CarSeatHeadrest225

Archive Sunday #75

Added 2024-12-01 17:00:15 +0000 UTC

After a couple years on the sidelines waiting for the numbers to drop, we were excited to hit the road again in 2022 once things seemed a bit safer. It took a ton of preparation to ensure we could provide a relatively safe environment for everyone involved, including stocking the merch table with free masks and establishing protocols for regular testing and isolating. All that aside, it was still our most ambitious tour to date with an elaborate lighting setup and stage design. Will worked a bunch with John F. to get the imagery just right, not just with the stage lighting but also the responsive eyes of his mask. I remember being worried that singing with the mask would affect the sound too much, but John M. and Will tested out different mic options and mask materials until they landed on a nearly perfect combo. So much so, I remember people in the crowd speculating whether Will was actually singing because it sounded too good to be true.

Leading up to the tour the rest of us contributed with our own versions of masks as part of the masquerade tour. Ethan worked with this specialized mask maker to come up with something pretty cool, though he didn't end up wearing for too long. Ben and I used some weird glasses we had laying around which he topped off with some retro headphones, while I decided on a winter balaclava. Andrew went back and forth trying to find something that wouldn't affect his playing or cause him to sweat too much. Ultimately he decided to go with his standard plain white tee and sharpie approach and simply write Mask on his chest. Though I gotta say during some of those really sweaty nights, I got super jealous of his get-up haha.

We started the run off in St. Paul, MN where we played the Palace Theatre. This was probably the only show where we actually played the set we had originally planned months prior. I remember a couple of tracks like Burning Man and There Must Be More Than Blood were seemingly a good fit until we actually started playing them on the road. But luckily a few minor adjustments over the next couple nights we got the set to match the energy in the room without too much reworking. It was kind of a bummer realizing we couldn't go out and explore new restaurants and had to resort to getting take-out for the green room each night, but it was a small price to pay to finally get out and perform again.

The next night we played in the neighboring state Wisconsin at the Pabst Theatre in Milwaukee. I remember it was an older venue with a mostly seated audience that sometimes can take a bit longer to get everyone onboard. But I think at least by the end I could see a bunch of people bobbing in their seats. I remember after the show while we were loading out fully realizing the jump in scale of our production. Now that we had everything together, we were still getting used to the complicated pack in the truck to make sure all the pieces were safe and secure. We could tell the venue mostly dealt with acoustic and stripped back shows, so it took a lot of patience to get us on our way. But luckily things gradually got easier night after night as we got into the swing of things.

The next couple of days we had back-to-back shows in Chicago at the Vic Theatre. For a minute there, I thought we had played there before judging from the deep underground greenroom that was unusually moist. But that must have been just another old Chicago venue haha. I remember they had this retro video game cabinet loaded with off-brand games. But we were all pretty terrible at the ones we tried. The Chicago crowd brought a ton of excitement, so much so that Will gave Andrew the opportunity to throw in a song called Technology that he had just come up with an hour or so before. It was certainly not in the same vein as the rest of the set, but it seemed like the crowd enjoyed the spur of the moment addition haha.

Up next we had Detroit and played at the Majestic Theatre. I remember when we walked in the stage hands were all talking about the band that played this hurdy-gurdy the night before. I instantly knew that they were talking about Animal Collective and admittedly I was kinda jealous they saw the show. We had an even busier schedule leading up to the show that night because we had to complete Canada's COVID protocols for the border crossing the next day. Each of us had to peel off and video call a certified nurse we hired as she watched each of us test ourselves while logging the results. It didn't seem much different than our daily tests, but just took extra time doing it one by one. Thankfully we all passed and played another fun show knowing we were in the clear for at least another day.

The border crossing the next day put us behind a couple hours though funny enough it wasn't due to the extra COVID screenings. We had all the correct paperwork and everything but sometimes the guards just single out weird looking bands I guess. They made us wait at the checkpoint as they searched through our gear and even brought in a drug-sniffing dog for a bit. But right after we finally gave up on getting a nice warm lunch and instead spent several loonies at the in-house vending machine, they finally sent us on our way haha. Luckily our booking agent predicted that it might take awhile, so we had some padding in the schedule.

The next day we loaded into the Danforth Music Hall in Toronto. It was this wide open venue with a huge sloped concrete floor overlooking the stage. I remember meeting up with my friend Mark that lived there at the time and we hung out a bit before the show. The show was a great one, but I remember one of the nights right after we played the main set but before the encore, we got into the greenroom and noticed an unfamiliar face. We kinda assumed at first maybe the Bartee's crew invited someone backstage, but it seemed super weird given the circumstances. Andrew was the first to ask who they were, but it quickly became obvious they had just snuck backstage haha. Totally not cool given that we were trying to avoid any extra exposure, but I guess it could have been a lot worse. We try not to let something little like that spoil an otherwise great night.