Lights Over TaLL

Touring Life

Sept 1st we started our first nation wide tour.  Thus far we have conquered 10 cities and just arrived in Chicago to rock number 11 tomorrow night.  Touring life is tough for a start up project, anyway you look at it.  Right now there is 3 groups that are touring with us and everyone is working extremely hard in their own way.  LOP is fortunate enough to have an amazing crew with us which is responsible for setting up, tearing down, making sure the sounds are right, making sure the front of house doesn’t randomly go out in the middle of a set.  The crew makes things look more official and also give the band as a whole more time to enjoy themselves.  The other bands not only hustle in the streets to get awareness for themselves, but they have to set up merch, set up their instruments, do their sound check, tear down after the show, sell their merch, etc.  LOP has LOPNation traveling with and their sole purpose is to gain awareness for the band, hustle the streets, make new friends, and slang merch.

Surprisingly, I get most of my work done early morning and have days off to sit around, look for t-shirts, and do whatever needs to be done (work out, write, etc).  Friends have randomly flown out to visit and rock a show or two, and they get a little taste of the schedule of the touring life.  Partying happens here and there, but not as much as you would hope.  Everyone parties really hard when the time is right and takes it easy on other days to make sure we are good to go for the next show.  I strategically scheduled no shows on Sundays to allow for Fantasy Football and to actually attend games at whatever stadium happens to be closest.  This Sunday I am stoked because I get to see Manning VS Manning in Indianapolis.  

The actually shows have been great for the most part.  The first show was an acoustic show for 500 kids in Modesto for a Top40 radio station.  That show absolutely rocked.  The first real full band show was in San Fran.  I hated this show.  The front of house had problems, our sounds were really messed up, and it was our first show which obviously had a ton of mistakes and was just a huge learning curve.  The second show was in Portland, OR and was fantastic.  We partied hard after the show and couldn’t see straight for a few days.  Some venues have a lot of kids, and some have 40.  Totally depends on the city, radio play, and the amount of hustle the street team put into things.  A show can really make or break your mood for the next few days.

The one thing I do know is that everybody is learning from each show.  It doesn’t matter how many previous shows you have played in your life, with this specific project, everyone is getting better and better from each show that is played.  Last night in Milwaukee we played for the hearing impaired and we had an interpreter on stage signing the entire show.  This was great, and since our light show is awesome they really really enjoyed it they said.  TOTL was their favorite because the hand sign is very very simple and the lights that went with it really moved them.

Right now we just got back from seeing “The Town” and I am sitting in my room at the Hard Rock Hotel.  Earlier today we picked up some new clothes and had Chicago deep dish pizza.  Tomorrow night we are rocking the club at 9:30 and then going out after.  I assume we won’t remember much and the following morning we are off to Indy to watch the game!

Overall, tour is a blast and it’s getting more and more fun the more and more we learn and excel at all of our positions.  I cannot wait to hit New York, Boston, VA Beach, and of course the Roxy…

our schedule is posted:  www.lightsoverparis.com/schedule