Road Journal 10.29.2021 - Inside You The Time Moves.
Good evening. This is a few days late.
The band and crew landed back home this past Sunday, capping off a successful ‘2nd Leg’ of The Hunting Ground Tour (…was more like two legs) covering the south, southwest, west, pacific northwest, rockies, and midwest.
We resume touring this Tuesday for the 3rd leg…a run down south and then a zip-up into the northeast for November, followed by the 4th and final leg in December, covering more northeast stops and finishing up in the hinterlands of the mid-atlantic region.
Everyone is pivoting hard, from being on the road for 7 weeks, to leaning in hard on the various honey-do lists, 4th quarter CL HQ tasks, gear and body checks, repairs and otherwise mitigating the affects of tour fatigue and the sensations of being constantly in motion.
Last week was a colorful blaze of rock circus through Grand Rapids, Cleveland, Indianapolis, Houston, Dallas, Austin, St Louis and Nashville:
We played a sweet acoustic listening room above a movie theatre playing James Bond that wafted fresh popcorn smells during our show
We played R.E.M.’s ‘Cuyahoga’ at our Cleveland venue, situated 30 feet from the eponymous river
We played a great show Saturday night in Indy, and followed up the next morning with another show for some fans unplugged on the tiniest seats that 5-year-old Liam’s romper room had to offer
In Houston, we played upstairs, going head-to-head against one of my favorite ‘80s bands playing downstairs, The Psychedelic Furs
Our trip to Dallas included a pit stop at Bucc-ees, a Texas-sized road attraction, for beef jerky, dippin' dots, cherry sours and a chance to marvel at the longest run of contiguous bathroom stalls in the lower 48
Austin, we caught up with Twigger from Gaelic Storm who made it to the show with his wife, Ally, and we disappointed some fans for the 3rd night in a row by not remember to re-learn Texas Stars for any of our actual Lone Star tour dates (a gross oversight…next year!)
A 17 hour drive to St Louis had us coming in hot 2 hours before doors, for a harried set up but hard rocking Friday night
Saturday in Nashville was a chaotic load-in snaking gear through throngs of people watching the Tennessee / Kansas City game on the jumbotron for an outdoor show at 6th and Peabody brewery.
A night drive back to Richmond, and then...
Stillness.
…But not Nothing-To-Do kind of stillness. Just…stillness.
No generators, no ac units or engines rumbling, no moving, listing, yawing, pitching, bouncing, no amplifiers, cymbals, pa systems or ear monitors, no singing, screaming, jumping, yelling, clapping, no trucks whizzing by, no rattles or vibrations, no wind, no rain, no crosstalk, no 7 guys crawling around each other in a living space the size of a rich person’s walk-in closet.
The transition is alarming and you realize how numb your face is, and how your brain and body are just…not. used. to. the stillness.
It’s at once a relief and unnerving. You are programmed and ready. You’re ready to GO, somewhere, anywhere…to do…something…it must…be time…for…motion.
Anyways, I wish I could come up with something snappier to end this journal entry, but I’ve already moved on.
See you next week.
- Barry
