Europe Day 10

Yesterday was dope!

After the Steak Tartar debacle, I was a bit hesitant to declare victory here in Lille, but last night's show compensated for any seeds of doubt that lunch may have planted.

We left the hotel around 5, walked the mile or so to Ali's spot, and hopped in the van with the French promoter who had graciously offered to meet us at the hotel and show us to the venue. As we neared the club, I began to recognize our surroundings, noting that we were drawing close to the canal next to which I had taken my morning run. Tour manager Mat made an offhand comment as we passed a stationary river boat, but I take much note…nor did I think it particularly odd when Ali started reminiscing about a boat that he, Slug, and Ant had played on in Paris several years ago. Nothing more than your average tall of days gone by, right? Ha.

Last night, we played rap music. On a boat. In Lille, France.

Mat parked the van in a parking lot adjacent to the canal, which happened to be right next to a traveling circus that was setting up shop for its first night, and we began loading our gear into the rear of the boat. Crossing a small ramp that led us into the back of the floating venue, I've never had to worry about dropping a keyboard into a body of water as acutely as I did yesterday. 

Dropping-gear-in-water concerns aside, set-up went very smoothly, and I was pleasantly surprised at the power and clarity of the physically diminutive sound system. Apparently France, along with a number of other European Union countries, imposes a decibel limit on live venues in an attempt to limit the amount of damage inflicted on patron's sensitive ears. Noble, and probably a very, very wise regulatory act, but I was a bit concerned that our live show would suffer due to the decrease in volume. Thankfully, the combination of a tightly enclosed boat cabin that was partially under water and a sound system that had been tuned specifically for the room, created an almost ideal environment for both playing and listening. Oh, and did I mention ha the green room was housed in the captain's quarters? Nothing like drinking a beer backstage…next to a giant steering wheel.

Shortly after soundcheck, the promoter led us across the street to a local restaurant that had closed off a small portion of the restaurant in anticipation of our arrival. So unbelievably unexpected. The reverence for art and music that we first experienced last week in Scandinavia is, quite apparently, not limited to the Northern countries. Acknowledging the danger in making sweeping, generalized statements like this, it's pretty clear that the general European attitude towards the fine arts is VASTLY different than that of the United States. The level of respect and hospitality that we've experienced as underground hip-hop artists  is truly eye opening. Top-tier artists in the states are certainly treated well (above and beyond anything we've ever experienced, at home or abroad), but it often seems as if that treatment is sourced from a desire for spectacle more so than it is from true love and appreciation for music and art as a fundamental aspect of a well rounded society. I digress!

Dinner was incredible, with perfectly cooked salmon on a bed of roasted potatoes, local wine, and an incredibly elaborate marble slab of creme brulee to top it off. The promoter and club folks left us halfway through dinner to head back to the venue and get ready to open doors…I was a little concerned that they were planning on sticking us with the bill and floating the boat down the river with all of our equipment and belongings on board, some kind of massive French joke on the ignorant foreigners…thankfully the boat was still there when we returned, and was damn near packed with folks ready for the show.

At 8:40 sharp, Grieves and I took the stage. I walked up to the computer that houses the software that acts as the main foundation of our live show, woke it from sleep, and was treated to a system crash. Great. It would have been more than salvageable had the sound engineer not taken our presence on stage as a sign to cut the house music and turn on a couple of spotlights that were directed right at our shining faces. Great. What followed was, without question, the most awkward beginning to a set we've ever stewarded. Grieves did his best to maintain keep the crowd's attention, but had a bit of a hard time with his trademark whale joke…something about the language barrier made it tough to translate the lengthy whale calls that function as the core instrument of humor, I suppose. In his defense, I wasn't giving him much to work with, scrambling around trying to get my computer back online, re-attaching USB cables, and trying to get a stubborn MIDI controller to get back in line. It was not our finest moment.

Technical problems aside, we managed to get everything back online, and proceeded to knock out a damn good set. The crowd was incredible, and a couple of folks seemed to know who we were, calling out for Smile For the Blade halfway through the set. Whoa!

Side note: One of the biggest problems with playing a show on a small boat? The smell. Sure, there's inevitable funk that comes part and parcel with a bunch of people dancing together in a small enclosed space, but the boat and dirty river added an element of ocean funk to the already pungent human funk…it was not pleasant at all.

Ali and BK delivered yet another incredibly energetic and professional set. Ali has such incredible command of the audience, it's 

The show over and done with, Grieves and I ventured out with a couple of folks from the audience who offered to show us around town. Good idea? Sort of. Terrible idea? Definitely.

After 45 minutes of confused navigation through the vacant streets of Lille, we found ourselves at "OZ", Lille's only Australian bar. Great. The company was good, save for a uncomfortably friendly Irish fellow by named Collum who insisted on buying drink after drink after drink for us, leaving the original 4 of us at the table in a rather sorry state of awareness by the time the shuffled us out of the bar at 2:30am. Aside from Collum's unsolicited presence, however, the night was a good one…with a lot of broken french-english-portuguese spoken, mis-interpreted, and explained in pictures. It's really amazing to be in a place where English is not freely spoken, and where making yourself understand and, in turn, understanding people that are trying their best to communicate with you, is not a foregone conclusion.

After last call, we made our way back into the streets of Lille, walked ourselves home to the Suitehotel! and climbed into bed for a couple hours of sleep before this morning's van call to Belfort. Due to the festival restrictions, Grieves and I weren't supposed to have a set tonight, but thanks to a last minute cancellation we have 45 minutes to rock in front of a festival crowd!

More tomorrow!!