up early tomorrow to make sure we can get coffee before catching the ferry to Victoria...
Day 4, Victoria
An early start to the day... Well, not too bad... 10am, but after a long day and late night, it felt like 7am. So we went to the only place we knew could help. The Wicked Cafe. Sick. One last visit before we leave the neighbourhood. Over the last 3 days, we filled two "buy 10 get 1 free" cards. Insanity.
So with caffeine in our systems, we hit the road and hopped on the ferry. It's pretty nice as far as ferries go, better than the UK ones anyways. Painless ride, and in no time we were at the hotel killing a bit of time before soundcheck. Oddly enough, we were able to watch hockey at 4pm. That's a little weird, seeing Hockey Night in Canada in the afternoon like that, but we'll take it.
Soundcheck went by pretty quickly, had a quick rider sandwich and the show crept up... It was pretty decent tonight, Sugar is pretty good as far as dirty rock clubs go, staff was cool, crowd was good.
After it was all over we went back to the bar at the hotel, which was called Big Bad John's. It didn't have much going in its favour aside from the fact that it was open, so we sat in the corner with a couple friends til they shut it down. That wasn't too long since we got there so late. At least it was something.
Day 5, to Calgary
Today is the classic Canadian drive day. We left the hotel at 9:30am to catch a ferry back to the mainland. That was a little painful, as any early morning can be. Maybe this one more so as there was no coffee to be had... While we were waiting we all took a couple minutes to phone home for Mother's Day.
We made it across to the mainland, and it wasn't long before we stopped in Chilliwack for Starbucks and food. After that we just kept on trucking. It's a long one, expecting 14hrs by the end of it. The other highlight was stopping for dinner in Revelstoke at a family restaurant where we claimed to be traveling doctors. I don't think they believed us. It was a short break, still have 400km to go and it was past 10pm by the time we got out... We pulled in late, tired and crashed instantly.
Day 6, Calgary
Today started slowly. We all slept in as late as we could and had a leisurely breakfast at the hotel. Before long it was time to head over to The Den to load in and soundcheck. It was a pretty standard day, no drama.
It was a good show tonight. The western kids like the rock concerts. They packed the place and it was hot, sweaty, loud, etc... Everything you need for a good show. Once everything was wrapped for the night I just went back to the hotel to try and get some sleep. It's not painfully early tomorrow, but early enough that I want to get some sleep.
Day 7, Edmonton
We left Calgary around 11am and made the classic Canadian roadside Tim Horton's stop on the way out of town. We made good time to Edmonton and stopped to ditch 3 of the guys at a radio station before heading to the hotel to chill out for a bit before going to the venue. I took this time to run a couple blocks over to Three Bananas, my Edmonton coffee shop, to properly caffeinate, and then I ran back to the hotel *in a snowstorm* to hop in the van and head over to the Starlite. By the way, I'm really not cool with the snow halfway through May. This is brutal.
The Starlite is actually a pretty good place. The PA could use a light upgrade, but it's got a cool vibe and good people. The show tonight was pretty full and everyone had a blast. Really good night. I had a little bit of drama at the end trying to work out some missing merch money, but everyone was cool about it, there was no wrongdoing (probably just a counting error), but by the time it was all wrapped up, I only got out around 2am. That's a little long, so I skipped the afterparty and went straight back to the hotel to crash. At least tomorrow is easy, just have to drive to Saskatoon for a day off.
Day 8, Saskatoon
To get ready for the long drive, the first thing I did was go to Three Bananas for coffee and breakfast. Had a cool talk with the baristas, got another one to go and went back to the hotel to meet everyone and start up. No one else had eaten yet, so we went back to the coffee shop, got some gas and hit the road. The prairies make for long drives. Nothing to see, nothing to do, you just spend the whole day waiting. At least in other parts of the country there's things to look at. We saw some bison at one point. That was a highlight.
When we got to Saskatoon I went straight to the hotel gym. It had been a few days since I've had the chance to do that, so I was on it right away. I stayed in for dinner, and later on in the evening 5 of us met up to go see a movie. We picked Wolverine, which was sort of a mistake. It was pretty bad. Should've gone for Star Trek... Next time I guess.
After the movie, 3 of us stopped at a pub on the way back for a couple pints to relax on the night off and that pretty much wrapped it up.
Day 9, Saskatoon
I took the opportunity to sleep in again today. Tour managing takes a lot of extra time and an extra toll on you and you have to catch up when you can. And this is a small tour. Part of the problem is spending most of each day driving in a van; it's a lot easier in a bus when you can work all day while driving...
Anyways. Started by meeting a few of the guys for breakfast downstairs, then I ran out to the mall down the street. In the snow. Again. When I woke up this morning and looked outside I couldn't believe it. The ground was coated in snow, and now I'm running down the street in it and it's cold and I hate it. Send me back to Australia. I at least went to Starbucks for coffee and was able to find a Shoppers Drug Mart for some toiletries. Then I ran back to the hotel through the snow. Damn it.
Before we went to Louis' Pub, I spent some time at the gym yet again. Gotta do it whenever it's possible... Then we all went over to the club for the afternoon soundcheck. Louis' is a decent place at least. I've been there a bunch of times and I know what to expect, and it's actually ok. I don't mind going there at all. Another good show tonight, which included a crazy fan screaming for a song the guys haven't played in about 5 years. Made for some interesting banter back and forth. I got a kick out of it anyways. My personal highlight was when I walked backstage after the show, a couple Vern's Pizza's were sitting on the counter waiting for us. I love it. It's a really good pie if you're looking for a heart attack, and they only have it out west so I had to make sure I had some before we left.
That pretty much wrapped up the night. Didn't seem like there was a whole lot happening, so I just spent some time doing some paperwork and crashed.
Day 10, Regina
Ah, Regina. Rarely do I find a place on earth more magically, majestically, magnificently, monumentally and completely messed up. I hate this town. It's really no wonder why nobody ever stops here on tour, except us, of course...
At least our day started properly. Last time we were in Saskatoon, we spent an hour trying to locate a coffee shop that turned out to be in a museum lobby, and once we finally found it, it was incredible. This time, with knowledge on our side, we went straight there when we woke up and spent a leisurely couple of hours enjoying various coffees and food. It was great. And then we began our trek to hell.
The drive itself wasn't bad, got in to town, ditched a couple of the guys at a radio station to do an interview (which we later listened to on-air, and they called the city "The Gina", amazing) and checked in to the hotel. We made a quick turnaround and headed back up to the club for load-in. Usually while the gear is getting loaded in, I take a couple minutes to meet the promoter, go over details for the day, get the rider set up, etc... On this particular occasion, said promoter couldn't wait to get out the door. Shook my hand, showed me the dressing room and left. Apparently he had a family event and would return later in the evening...
So that's the kind of day it's gonna be. Welcome to the Gina. So we go through the motions, get everything ready to go. I had to harass the bar manager a few times to get things the promoter should've been there for, but it sort of worked itself out. So we left and went for dinner. Just down the street from the aptly named "The Drink", there was a beer hall-type place called "Bushwakkers" that was recommended, so we checked it out. There was nothing else around, so it was really the only choice... And I can't believe it, but it was actually really good, and their microbrews were great. I finally found a glimmer of hope for this place after coming here and hating it countless times.
So back to the club after dinner, 10pm approaches and the opening act is supposed to go on. To their credit, they're ready and waiting, and they've been awesome the whole tour so far. Unfortunately, there was no staff/techs to get the show started. Apparently my set times never got from the promoter to the club. This is one of those times when it's nice to have the promoter actually present at the gig. Minor details, right? So we wait 30 mins, and eventually they all show up and we get the show going, all is good.
Along comes changeover, we get set for our set, I go to the console to start the show and lo and behold, a promoter appears. Drunk as hell. And starts trying to do lights. This is brilliant. Fortunately he just doesn't have it in him to pay attention for more than 2 songs, and a few minutes later I see him in the corner of the bar with his buddies trying to punch out a mechanical punching bag. At least he's not in my way... Other than that, the show goes pretty well, the kids love it, guys play great, show ends, we pack up to start heading back to the hotel because we have a painfully early day tomorrow.
After the guys are settled I track down the man of the day to try and get paid. He walks me back to the office raving about how amazing the show was, sits down in his chair and gets the "paperwork" ready. I take a look, tell him how much he owes me and he goes to the safe to get the money. Except he can't open it. He tried maybe a dozen times while staring at the combination on his phone and just couldn't get it to open. So he finally calls in the bar manager who, thankfully, is sober enough to get the job done. I grab the cash and get the hell out. I'm done with this guy, don't need to see him again. I go upstairs, grab my bags, round up the troops and we head outside to the van to leave, only to find our poor guitar tech all alone surrounded by roadcases. Apparently the loaders decided it was enough to just get the cases out the door and they didn't feel like packing the trailer. Amazing. So we all help getting things together and a few minutes later we're on the road back to the hotel. Finally. At least the hotel was nice...
Day 11, Winnipeg
Tonight is the final show of the tour, and probably the longest day. We got up to leave the Gina at 9am and it hurt. The bonus was that we were getting the hell out. It'll be too soon if I ever get back to this dump. And so we drive for hours, the lovely flatness of the prairies entertaining us the entire way.
We actually got in a little earlier than we had planned, so we stopped by the hotel. We were a little apprehensive about this one, Place Louis-Riel. It has a reputation of being a dump in a bad part of town, but the manager recently got in touch with me full of promises about renovations, etc... and gave me a rate I just couldn't say no to, so I took the rooms thinking worst case, it's only one night. We pull up, get out of the van, go inside and the lobby is actually pretty nice. Ok, score one for them. Get the keys, which incidentally was the easiest check-in ever, and go up to our rooms. We open the door and are blown away. It's incredible. It's furnished with new leather couches, chairs, a full kitchen, new beds, etc, etc... It's better than most apartments any of us have lived in. Awesome. It's going to be ok after all. After relaxing for a bit, we dragged ourselves up to go load-in.
The Pyramid Cabaret is a dirty old rock club, but it has vibe and the people there are pretty nice. And the promoter is a pro, which was very welcome after last night in hell. The evening went really smoothly, we got doors open just a little late and then a few of us went for dinner a few blocks away at a place called MonDragon. They made great vegetarian food that satisfied even the pickiest carnivores among us, ie. me. I stopped for a coffee on the way back to the club, and then, finding that I was a little ahead of schedule, went back to the hotel for a bit to enjoy the great living room I had.
After my little break in the evening, I went back to the club to see that all was running on schedule. Nice. The show was really good, really good crowd too. The tour has officially ended on a high note. After the show, we have a painless load out (what a difference a day makes) and we go back to our amazing hotel suites. We picked one of them, packed it with all our leftover beer and drinks and invited the opening act over for an end-of-tour party. Great people in that band, we had a really good night, said our goodbyes and crashed. Some of our guys are flying home tomorrow, but 3 of us are cursed with the drive back to Montreal...
Day 12, to Thunder Bay
With some sadness, we pulled ourselves away from our amazing rooms, hopped in the van and prepared for the 3 day drive we were undertaking. We started by stopping for food and coffee at what was supposed to be a real coffee shop, but it was sort of mediocre, oh well... Then we tried to get an oil change but couldn't find the Canadian Tire, so we hit the road and drove to Thunder Bay. And that's how we spent our day. The highlight was a stop in Kenora where there was an old school chip stand where we got great fries. And then we ended up in Thunder Bay.
We tried to go out for wings and beer when we got in and were directed to the most depressing "bar" we'd ever been to. We walked in and there was smoke from the kitchen filling the place and about a dozen locals sitting around drinking Blue Light as though nothing was wrong. Wow. We got the hell out and thankfully found a Pizza Pizza that was still open for another 20 mins. That's a pretty major score for Thunder Bay...
Day 13, to Sudbury
We knew there would be no indie coffee shops here, but we were holding out hope for a Starbucks. Eventually, after driving through a marathon (that was popular), we eventually ended up at a Chapters with a Starbucks in it, only to discover that it was closed because it was a civic holiday. Damn Queen's birthday. So we went across the street for yet another Tim Hortons. This trend is getting a little painful...
And so we drive to Sudbury. Nothing exciting today, but at least our phones started working again. There's kind of a vortex in Northern Ontario where no phones work unless you're on the Thunder Bay Mobility network. Like that's convenient...
When we got in to Sudbury we tried to go out again for food, but this time we were successful. There was a pub less than a block away and it was wing night. Amazing. So we sit down, get a couple pints and wait for our 4 lbs of wings to show up. And they were good. We sat for a bit and watched hockey highlights. Then the bar closed and we crashed.
Day 14, to Montreal
Today was an early one. The guys just wanted to get home and they could smell it. So we hit a Tim Hortons and hit the road. Today's highlight was a brief 10min stop at my parents place when we went through Ottawa. It was a sort of bizarre, kamikaze-like mission. Stopped in front, ran in, said hi, talked for a couple minutes, grabbed mail and ran. Next time I'll have to stay a little longer. We did have to get to Montreal though... Time was moving quickly and we had to unload gear and ditch the trailer by 5pm.
We got all that fun stuff done and by 6pm or so I was in my hotel relaxing for a bit. I went back out again a little later on to watch the hockey game at Pistol with a couple of the guys, and then we headed over to Rockettes for what's supposed to be crazy Tuesdays, but it was really a more low key vibe. Either way, we knew everybody there so it ended up being a good time. We didn't even notice it was 4am when we left, and on the way back to the hotel, we stopped for pizza and called it. Tomorrow I drive to New York, sit there for a couple days, then back to Montreal for another week of good times, rock n roll.
posted by t. at 1:51 AM
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