Europe Day 15

Disclaimer: I'm currently 16 hours deep into what is turning into a 20-or-so hour journey. I've been awake for over 28 hours. I am not at the height of my ability to clearly or coherently articulate myself…so please forgive any blatant confusion or disorientation that might be present in this post! That said, I did want to do my best to recount the events of last night while they were still somewhat fresh in my mind, and before the fog of SXSW overtakes any memory of the past two weeks!

Paris was fucking incredible. It was a sold out show, and the promoter (who looked strikingly like a French version of DMC) proudly informed us that he had managed to pack 450 people into a 350 capacity room. Good for him, good for us, terrible for any trying to enforce a fire/safety code of any sort. Thankfully, nothing burned.

We pulled in Paris at about noon, and while we headed directly for our hotel, we weren't able to check in to the rooms until about 2pm, so we all decided to venture out in search of food. A small patisserie presented itself in a rather timely fashion, and we sat down for sandwiches and coffee. A perfect French lunch.

Biding our time in the bakery until 2-ish, we made our way back to the Hotel Cosmos, checked in, and loaded the remaining bags into our rooms. I had grand plans of using our free afternoon to explore Paris, but after carefully considering a mounting sense of overwhelming fatigue…coupled with the grueling travel schedule on the very near horizon, and it seemed a bit more wise to try and get some rest before the show. My attempt to sleep went like this: Wash face. Unpack a bit. Lay down. Close eyes. Begin Drifting off. Wake up suddenly to the sound of a pack of braying goats 5 stories below. Right. A choir of goats is one thing, but looking out the window expecting to see a a herd of grazing animals wandering the streets of Paris, only to find a wandering herd of…people, all dressed in white, and being trailed closely by one the least competent marching bands I've ever heard is a beast(no pun intended) of an entirely different breed. BK pointed out a bit later that the French are well known for their affinity towards protest and strikes of all sorts, so there's a pretty good chance that this goat thing was a demonstration of some sort. Fine, but still utterly baffling.

My attempts at sleep thwarted by the goat marchers, I threw on some clothes and wandered into the streets in search of a guitar string to replace the broken one from the show in Orleans. No such luck, as most stores seemed closed in observation of the fact that it was a Sunday, but I did get a chance to see a bit of the city. The hotel was several blocks away from the Place De La Republique, which features a rather magnificent statue in its center, and the hotel itself seemed to be situated in a Chinatown of sorts, both of which made for interesting scenery. Tired as I was, I'm glad I got a chance to see a bit of my surroundings.

We piled back into the van and, after a quick stop to retrieve BK and Eric who, having left the area in search of the Eiffel Tower, had gotten a bit lost, we made our way to the venue and began to load-in and soundcheck. By this point it goes without saying (irony duly noted) that the sound engineer for the evening was incredibly talented, professional, and good at his job, but as a bit of an addendum, I think the sound at the venue last night, Nouveau Casio, was perhaps the best of the tour. A bit of a side note, but the tables supplied for the turntables at almost every European show were almost comically large. I'm a pretty short dude, and frequently found myself fighting to be seen behind these hulking surfaces, but last night was pretty extreme. Once it had been adorned with the SL-1200s, I was buried up to the base of my neck behind the tower…ridiculous, so in the interest of clarity I moved my keyboard and guitar rig to the side of the table and was able to occupy my own little corner of the side of the stage rather successfully. 

After yet another amazing dinner, this one provided in an adjacent restaurant, we headed back into the venue to find it completely packed with people. Despite the early door time and the fact that it was a Sunday night, folks seemed eager to have a good time, and it was pretty amazing to see so many people packed into such a small space.

Grieves and I hit the stage around 8:45, and were treated to the most eager, engaged, and enthusiastic audience of the tour. Without any idea who we were, completely unfamiliar with our music, and with no real reason to embrace, they were nonetheless so warm, so welcoming, and provided a perfect complement to the end of an incredible tour. 

BK and Ali hit the stage right after us, and delivered the best show of the tour (in my humble opinion). They were perfect sync with each other, and managed to maintain an incredibly high level of energy and enthusiasm throughout their entire show, ending with an encore of epic proportions! The audience, singing along during much of the show, was clearly pretty goddamn excited to be there. 

After the show, we ventured out into the Paris night…lots of beautiful chaos, very little/no sleep, but it was a fitting end to a wonderful trip. Now…Texas!