Grizzly Bear in Europe, Aug 11-23, 2009
Grizzly Bear Day 1 & 2, to Norway
Today I start a new gig mixing monitors for Grizzly Bear. It starts with a trip to the lovely Newark airport after finishing up all the paperwork from the A-Trak tour that finished on Sunday. Getting to Newark is an adventure in the best of times, and 2hrs after walking out the door, I got dropped off at the terminal. I was flying Continental today, which means a) none of my status applies, and b) I have to get the band to fire their travel agent. After braving the guidos and the incredibly bad attitudes checking in and going through security, I finally found a small cantina-type place to sit down and have a bite to eat before my flight. One good thing though, their was one nice customer service person (probably the only one) who made my day and re-arranged some seating so I could get an exit row aisle seat. Killer.
The flight itself was uneventful, which is always a good thing. Once I landed (the next morning), it didn't take any time at all before I was through customs, security, had my bags and was in my ride to the hotel. It might have even been a record. My driver was giving me all sorts of pointers on what to check out in town. It's been some time since I've been to a new place where I didn't speak the language, so I made sure to take advantage of the help. I shared the ride with a Malawi-born rapper dude, but I can't remember his name for the life of me. Nice guy though.
Once at the hotel, I met up with my new people quickly, got the introductions out of the way. They had just flown in from some shows in Japan, so they went to crash pretty quickly. I, on the other hand, had to go through my typical jet lag busting routine of staying up as late as possible so I could eventually sleep through the night. I started with some standards, like just trying to find a good espresso and the local Hard Rock Cafe (because I somehow started collecting the pins over the years...). Armed with that info, I made my way out into Oslo with one of the others.
The first little bit was pretty standard old European, but we found out what separates Oslo is both parks and sculptures. They're everywhere. It's kind of insane how many sculptures there are, and they're cool too. Lots of optical illusion stuff going on. After getting my first couple stops out of the way, we just started wandering. The waterfront area was nice, there was a new neighbourhood that was being developed. Interesting buildings all incorporating the theme of shipbuilding (can you say "vikings"...?). Eventually we ended up walking out towards a local neighbourhood recommended by the driver, which was supposed to be the "cool" part of town. We did find some restaurants, cafes, etc... a couple more parks and sculptures and ended up sitting down for lunch. After eating, some more random wandering brought us up to a little creek/canal that meandered through town that was actually pretty nice. Lots of bridges and parks along that route. It also led us to a hidden venue of the Oslo Jazz Festival where we stopped for a bit to listen to some music and have a drink.
By this point it was mid-afternoon, so still lots of time to kill. We started walking back towards the hotel but decided to go back by the waterfront to check out the restaurants for dinner ideas, maybe find some coffee (which we did, and it was quality stuff). While we were there, we saw ads for a boatride through the fjords, which sounded like a fantastic idea given we were in Norway. It was leaving in 5 mins, so we grabbed some tickets and hopped on. I think it was nice, but I started nodding off a couple times... I think I missed most of it. After that we went back to the hotel for a bit.
Feeling rested, it was time to hunt for dinner. All the stuff near us was ridiculously expensive so we ended up going back up to the "cool" hood and ended up eating at a Mexican joint of all places. Not the meal I expected to have my first night in Oslo.
Day 2, Oslo, Norway
Today is mostly a day off before going over to the Oya Festival, which is actually less than a 5 min drive away. Gold. So I got up early enough to make sure I had time for food and coffee. Started by going to the sure thing we found yesterday, and then on the way back, I found an even better spot, Stockfleth's, for those of you keeping track at home. Before I got back to the hotel, I stopped by the brand new opera house (which was conveniently across the street) so I could go up and walk on the roof, which is apparently what they consider to be quite the tourist attraction. Did it, not too crazy... Back to the hotel to go to the festival.
Once at the festival, we checked quickly to make sure all the gear was there, and then we had a couple more hours to kill, so we walked around the grounds a little bit, stopped and sat by a lake. It was actually a really nice setting. Had dinner, catering was mediocre. Went back out to the food stalls and was better off.
Before long it was show time, and it's pretty special getting thrown in to a new gig at a festival in the best of times. Turns out this is a pretty heavy maintenance gig, and it was something of a workout. I had to pull a lot of tricks out of my hat on this one, but thankfully it all went well. The intro to Grizzly Bear was a success for all intents and purposes. I don't think the first gig could've gone much better.
After the show we had a few hours to kill before heading off, so I did what I would normally do in a weird city, in the middle of the night, where I don't speak the language. I started randomly wandering around through the neighbourhoods, just checking stuff out. The first highlight was trying to order a slice of pizza and ending up with what was quite possible the worst cheese pizza (full pie) I've ever had. Most of it got left in the box on a park bench by a sculpture. Then I started wandering a bit further, got into some really cool areas, saw some amazing buildings, local hangouts, etc... It was fun. And right when I was going by a house party I was going to crash, I got the call that the bus was leaving early and I had to head back...
Day 3, Gothenburg, Sweden
Another new city today. I woke up in a nice park in Gothenburg for another festival show, this time the Way Out West Festival. Feeling somewhat groggy, I was disappointed there was no espresso around and settled for some cereal in catering. We then went in to town to check out the hotel and have a quick shower, I found the Hard Rock two blocks over, but still no coffee. When we got back to the festival site, I wandered around the grounds for a bit and eventually sorted myself out. It was actually a really nice site. Would've like to spend the afternoon there lying in the sun, but alas, we have a show to do.
Back at our tent we started setting up everything, getting ready for the show. While doing this, I got a tap on the back and surprise run in with the keyboardist that was in Martha Wainwright's band when I worked with them last year. Always fun to run in to people like that. And then we had the stage, set up, played, loaded the bus and waited to head out. The show seemed to go well again, everyone seemed happy. Before we headed out, I had a chance to see my friend play with Antony and the Johnsons, but not for long... Loooong overnight drive to Germany for the next show was starting asap...
Day 4, Haldern, Germany
Another day, another wake up at a festival. This time we were really out in the middle of nowhere at the Haldern Pop Festival. We couldn't even get a hotel close by for shower rooms. Not so bad though, the site had it's own lake and it was actually really nice. It was a smaller one today, only two stages, but it was full and there were good vendors all around. I went over and sampled some local delicacies of course.
The show was late-afternoon today, so we were getting going pretty shortly after arriving, but it also meant we got most of the night off. The show was good again today. We've got a good little streak under our belts now... After us, we stuck around to watch Bon Iver (we've seen them 3 days in a row now), and I went out and had some more local food. Much easier ordering pizza in German than Norwegian, and the result is much better. Also ran in to another old touring friend, a TM from a Chromeo tour last summer. Good times. Left before the end of the night though, overnight to the west coast of France for the next one.
Day 5, St-Malo, FR
So today was a little different in terms of wake up settings. We woke up at a festival, again, but this time we were inside a medieval fortress. It was insane. These people know where to put a stage. The site was incredible. And after a quick trip to catering for breakfast, I can certify that the food was incredible too. No espresso though, which I found shocking. We actually had a soundcheck this morning, which went as well as anything at 9:30am can go. Happy to have that out of the way. Then a quick trip to the hotel for showers, then back to the site, and then I somehow managed to get myself a ride in to the old fortified city to walk around for a while before the show.
It was pretty insane. It was ancient. Most buildings seemed to be about 500 yrs old. Stunning. Unfortunately there were loads of tourists, so every time they followed each other like lemmings around a corner, I went the other way. Turned out to be a lot more fun, saw much more interesting things and places. Even found a local coffee shop that had it together. Other highlights include finding the spot where Jacques Cartier's was blessed before going on the voyage during which he discovered Canada, and finding La maison du Quebec, which turned out to be a lame tourism thing, but I shocked the people working there when I walked in and spoke with them. It's run by Quebecers who were quite happy to hear an accent from home.
I looked around for a bite to eat, but didn't find much, which was probably ok since I knew the catering back at La Route du Rock would be great. I met up with a couple of my other people at a festival stage by the city and we got a ride back to the festival together. Straight to catering, great dinner, great table wine, and we were ready to start the show. That ended up being great as well, maybe the best so far. The French love their Grizzly Bear.
We didn't stay long after this one. Tomorrow's a day off and we were ready to get to London to relax.
Day 6, London, UK
The first time I woke up today was when we were all called out of bed to cross the border. That's always fun. Quickly back to sleep, through the Chunnel, and then I woke up for real a little later on when we pulled up to our hotel. Somehow the impossible was achieved: we had a nice hotel in a cool neighbourhood in London. That never happens. And to take it a step further, it was bright and sunny. Insane. First order of business was a quick minute of research followed by a ten minute walk to the next level of happiness: incredible espresso and good food. This is beginning to feel apocalyptic. London isn't supposed to be this way, but I love it. Sign me up.
So after being properly energized for the afternoon, we ventured out for a meeting with the London Symphony Orchestra. Yes, that's right. The LSO. We're coming back in October and we're actually doing a show with them, so it was convenient that we had a day off here when we could meet them and go over logistics. Nice people, nice hall, really looking forward to it. After the meeting we rested a bit at the hotel where we met up with everyone else for a couple drinks at the bar. We all made various dinner plans and a couple of us ended up on Brick Lane for some great Indian food at a place I was actually taken to by an Indian guy the last time I was in town. It was great. After dinner the plan was to just crash, but I went out for what was going to be a short walk in the hood but I ran in to a few of the others and tagged along to a pub for a final drink of the night.
Day 7, London, UK
Today is going to be a long one, all the more reason for me to get up early and head back to the amazing coffee shop. And they cemented their place as my #1 in London when I walked in and the just served me without asking my order. I've been to this place once, the day before, and they already have me sorted. Incredible. I didn't want to leave. (It's called Nude Espresso, btw...)
But alas, duty calls, and at 10:30am I was abandoning a beautiful sunny day (in London?!) and loading in to Koko's. In a way it was nice to have all the time in the world to get it together, but I really would've liked to have some time outdoors. I ended up getting a little bit after soundcheck, and went out and walked around Camden for a bit.
Back for the show, and everything was running along smoothy. It was a little different doing a club show with these guys as it's a really technically demanding setup, and really audio-sensitive, for lack of a better term. Having walls doesn't help too much, things work much better outdoors with these guys. It was sort of challenging, but according the reviews it was a spectacular show, and the BBC actually called it the show to see that night - in all of the UK. Crazy.
After we were packed up and back at the hotel, I randomly got a phone call from another old tour friend from Morcheeba who was already with the guitar tech from that tour, a guy from Portland who was in town with Snow Patrol. Amazing. So I quickly went out and hooked up with them at what turned out to be a pretty lame bar. We ended up going to back to my hotel bar to kill the night, and then out to a food stand where the guy gave us most of the leftover fried chicken and fries. Not the best food ever, but at 3am it was awesome.
Day 8, London, UK
Almost a full day off with nothing going on today. We just have to leave town at 11pm to go back to the mainland for the next show tomorrow. Naturally, I started the day at my favourite local coffee shop and had a good breakfast there as well. Feeling properly set up for the day, I went back to the hotel to catch up on some work. The big downside of the day was that we only had the rooms til 2pm, so I tried to get in as much as possible before then. I didn't want to just end up sitting in the lobby all day...
Shockingly, it was the 3rd day in a row of bright and sunny skies in Londontown. I couldn't believe it. In fact, it was actually too much... I went out wandering to kill some of my afternoon, and the heat was unbearable. I think I heard it actually hit 35 C at one point. No good. I eventually stopped by a random cafe to get something iced and just sat on their patio for a little while. I ended up doing a little bit of shopping too and found a great clothing store that was actually right beside my great coffee shop. I'm absolutely staying in this neighbourhood every time I come to London from now on, or until I find something better, which doesn't seem likely...
So after my afternoon of wandering I went back to the hotel where we had actually kept one room for showers. There were already 6 people in there just hanging out when I got in. I ended up hearing from another friend in town and we made plans to hook up that evening for drinks, so I only hung around long enough to take a quick shower and I got out again. I met up with my friend and a group of people at an outdoor patio on Brick Lane, had a couple drinks, a good time, and then we went to a bar, that was actually right next door to my hotel, to attend the Calvin Harris CD Release Party. I know, I don't know who he is either, but I'm assured that it's not a big deal. The free drinks we were promised were non-existant, but at least we were able to get a table in some sort of vip area (fancy, I know), and we sat down with our pints and had a great time. It was with much sadness that I had to run away at 11pm to hop on the bus...
Day 9, Hasselt, Belgium
Back on the mainland, waking up at yet another festival site. This time it's Pukkelpop, one of the largest festivals in Europe. They know how to run it, I'll say that. Really nice backstage area, great catering, solid production, overall sweetness. First thing was a quick trip to catering for coffee, which was actually decent, and then before I was even awake, I found out yet another old touring friend was in the area with The Offspring, so I stopped by and had a chat with him for a bit.
Our set was a little later tonight, so I had some time to wander the site, check out the other stages, etc... I also had time to leave the site and wander through the village that was right nearby. Turned out to be a great idea as I found a fantastic little mom and pop chip stand. We somehow sorted out my order and moments later I walked away with a cone of some of the best fries ever. I've had some pretty good luck with the locals on this run...
Back at the festival, walked around some more, killed more time. Ran into a couple other guys I knew, one with Thursday, one with Wilco, good times. Had dinner a couple tables over from Dave Grohl and then it was time to get to work. We were in a weird tent with aluminum sides. I've never actually seen that before, but if nothing else, it was interesting. Turns out the Belgians love their Grizzly Bear too. In fact, everywhere we've gone, the response has been incredible. Packed shows each time.
We stuck around a little longer tonight as some of the guys wanted to see Faith No More, I went out and got some festival food, and a little after that set was over we were on the road to The Netherlands.
Day 10, Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands
So far we've made it through this whole run with no rain and no mud. That's unheard of for festival season in Europe. Today would be no different. We pulled up at Lowlands Festival, not expecting much, so it was quite the surprise to see it was a pretty amazing site. The coffee however, was definitely not amazing. Downright undrinkable. No time to complain though as before I spit out the first sip we were shuttled off to our hotel for showers. It was an interesting 30 min drive through the countryside and through a small town on the way back. Really nice scenery and old buildings and houses.
Back at the festival, I went straight to catering for lunch, and it was amazing. I only had a sandwich and it was great. Decent table wine too. I spend the rest of the afternoon walking around the site. It was one of the best festival sites I think I've been to. Great food, which I sampled after figuring out the complex "festival currency system", and the vendors actually had things I wanted to buy. It wasn't just festival merch, there were really good local artisans, designers, etc... All the exploring tired me out a bit, so I crashed on the bus for a little while, and then went for dinner, which again was amazing.
I had another surprise run in again today with someone I had worked with a couple summers ago with Sean Lennon. It's been the ultimate hook up week for me. It's really cool not only to see all these people again, but also because it gets you out of touring mode for a little while each day. You actually hang out and forget that you sleep on a bus every night and that showers are a luxury. It's a nice break. Anyways, after that little run in, it was back to reality, back to work on another show, which again had a packed tent. It's been a crazy run.
We had a quick escape after this one. Tonight is an overnight back to the UK, out to Wales, with another fun border crossing coming up...
Day 11, Powys, UK
6am hurts alot when you walk up to the UK border patrol. It was hard to fall asleep again after this one too, but eventually it sort of came together and I got a couple more hours before we got to the Green Man Festival. And so the 2nd time I woke up today, you guessed it, was at a festival site. Actually, in all fairness, it was at a gas station we stopped at right before we rolled in, but you get the idea... There was an advantage to this though, and that's that I got to see the incredible countryside as we pulled up. It's an absolutely beautiful part of England.
The festival wasn't slacking either. This might have been my favourite so far. Best coffee on site, best food vendors. It was a little frustrating at first that they gave us food tickets for the vendors instead of having catering, but it turns out that was the best thing that could've happened. It really got us out there exploring the site and there was a lot that was worth taking in. I ended up sticking around and talking with some of the vendors and had a great time. I also ran into more people I knew, the boys from Noah and the Whale. A good friend is their TM in North America so I'd hung out with them a few times on my side of the pond, and it was good to run into them on their turf.
It was also the best festival programming for this type of band. It had a really folk-pop feel, really laid back, easygoing, great crowd. It ended up being the best show of the whole run, and again, no rain or mud. Unheard of. After it was done we had a good hang with the Bon Iver guys (they played pretty much every festival with us), said our good byes and that was it. We slept in the bus, on site, til about 6am, then we slowly started making our way back to London. Fly home tomorrow.
Day 12, LHR-NYC
I woke up in a very different setting today. A worn out, dilapidated industrial park. Turns out that's where some of the main shipping warehouses are for Heathrow, but it didn't look fit for rats to live in. Anyways, we ditched the gear there and made our way to the airport. Slowly made the rounds of the terminals dropping everyone off, saying goodbyes, but not for long as we have another show next week in Brooklyn.
I killed 4 hrs in the terminal fairly painlessly, mostly watching airplanes go down the runway. Saw two A380's, which was really cool. Had a quick bite and boarded the plane. For some reason it's taking 8hrs to get to NYC, which I find a little weird, but whatever. I had one freaky moment during which I was asleep, and I heard the flight attendant say "water" rather loudly in my direction. Being asleep, it sounded like a yell, and I awoke staring out the window at the Atlantic Ocean. In my sleep deprived state I thought he was warning me that we were going down, crashing in to the water. I almost shit my pants. But I saw Greenland up close and personal when we flew over, so that has to count for something... and I actually have 3 days off after this. Can't wait.
Today I start a new gig mixing monitors for Grizzly Bear. It starts with a trip to the lovely Newark airport after finishing up all the paperwork from the A-Trak tour that finished on Sunday. Getting to Newark is an adventure in the best of times, and 2hrs after walking out the door, I got dropped off at the terminal. I was flying Continental today, which means a) none of my status applies, and b) I have to get the band to fire their travel agent. After braving the guidos and the incredibly bad attitudes checking in and going through security, I finally found a small cantina-type place to sit down and have a bite to eat before my flight. One good thing though, their was one nice customer service person (probably the only one) who made my day and re-arranged some seating so I could get an exit row aisle seat. Killer.
The flight itself was uneventful, which is always a good thing. Once I landed (the next morning), it didn't take any time at all before I was through customs, security, had my bags and was in my ride to the hotel. It might have even been a record. My driver was giving me all sorts of pointers on what to check out in town. It's been some time since I've been to a new place where I didn't speak the language, so I made sure to take advantage of the help. I shared the ride with a Malawi-born rapper dude, but I can't remember his name for the life of me. Nice guy though.
Once at the hotel, I met up with my new people quickly, got the introductions out of the way. They had just flown in from some shows in Japan, so they went to crash pretty quickly. I, on the other hand, had to go through my typical jet lag busting routine of staying up as late as possible so I could eventually sleep through the night. I started with some standards, like just trying to find a good espresso and the local Hard Rock Cafe (because I somehow started collecting the pins over the years...). Armed with that info, I made my way out into Oslo with one of the others.
The first little bit was pretty standard old European, but we found out what separates Oslo is both parks and sculptures. They're everywhere. It's kind of insane how many sculptures there are, and they're cool too. Lots of optical illusion stuff going on. After getting my first couple stops out of the way, we just started wandering. The waterfront area was nice, there was a new neighbourhood that was being developed. Interesting buildings all incorporating the theme of shipbuilding (can you say "vikings"...?). Eventually we ended up walking out towards a local neighbourhood recommended by the driver, which was supposed to be the "cool" part of town. We did find some restaurants, cafes, etc... a couple more parks and sculptures and ended up sitting down for lunch. After eating, some more random wandering brought us up to a little creek/canal that meandered through town that was actually pretty nice. Lots of bridges and parks along that route. It also led us to a hidden venue of the Oslo Jazz Festival where we stopped for a bit to listen to some music and have a drink.
By this point it was mid-afternoon, so still lots of time to kill. We started walking back towards the hotel but decided to go back by the waterfront to check out the restaurants for dinner ideas, maybe find some coffee (which we did, and it was quality stuff). While we were there, we saw ads for a boatride through the fjords, which sounded like a fantastic idea given we were in Norway. It was leaving in 5 mins, so we grabbed some tickets and hopped on. I think it was nice, but I started nodding off a couple times... I think I missed most of it. After that we went back to the hotel for a bit.
Feeling rested, it was time to hunt for dinner. All the stuff near us was ridiculously expensive so we ended up going back up to the "cool" hood and ended up eating at a Mexican joint of all places. Not the meal I expected to have my first night in Oslo.
Day 2, Oslo, Norway
Today is mostly a day off before going over to the Oya Festival, which is actually less than a 5 min drive away. Gold. So I got up early enough to make sure I had time for food and coffee. Started by going to the sure thing we found yesterday, and then on the way back, I found an even better spot, Stockfleth's, for those of you keeping track at home. Before I got back to the hotel, I stopped by the brand new opera house (which was conveniently across the street) so I could go up and walk on the roof, which is apparently what they consider to be quite the tourist attraction. Did it, not too crazy... Back to the hotel to go to the festival.
Once at the festival, we checked quickly to make sure all the gear was there, and then we had a couple more hours to kill, so we walked around the grounds a little bit, stopped and sat by a lake. It was actually a really nice setting. Had dinner, catering was mediocre. Went back out to the food stalls and was better off.
Before long it was show time, and it's pretty special getting thrown in to a new gig at a festival in the best of times. Turns out this is a pretty heavy maintenance gig, and it was something of a workout. I had to pull a lot of tricks out of my hat on this one, but thankfully it all went well. The intro to Grizzly Bear was a success for all intents and purposes. I don't think the first gig could've gone much better.
After the show we had a few hours to kill before heading off, so I did what I would normally do in a weird city, in the middle of the night, where I don't speak the language. I started randomly wandering around through the neighbourhoods, just checking stuff out. The first highlight was trying to order a slice of pizza and ending up with what was quite possible the worst cheese pizza (full pie) I've ever had. Most of it got left in the box on a park bench by a sculpture. Then I started wandering a bit further, got into some really cool areas, saw some amazing buildings, local hangouts, etc... It was fun. And right when I was going by a house party I was going to crash, I got the call that the bus was leaving early and I had to head back...
Day 3, Gothenburg, Sweden
Another new city today. I woke up in a nice park in Gothenburg for another festival show, this time the Way Out West Festival. Feeling somewhat groggy, I was disappointed there was no espresso around and settled for some cereal in catering. We then went in to town to check out the hotel and have a quick shower, I found the Hard Rock two blocks over, but still no coffee. When we got back to the festival site, I wandered around the grounds for a bit and eventually sorted myself out. It was actually a really nice site. Would've like to spend the afternoon there lying in the sun, but alas, we have a show to do.
Back at our tent we started setting up everything, getting ready for the show. While doing this, I got a tap on the back and surprise run in with the keyboardist that was in Martha Wainwright's band when I worked with them last year. Always fun to run in to people like that. And then we had the stage, set up, played, loaded the bus and waited to head out. The show seemed to go well again, everyone seemed happy. Before we headed out, I had a chance to see my friend play with Antony and the Johnsons, but not for long... Loooong overnight drive to Germany for the next show was starting asap...
Day 4, Haldern, Germany
Another day, another wake up at a festival. This time we were really out in the middle of nowhere at the Haldern Pop Festival. We couldn't even get a hotel close by for shower rooms. Not so bad though, the site had it's own lake and it was actually really nice. It was a smaller one today, only two stages, but it was full and there were good vendors all around. I went over and sampled some local delicacies of course.
The show was late-afternoon today, so we were getting going pretty shortly after arriving, but it also meant we got most of the night off. The show was good again today. We've got a good little streak under our belts now... After us, we stuck around to watch Bon Iver (we've seen them 3 days in a row now), and I went out and had some more local food. Much easier ordering pizza in German than Norwegian, and the result is much better. Also ran in to another old touring friend, a TM from a Chromeo tour last summer. Good times. Left before the end of the night though, overnight to the west coast of France for the next one.
Day 5, St-Malo, FR
So today was a little different in terms of wake up settings. We woke up at a festival, again, but this time we were inside a medieval fortress. It was insane. These people know where to put a stage. The site was incredible. And after a quick trip to catering for breakfast, I can certify that the food was incredible too. No espresso though, which I found shocking. We actually had a soundcheck this morning, which went as well as anything at 9:30am can go. Happy to have that out of the way. Then a quick trip to the hotel for showers, then back to the site, and then I somehow managed to get myself a ride in to the old fortified city to walk around for a while before the show.
It was pretty insane. It was ancient. Most buildings seemed to be about 500 yrs old. Stunning. Unfortunately there were loads of tourists, so every time they followed each other like lemmings around a corner, I went the other way. Turned out to be a lot more fun, saw much more interesting things and places. Even found a local coffee shop that had it together. Other highlights include finding the spot where Jacques Cartier's was blessed before going on the voyage during which he discovered Canada, and finding La maison du Quebec, which turned out to be a lame tourism thing, but I shocked the people working there when I walked in and spoke with them. It's run by Quebecers who were quite happy to hear an accent from home.
I looked around for a bite to eat, but didn't find much, which was probably ok since I knew the catering back at La Route du Rock would be great. I met up with a couple of my other people at a festival stage by the city and we got a ride back to the festival together. Straight to catering, great dinner, great table wine, and we were ready to start the show. That ended up being great as well, maybe the best so far. The French love their Grizzly Bear.
We didn't stay long after this one. Tomorrow's a day off and we were ready to get to London to relax.
Day 6, London, UK
The first time I woke up today was when we were all called out of bed to cross the border. That's always fun. Quickly back to sleep, through the Chunnel, and then I woke up for real a little later on when we pulled up to our hotel. Somehow the impossible was achieved: we had a nice hotel in a cool neighbourhood in London. That never happens. And to take it a step further, it was bright and sunny. Insane. First order of business was a quick minute of research followed by a ten minute walk to the next level of happiness: incredible espresso and good food. This is beginning to feel apocalyptic. London isn't supposed to be this way, but I love it. Sign me up.
So after being properly energized for the afternoon, we ventured out for a meeting with the London Symphony Orchestra. Yes, that's right. The LSO. We're coming back in October and we're actually doing a show with them, so it was convenient that we had a day off here when we could meet them and go over logistics. Nice people, nice hall, really looking forward to it. After the meeting we rested a bit at the hotel where we met up with everyone else for a couple drinks at the bar. We all made various dinner plans and a couple of us ended up on Brick Lane for some great Indian food at a place I was actually taken to by an Indian guy the last time I was in town. It was great. After dinner the plan was to just crash, but I went out for what was going to be a short walk in the hood but I ran in to a few of the others and tagged along to a pub for a final drink of the night.
Day 7, London, UK
Today is going to be a long one, all the more reason for me to get up early and head back to the amazing coffee shop. And they cemented their place as my #1 in London when I walked in and the just served me without asking my order. I've been to this place once, the day before, and they already have me sorted. Incredible. I didn't want to leave. (It's called Nude Espresso, btw...)
But alas, duty calls, and at 10:30am I was abandoning a beautiful sunny day (in London?!) and loading in to Koko's. In a way it was nice to have all the time in the world to get it together, but I really would've liked to have some time outdoors. I ended up getting a little bit after soundcheck, and went out and walked around Camden for a bit.
Back for the show, and everything was running along smoothy. It was a little different doing a club show with these guys as it's a really technically demanding setup, and really audio-sensitive, for lack of a better term. Having walls doesn't help too much, things work much better outdoors with these guys. It was sort of challenging, but according the reviews it was a spectacular show, and the BBC actually called it the show to see that night - in all of the UK. Crazy.
After we were packed up and back at the hotel, I randomly got a phone call from another old tour friend from Morcheeba who was already with the guitar tech from that tour, a guy from Portland who was in town with Snow Patrol. Amazing. So I quickly went out and hooked up with them at what turned out to be a pretty lame bar. We ended up going to back to my hotel bar to kill the night, and then out to a food stand where the guy gave us most of the leftover fried chicken and fries. Not the best food ever, but at 3am it was awesome.
Day 8, London, UK
Almost a full day off with nothing going on today. We just have to leave town at 11pm to go back to the mainland for the next show tomorrow. Naturally, I started the day at my favourite local coffee shop and had a good breakfast there as well. Feeling properly set up for the day, I went back to the hotel to catch up on some work. The big downside of the day was that we only had the rooms til 2pm, so I tried to get in as much as possible before then. I didn't want to just end up sitting in the lobby all day...
Shockingly, it was the 3rd day in a row of bright and sunny skies in Londontown. I couldn't believe it. In fact, it was actually too much... I went out wandering to kill some of my afternoon, and the heat was unbearable. I think I heard it actually hit 35 C at one point. No good. I eventually stopped by a random cafe to get something iced and just sat on their patio for a little while. I ended up doing a little bit of shopping too and found a great clothing store that was actually right beside my great coffee shop. I'm absolutely staying in this neighbourhood every time I come to London from now on, or until I find something better, which doesn't seem likely...
So after my afternoon of wandering I went back to the hotel where we had actually kept one room for showers. There were already 6 people in there just hanging out when I got in. I ended up hearing from another friend in town and we made plans to hook up that evening for drinks, so I only hung around long enough to take a quick shower and I got out again. I met up with my friend and a group of people at an outdoor patio on Brick Lane, had a couple drinks, a good time, and then we went to a bar, that was actually right next door to my hotel, to attend the Calvin Harris CD Release Party. I know, I don't know who he is either, but I'm assured that it's not a big deal. The free drinks we were promised were non-existant, but at least we were able to get a table in some sort of vip area (fancy, I know), and we sat down with our pints and had a great time. It was with much sadness that I had to run away at 11pm to hop on the bus...
Day 9, Hasselt, Belgium
Back on the mainland, waking up at yet another festival site. This time it's Pukkelpop, one of the largest festivals in Europe. They know how to run it, I'll say that. Really nice backstage area, great catering, solid production, overall sweetness. First thing was a quick trip to catering for coffee, which was actually decent, and then before I was even awake, I found out yet another old touring friend was in the area with The Offspring, so I stopped by and had a chat with him for a bit.
Our set was a little later tonight, so I had some time to wander the site, check out the other stages, etc... I also had time to leave the site and wander through the village that was right nearby. Turned out to be a great idea as I found a fantastic little mom and pop chip stand. We somehow sorted out my order and moments later I walked away with a cone of some of the best fries ever. I've had some pretty good luck with the locals on this run...
Back at the festival, walked around some more, killed more time. Ran into a couple other guys I knew, one with Thursday, one with Wilco, good times. Had dinner a couple tables over from Dave Grohl and then it was time to get to work. We were in a weird tent with aluminum sides. I've never actually seen that before, but if nothing else, it was interesting. Turns out the Belgians love their Grizzly Bear too. In fact, everywhere we've gone, the response has been incredible. Packed shows each time.
We stuck around a little longer tonight as some of the guys wanted to see Faith No More, I went out and got some festival food, and a little after that set was over we were on the road to The Netherlands.
Day 10, Biddinghuizen, The Netherlands
So far we've made it through this whole run with no rain and no mud. That's unheard of for festival season in Europe. Today would be no different. We pulled up at Lowlands Festival, not expecting much, so it was quite the surprise to see it was a pretty amazing site. The coffee however, was definitely not amazing. Downright undrinkable. No time to complain though as before I spit out the first sip we were shuttled off to our hotel for showers. It was an interesting 30 min drive through the countryside and through a small town on the way back. Really nice scenery and old buildings and houses.
Back at the festival, I went straight to catering for lunch, and it was amazing. I only had a sandwich and it was great. Decent table wine too. I spend the rest of the afternoon walking around the site. It was one of the best festival sites I think I've been to. Great food, which I sampled after figuring out the complex "festival currency system", and the vendors actually had things I wanted to buy. It wasn't just festival merch, there were really good local artisans, designers, etc... All the exploring tired me out a bit, so I crashed on the bus for a little while, and then went for dinner, which again was amazing.
I had another surprise run in again today with someone I had worked with a couple summers ago with Sean Lennon. It's been the ultimate hook up week for me. It's really cool not only to see all these people again, but also because it gets you out of touring mode for a little while each day. You actually hang out and forget that you sleep on a bus every night and that showers are a luxury. It's a nice break. Anyways, after that little run in, it was back to reality, back to work on another show, which again had a packed tent. It's been a crazy run.
We had a quick escape after this one. Tonight is an overnight back to the UK, out to Wales, with another fun border crossing coming up...
Day 11, Powys, UK
6am hurts alot when you walk up to the UK border patrol. It was hard to fall asleep again after this one too, but eventually it sort of came together and I got a couple more hours before we got to the Green Man Festival. And so the 2nd time I woke up today, you guessed it, was at a festival site. Actually, in all fairness, it was at a gas station we stopped at right before we rolled in, but you get the idea... There was an advantage to this though, and that's that I got to see the incredible countryside as we pulled up. It's an absolutely beautiful part of England.
The festival wasn't slacking either. This might have been my favourite so far. Best coffee on site, best food vendors. It was a little frustrating at first that they gave us food tickets for the vendors instead of having catering, but it turns out that was the best thing that could've happened. It really got us out there exploring the site and there was a lot that was worth taking in. I ended up sticking around and talking with some of the vendors and had a great time. I also ran into more people I knew, the boys from Noah and the Whale. A good friend is their TM in North America so I'd hung out with them a few times on my side of the pond, and it was good to run into them on their turf.
It was also the best festival programming for this type of band. It had a really folk-pop feel, really laid back, easygoing, great crowd. It ended up being the best show of the whole run, and again, no rain or mud. Unheard of. After it was done we had a good hang with the Bon Iver guys (they played pretty much every festival with us), said our good byes and that was it. We slept in the bus, on site, til about 6am, then we slowly started making our way back to London. Fly home tomorrow.
Day 12, LHR-NYC
I woke up in a very different setting today. A worn out, dilapidated industrial park. Turns out that's where some of the main shipping warehouses are for Heathrow, but it didn't look fit for rats to live in. Anyways, we ditched the gear there and made our way to the airport. Slowly made the rounds of the terminals dropping everyone off, saying goodbyes, but not for long as we have another show next week in Brooklyn.
I killed 4 hrs in the terminal fairly painlessly, mostly watching airplanes go down the runway. Saw two A380's, which was really cool. Had a quick bite and boarded the plane. For some reason it's taking 8hrs to get to NYC, which I find a little weird, but whatever. I had one freaky moment during which I was asleep, and I heard the flight attendant say "water" rather loudly in my direction. Being asleep, it sounded like a yell, and I awoke staring out the window at the Atlantic Ocean. In my sleep deprived state I thought he was warning me that we were going down, crashing in to the water. I almost shit my pants. But I saw Greenland up close and personal when we flew over, so that has to count for something... and I actually have 3 days off after this. Can't wait.
posted by t. at 1:26 AM
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