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Thursday, April 12, 2012
Day 1
at The Comet
w/ Princess, Elk Rider, and Kinski
Tour kickoffs are funny things... they're in your home town, so you haven't hit the road yet. They're in the place where all your friends live, so they generally have a good crowd, and you get to sleep in your own bed (and have a reliable shower) one last time. It's a normal show, and then it's also not a normal show, because it is still the beginning of the tour.
The “oh shit, here we go!” factor really contributes to that; today was the day we reclaimed the van from the mechanic, and receiving a The van is fucked text from Joel two hours before the show doesn't really inspire joyous feelings. I'd spent the day getting my stuff in order, buying travel-sized stuff and making sure I had another black tie for the stage outfit, and then that text comes in...
I should have bought a travel-sized Pepto Bismol. (They had some-- it's right next to the travel-sized Purel)
With the van in the shop, there was a real concern that it wouldn't be ready-- since we practice right around the corner from The Comet, we can (and have, if needed) just walk our gear over to the venue. It's not ideal, but it's doable. I'd prefer that idiots with pry bars didn't cause The van is fucked messages at all, but I am relieved that it's an instrument panel and not the engine that inspires them.
On with the show-- our kickoff coincided with ChoiceFest's first day, so Ladies Choice Productions set us up with a really cool line-up (thanks, Adam!), and the opener, Princess, shares members with the band that sort of discovered ubik... which is to say, it was really good to see Andrew again. I even wore my Keeper shirt (the “Obey the Wizard” one-- I wear it to work when I can, because no one argues with you when you have the word OBEY printed across you in big, block letters).
It seemed like everyone suffered from technical difficulties: Princess borrowed a Kinski guitar (the guitar went dead), Kinski borrowed one of my cables (the guitar went dead), and we... well, Joel's cabinet caught fire again. This was meant to be the triumphant return of Joel's Ampeg 8x10, which burst into flames on Christmas 2010, and had to be drug outside as we pulled hunks of flaming insulation out of the cabinet. Since then, it's gotten eight new speakers, it's been rewired, and given a flash new paint job.
In the middle of the third song, I smelled smoke, and there was no low end. We finished the set with Kinski's bass cab... we really owe them for that. We'd have been cut short after two songs if Kinski didn't bail us out. From there on, the show went off without a hitch; it was a good show, good crowd, good night all in all.
Still, better this kind of thing happens before we leave Seattle, while we can still course-correct for the tour. Pam (who plays in Scyphozoa with Tyler) has a Behringer 8x10 she's willing to loan us for the trip, so she's officially saved the tour.
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