Day 2: Bristol
Welcome
Yesterday we began the tour with a show in Bristol, England.
I arose at 6.30am, ready to stop not until the goal is reached. My first goal was to finish the last few episodes of the TV show I had been binging on my flight (HBO’s The Last of Us). Not a difficult goal but one I accomplished, nonetheless. Then I arose again, with a second goal in my sights: trying to find a nice breakfast in the vicinity of our airport hotel. Gabe and I did manage to find a spot only ten minutes’ walk away, a Portuguese Deli called Café Madeirinhas. We arrived to find that it was a popular spot. Groups of men in business shirts and shiny sunglasses stood around enjoying cigarettes and conversation, while inside the café men with stowed sunglasses stood at the counter chatting over espresso. Perhaps this was one of Heathrow’s hidden treasures that we had stumbled upon.
Gabe and I found a table inside and I ordered a sandwich for breakfast, a Prego Especial – bread, steak, salad, cheese, ham, egg, and a side of chips.
At half past midday Jon and Liz arrived with the van, a black Mercedes Benz Civilised Sprinter. It will take quite a while for me to explain and review every single feature but today I’ll begin by giving an overview of this vehicle’s layout. In the front you will find a very standard side by side installation of the driver and passenger seats. Nothing special there, just a steerage wheel and a few buttons. The passenger bay is located behind the driving area and contains a table and six seats: three forward facing and three backward facing. Finally, there is the cargo bay which can be accessed from the rear doors of the Civilised Sprinter, or through a narrow door in the back of the passenger bay.
We mounted up and with Jon behind the wheel we boarded the M4 Motorway for the journey to Bristol. It was a nice and easy 90 minutes from Heathrow, and we arrived at our venue to find Tristan waiting for us. He had caught the bus across to Bristol a day early so he could go and see the Cloud Nothings, one of his favourite bands.
One of the things about rental backline, especially in the UK is that they aren’t afraid of a little extra weight. We have been provided with the sturdiest and heaviest cymbal stands available. The protective cases for the amps are all lead lined to protect against a radioactive leak. We tried to rent the lightest bass amp and ended up with the largest one we’ve ever seen. This monster, which is even slightly broader than the speaker cabinet, has six huge 6550 power tubes which deliver a ‘world tour-ready’ 300 watts and provide the performer with an ‘all-tube vibe’.
Luckily the venue had an elevator to do most of the heavy lifting, and most of the cases are wheeled so it’s only getting them in and out of the van that is awkward. Our first soundcheck went very smoothly. Having Gabe along is such a blessing and we instantly fell back into the groove we had established on our last US tour.
We were happy to discover that Bird, our inflatable fish was waiting for us, having safely completed the journey across the Atlantic. Also waiting was my new bass case, replacing the now irreparably damaged case that has served me so well since The Beths began touring internationally. I would like to thank Chris Pearce for lending me this case for such a long period and apologise profusely for not returning it in the condition which it was lent. My new case should be very durable, has wheels, and will be able to fit a spare bass or guitar alongside my bass. Carrying a backup guitar would be a big step forward for the band, taking us up into the ranks of other professional bands who don’t have to change a string on stage.
Another exciting development is that Tristan has stepped forward into the role of tour videographer, and has brought along his Sony DCR-SR21 handycam. Don’t expect me to stop making gifs, but I’m hoping that at certain points in the tour I might be able to share some much higher quality video content than you usually see on this blog.
Tristan and I went for a run after soundcheck. It’s always impressive to see how folks in the UK approach their summer weather. Public facilities like parks and waterfronts are teeming with people who have come out of winter at a sprint, trading their cosy pubs for a sun that hangs around until 9 or 10pm. Back home in Auckland the winters are a bit more mild and though we do love to spend our summer evenings outdoors, we just don’t have the same energy you get from rebounding from a cold, dark winter.
As showtime approached we all began to crash. I began eating strawberries to try and stay awake. We tried eating teacakes. Normally we would drink a Yerbamate and get some uncomfortable caffeine jitters going, but the Yerba’s hadn’t been provided in the rider. I was trying to write the blog but my brain felt like had turned into jam. This was the closest I had felt to stopping before the goal is reached.
Luckily the twenty strawberries I ate provided just enough fructose to get me on stage and then the adrenaline took over. Tristan had given us a briefing just before the set: we needed to apply higher than usual levels of concentration to avoid any huge fuck-ups. It took a lot of mental energy trying to remember to concentrate, but in the end we managed it, playing a pretty good first show of the tour. Bristol were a lovely crowd and even seemed to forgive our inability to deliver any worthwhile banter.
It was 1am by the time we made it to our hotel, an establishment called Arnos Manor. It felt like a very traditional English hotel which had begun as a single small building and had a number of annexes added over time, each by a different architect, and each with a different intention. The room I was sharing with Tristan had prioritised multi-level living and this seemed to have influenced the placement of the bathroom and the way it interjected into most of the living space. The pleasantness that the mezzanine created was well worth the spatial sacrifice, though.
Our room as seen in the morning light. The bathroom wall occupies the left hand side of the frame.
I’ll leave you with a special treat that Tristan has put together, capturing some of the memorable moments of our day in Bristol.