Roadie Blog: 2005-03-06

Show / Travel Day, Adelaide to Perth

Saturday, March 12, 2005

Up at 6:30am for a 7:15 hotel departure. Board plane in Adelaide around 8:30, arrive Perth 9:20. Rest in hotel till noon.

Off to the last Australian show, the Rock-It Festival, where we are headliners. Arrive at the gig, bands have already been playing since 10am. Load-in and take over the backstage area. Set-up in about 10mins and go to catering. Oh boy, fried food!!! I choke down some chicken and chips (fries) and go back to the deck to change strings, etc. Lots of waiting around today, wait in dressing room awhile, sit in sun and read book, wait around some more, have pasta for dinner, more waiting...

Show starts around 8pm, band has to stop after the first song as kids are getting crushed at the front. The crowd is 25,000 strong. Our road manager and production manager jump down behind the barricade t o help security out. They get it sorted and the band resumes. More shoes throw at this show than the previous one, I dub the tour "Shoeless and Clueless", mostly because it rhymes ;)

Load out into 4 box trucks, pretty funny, but our stage manager has one full before we even get there. Eat a slice of pizza aftershow. Back to hotel and my bed by 11:30pm.

Show Day, Adelaide

Friday, March 11, 2005

Up early and walk around the river park behind the hotel. Looks like a massive Pullen Park. Off to the gig around noon, have lunch and set-up. Band comes in for soundcheck, no worries... Show is nuts, the crowd is manic. More shoes thrown onstage than I've ever seen. There's gonna be some barefoot people walking out. Load-out and make it to the hotel before midnight. Lobby call is for 7:15am bound for Perth and our last show in Australia, a festival. Ugh...

Travel Day, Melbourne to Adelaide

Thursday, March 10, 2005

Up early, venture out to check out nearby Motorcycle shops, Route 66 (Mel branch), and a few other stores. Checkout at 12:30pm, bus call is 1:30pm, get some food and a Green Tea Frap head out to the airport. Everyone on the crew wants to know what I'm drinking, as they've only seen brown drinks come from Starbucks. More converts, I guess.

Fall asleep before takeoff (again). Comiing into Adelaide, you can see it's alot more hilly here than in the East. Arrive at the hotel, and for some odd reason it reminds me of a hotel in Little Rock. Take a nap to get ready for go-karting later.

Meet in the lobby for a go-karting excursion. Ends up being over 30 of us, band and crew. Track is both indoor and outdoor. We pick teams of 3 people for an endurance race of 90 laps. We drive in 15 lap increments. Pyro Kev and I team with Eddie from security. Kev is first, then Eddie, then me batting cleanup. We get off to a good start, Kev is fast, but ends up tangled in a few wrecks, same with Eddie. I jump in to make up a few laps, but get stuck behind one driver for a few laps before I can pass. We end up in 4th, I think. Everybody is grinning ear to ear after the race, most fun anybody has had on tour. They try to talk us into playing Laser Tag, but everyone just wants to race. Next up is a 30 lap sprint, with driver changes at every 5 laps. This is a quick one and I manage to post fast lap for the race, but not for the night overall. I missed getting in any major crashes too, and I hardly used the brake...

Back to the hotel and I'm pooped. Sleep like a rock...

Show Day, Melbourne

Wednesday, March 09, 2005

Up at 5am, get on bus for airport. Not too many happy faces this morning. Sleep on flight, arrive at the hotel about 11am. Catch another hour and a half of sleep, then off to the venue. Arrive at venue and eat lunch, pretty good. We're still way too early, as light are on the ground. Chill for a bit, then take the deck and set-up. Everything is behind today, band comes in later for soundcheck. Then it's time for doors. Eat dinner, watch some of Simple Plan's set (they love them here). And before you know it, it's SHOWTIME!! Show goes well, I've got the cues down. Singer pulls up another girl for bass, and our drummer pretends to cut the hair off the kid playing drums (I wouldn't give him my real scissors). More picks fly at the drummer. Aftershow, promoter swags the crew with jackets. These actually look pretty good. Cool. Back to hotel for much needed rest.

Show Day, Sydney

Tuesday, March 08, 2005

Go in early to send out my laundry. Gotta do it before Japan... Good breakfast. Get online and sort through emails and such. Set-up for show, soundcheck, etc. Show goes well, singer pulls up a girl to play bass tonight. She rocks!! We throw picks at the drummer, everyone stage center is dodging picks... Aftershow, pile in van and head back to hotel to catch a couple of hours sleep before the flight to Melbourne.

Travel Day, Brisbane to Sydney

Up early and go on walkabout. Check out the Queen Street Mall, lots of shops and even a Target. Get Starbucks and buy some magazines at Borders (my suitcase now weighs 50lbs from all the mags). Back to the hotel for 11:30 lobby call. Arrive at the airport, we get group check-in today. Grab a smoothie and board the plane. Fall asleep before takeoff and awake as we are decending into Sydney. Cool. Collect bags and off to the hotel.

As soon as we arrive (around 4:30pm), Big Kev and I head out to our favorite store, Route 66. This place has killer hot rod and greaser clothing, stickers, patches, etc. with a real 50's and 60's vibe. I buy a killer embroidered garage jacket. Spot a couple of cool restaurants (Thai and Indian) nearby...

Back to room for email check and relaxing. Go to dinner by myself, get directions for Thai from the concierge. Walk 15min and find I'm on the same street as Route 66, checkout the Thai joint, but the Indian place looks better. Order Prawn Vindaloo (HOT) and it comes out in about 5 min, wow that was fast!! Food is killer, but I seem to have trouble getting them to fill my water glass, did I mention that this Vindaloo is HOT!!

Back to the room for some reading, still haven't turned on the TV here. Fall asleep with the light on again.

Show Day, Brisbane, AU

Monday, March 07, 2005

Get up early and go walking around the area around the hotel, which is right next to a big river. Lots of boats, and a cool water taxi. Back to hotel for an noon call.

Get in bus for ride to venue, takes 45min. Can't they put these gigs closer to the people and not the cows? Lunch catering is lacking, so I eat a muffin and move on. Set-up for the show, huge guitar world today, must be 20' x 20'. Redo my rack once again, string some guitars, and help the tour manager get online (damn Windows). Band comes in for soundcheck. Uneventful. Dinner catering is better, I have fish (Barramundi) in garlic and tomato sauce. Later, go over the cues again with Jason.

Show is great, these kids really go nuts over here. When they pull up three kids for the jam (see earlier post), the drummer won't quit doing fills, so he's fired... The first kid they pull up on guitar can't even play a chord, so off he goes... The next guitar player can play, but I think he's older than me ;) Night finishes off well, I blow one cue in Blvd, which I thought I knew...

Back to the hotel, we unload form the van and notice something moving in the tree out front. It's full of BATS, and they're the size of a housecat too. YIKES!! Glad they're vegetarians...

Up too the room and off to bed.