Archive Sunday #25

SD: From Belgium we drove up through France then crossed the channel to to the U.K. Once in England we made our first stop in Brighton to play The Hope & Ruin. The venue had a cool upstairs venue area above the pub below. I remember checking out a vintage shop nearby after soundcheck when we went searching for a restaurant for dinner.

  The next day we drove further north to London. We got in a bit early so we could perform on BBC 6 for an early afternoon radio broadcast. We only played a few songs, but I remember the hosts being very welcoming. Pretty much immediately after packing up, we hopped in the van to head across town to the 100 club. I remember the venue being in a pretty wide but shallow room with deep red walls adorned with black-and-white photos of the acts like Blur and the Rolling Stones that made the place famous. The crowd that night was great and we used our leftover excitement from the show to drive a little ways out of the city towards the next show.

   Our next stop was in Manchester at the Deaf Institute. It was another one of those upstairs venues, but this time the ceiling was lined with sky-lights with a balcony wrapped around one side of the room. The crowd was super excited and rowdy, and I remember it being a great show. Pretty sure this is when Luc introduced me to Jaffa cakes, and I'm still pretty bummed they're so hard to find in the U.S.

Our next show was in Glasgow in this small basement venue called Broadcast. I remember the room being pretty small but cozy with a pillar dissecting the stage. The next day I woke up early to find a laundry-mat because everything in my backpack was dirty. So I walked in to this laundry-mat before I was even fully awake and was so confused when I heard all the locals talking to each other with their thick accents and local Scottish idioms. I honestly couldn't even make out what the owner was talking to me about when she made a brief comment to me when I started my wash, so I just smiled and nodded haha.

After that we had the honor of playing one the U.K.'s biggest festivals Glastonbury. We got to this huge farm with acres and acres of tents and stages early in the morning to check in with security. We must have been one of the first acts playing that day because I remember how peaceful the grounds were when we made our way to our stage. When we got backstage we walked into about a dozen sound engineers and stage-hands uncovering all the sensitive equipment after the storm the night before.  They took turns drying out as much as they could with six or so hairdryers as they assured us everything should be ready to go in no time. Luckily the important stuff survived and apart from the scattered puddles on stage the show went smoothly. After the show we waded  through the soaked muddy grounds to find catering, but once we sat down to eat Luc released he lost his lens from his glasses hanging on his shirt. The rest of us thought there was no way in hell he could find that little piece of glass as he retraced our steps and sifted through the mud, but he amazed us all when reached into the air with his hand covered in mud as he screamed "I found it!" So we left on a good note just a few hours after we arrived and headed towards the Netherlands for the next festival.