Chromeo Festivals, Sept. 9-14, 2009
Chromeo Day 1, to Quebec City, QC
I knew going in to it that today was going to be a long one. It started with an early flight to Montreal, then a trip to pick up a van, then a trailer, then some rental gear, etc, etc… til the van and trailer were full around 7pm. Then we decided it was time for some pizza before we hit the road. Then, once on the road, we made the mandatory Tim Horton's stop and eventually kept on going to Quebec City. When we got it, we went to a classic poutine joint and that pretty much wrapped up the day. Nothing overly exciting, but it just took time…
Day 2, Quebec City, QC
Another day, another festival. Envol et MacAdam today, we're headlining, so it should be ok for us. We went over around 11:30am to load in and do a quick soundcheck and it was all pretty painless. Nice and smooth. What to do with an afternoon off?
Well, on an amazing sunny day in old Quebec, a patio seems like a great idea, so we all met up and went with that. Definitely the right decision. Great day to sit outside and we had time to relax. We casually walked back to the hotel after eating, I stopped by an SAQ (liquor store) and found a nice bottle of wine… It was nice to have some time.
We eventually regrouped and went back to the festival. It was moving along, right on time. It was a pretty good festival for us. The show went really well, some lyrics were switched to French and everyone was happy. After we were done, we went across the street to the poutine place again and finished off the night in style. Not too bad at all…
Day 3, Montreal, QC
We had to get up early today. First step was drop a couple guys at the airport for an early flight, then we drove back to Montreal to drop the gear, the van, the trailer, etc… By the time it was all said and done, it was close to 5pm. On my way to the hotel, I swung through the Plateau, got a coffee and just walked back to the hotel. Nice afternoon for a walk.
I kept things pretty light for the evening, as tomorrow is going to be another long one, but that was a good thing. I got a call late in the evening that one of the roadcases was lost by an airline this morning, so I had to go to one of the guys' places, meet his sister to let me in and pick up some spare gear. It was late, but at least it was painless… After that I went to crash fairly quickly. 5am comes early.
Day 4, Denver, CO
I thought I had long days until now. Got up at 5am, head to the airport for my 7:45am flight. When I got there, the US Airways check in guy refused to check me in for my flight! Unreal! He moved me to a later flight at 1:25pm! That meant I had 6hrs to wait in the airport. I fought over it but nothing gave, no love. Another reminder of why I hate US Airways. They're the worst. So I had enough, I just got in line and waited to drop my bags, go through customs, go through security. A whopping 3hrs later, I was finally relaxing in the Air Canada lounge, which I had all to myself for another 3 hrs after that…
This is painful already. At least since no one was in the lounge, I was able to sleep for a bit. That was nice. By the time people started coming in, it was time for me to go catch my flight. And lo and behold, while sitting at the gate, I saw my old friend Brad Albetta and his wife Martha Wainwright down the hall, so I went and spent some time with my touring friends from a year ago. I love running into people in airports. So much fun, always have a story.
The rest of my flying day went fairly well. Planes took off, planes landed, all you can hope for really. When I got to Denver, I went straight to the Thrifty lot to pick up my rental van only to find out they had given it away! And they had all my updated travel info and everything! So I complained about that until they started calling the other companies to find me a van. Eventually the girl says "Go to Enterprise, talk to Matt. They have a van for you." So I go to Enterprise and ask for Matt and a van, and the answer is "No one named Matt here, and we have no vans." Awesome. Thrifty screwed me. At least these guys were willing to help out. After a few minutes, they found an SUV for me and a little after that I was on my way, making the 40min drive to the hotel. Just cause the day wasn't long enough. Thankfully, once I got in, one of the guys had a line on a Mexican place that was still open so we went across the street for food and drink. That pretty much killed the rest of the night.
Day 5, Morisson, CO
Another day, another festival. Again. Today is different though. Today is Red Rocks Amphitheater, one of the most legendary venues in America. It's really amazing to be here.
Everything started out well too. On a trip back to the airport to pick up someone else, we were able to stop at the Denver Art Museum for some awesome coffee at Novo. Soooo good, really what I needed after yesterday. Airport trip was a success, so back to the hotel and then to the festival site. Once we got there, we checked out our gear really quickly, made sure all was good, and it was back to the hotel for the rest of the afternoon.
The nice thing about having the afternoon off is that it was opening weekend for the NFL, and there just happened to be a sports bar showing a dozen games near the hotel. Gold has been struck, and that was the afternoon. Amazing.
Later in the evening we headed back, and even ran into a guy from the Morcheeba crew last year. Sweet deal. We had some time to kill, so we walked around the site, checked out the backstage area and generally just got our fill of red rocks until it was showtime.
Changeover and set up went really well, we were ready to go. Once the show actually started though, nothing but problems. The power distro was put in a bad spot when they set up the stage, and almost every song, somebody in the pit was unplugging power going to something onstage. I don't think it was the type of stuff that the crowd noticed at all, but I ended up spending more time on stage than in monitor world because of all the problems. Once it was over, we got out fast, rocking the load out to the Mars Volta soundtrack coming from the main stage. That was cool.
When we left the site, we all met up at the sports bar again for a night cap and a quick snack. We were all beat and had to worry about early flights, so it didn't get crazy, but it was nice to sit down with everyone. Good way to end the weekend.
I knew going in to it that today was going to be a long one. It started with an early flight to Montreal, then a trip to pick up a van, then a trailer, then some rental gear, etc, etc… til the van and trailer were full around 7pm. Then we decided it was time for some pizza before we hit the road. Then, once on the road, we made the mandatory Tim Horton's stop and eventually kept on going to Quebec City. When we got it, we went to a classic poutine joint and that pretty much wrapped up the day. Nothing overly exciting, but it just took time…
Day 2, Quebec City, QC
Another day, another festival. Envol et MacAdam today, we're headlining, so it should be ok for us. We went over around 11:30am to load in and do a quick soundcheck and it was all pretty painless. Nice and smooth. What to do with an afternoon off?
Well, on an amazing sunny day in old Quebec, a patio seems like a great idea, so we all met up and went with that. Definitely the right decision. Great day to sit outside and we had time to relax. We casually walked back to the hotel after eating, I stopped by an SAQ (liquor store) and found a nice bottle of wine… It was nice to have some time.
We eventually regrouped and went back to the festival. It was moving along, right on time. It was a pretty good festival for us. The show went really well, some lyrics were switched to French and everyone was happy. After we were done, we went across the street to the poutine place again and finished off the night in style. Not too bad at all…
Day 3, Montreal, QC
We had to get up early today. First step was drop a couple guys at the airport for an early flight, then we drove back to Montreal to drop the gear, the van, the trailer, etc… By the time it was all said and done, it was close to 5pm. On my way to the hotel, I swung through the Plateau, got a coffee and just walked back to the hotel. Nice afternoon for a walk.
I kept things pretty light for the evening, as tomorrow is going to be another long one, but that was a good thing. I got a call late in the evening that one of the roadcases was lost by an airline this morning, so I had to go to one of the guys' places, meet his sister to let me in and pick up some spare gear. It was late, but at least it was painless… After that I went to crash fairly quickly. 5am comes early.
Day 4, Denver, CO
I thought I had long days until now. Got up at 5am, head to the airport for my 7:45am flight. When I got there, the US Airways check in guy refused to check me in for my flight! Unreal! He moved me to a later flight at 1:25pm! That meant I had 6hrs to wait in the airport. I fought over it but nothing gave, no love. Another reminder of why I hate US Airways. They're the worst. So I had enough, I just got in line and waited to drop my bags, go through customs, go through security. A whopping 3hrs later, I was finally relaxing in the Air Canada lounge, which I had all to myself for another 3 hrs after that…
This is painful already. At least since no one was in the lounge, I was able to sleep for a bit. That was nice. By the time people started coming in, it was time for me to go catch my flight. And lo and behold, while sitting at the gate, I saw my old friend Brad Albetta and his wife Martha Wainwright down the hall, so I went and spent some time with my touring friends from a year ago. I love running into people in airports. So much fun, always have a story.
The rest of my flying day went fairly well. Planes took off, planes landed, all you can hope for really. When I got to Denver, I went straight to the Thrifty lot to pick up my rental van only to find out they had given it away! And they had all my updated travel info and everything! So I complained about that until they started calling the other companies to find me a van. Eventually the girl says "Go to Enterprise, talk to Matt. They have a van for you." So I go to Enterprise and ask for Matt and a van, and the answer is "No one named Matt here, and we have no vans." Awesome. Thrifty screwed me. At least these guys were willing to help out. After a few minutes, they found an SUV for me and a little after that I was on my way, making the 40min drive to the hotel. Just cause the day wasn't long enough. Thankfully, once I got in, one of the guys had a line on a Mexican place that was still open so we went across the street for food and drink. That pretty much killed the rest of the night.
Day 5, Morisson, CO
Another day, another festival. Again. Today is different though. Today is Red Rocks Amphitheater, one of the most legendary venues in America. It's really amazing to be here.
Everything started out well too. On a trip back to the airport to pick up someone else, we were able to stop at the Denver Art Museum for some awesome coffee at Novo. Soooo good, really what I needed after yesterday. Airport trip was a success, so back to the hotel and then to the festival site. Once we got there, we checked out our gear really quickly, made sure all was good, and it was back to the hotel for the rest of the afternoon.
The nice thing about having the afternoon off is that it was opening weekend for the NFL, and there just happened to be a sports bar showing a dozen games near the hotel. Gold has been struck, and that was the afternoon. Amazing.
Later in the evening we headed back, and even ran into a guy from the Morcheeba crew last year. Sweet deal. We had some time to kill, so we walked around the site, checked out the backstage area and generally just got our fill of red rocks until it was showtime.
Changeover and set up went really well, we were ready to go. Once the show actually started though, nothing but problems. The power distro was put in a bad spot when they set up the stage, and almost every song, somebody in the pit was unplugging power going to something onstage. I don't think it was the type of stuff that the crowd noticed at all, but I ended up spending more time on stage than in monitor world because of all the problems. Once it was over, we got out fast, rocking the load out to the Mars Volta soundtrack coming from the main stage. That was cool.
When we left the site, we all met up at the sports bar again for a night cap and a quick snack. We were all beat and had to worry about early flights, so it didn't get crazy, but it was nice to sit down with everyone. Good way to end the weekend.
posted by t. at 1:34 AM
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