Day 3: San Luis Obispo
Welcome
Yesterday we played in San Luis Obispo at the Madonna Inn.
Isn’t wifi just amazing. The venue wifi this morning is powerful, stable, and kind, and it just makes all the difference.
Overnight we had driven northwest, up through the greater Los Angeles region, and arrived at a city in California’s central coast region roughly halfway between LA and San Francisco. Specifically, we were right next to highway 101 at the Madonna Inn, the famously gaudy motel complex fully of themed rooms and inspired décor, a paradise for tourists and honeymooners.
Blue Paradise was parked next to the inn’s music venue, a huge hall that was like a logistics warehouse combined a 17th century hotel façade bolted onto the front, cedar shingles lining the roof, pillars made from stacked stones and rooms carved out of living rock. Alvvays’s crew were working hard, hanging lights adjusting projectors, and running cables around the keyboards and amps that were beginning to clutter the stage.
I constructed my breakfast in the front lounge of the bus when our rider came aboard, a splotch of garlic and lemon hummus surrounded with sliced cucumber, tomatoes, capsicum, avocado, celery, Italian country loaf, and a handful of deluxe mixed nuts.
There was plenty of free time to be enjoyed in the afternoon and members of the band spent it in some of the most noble physical pursuits. Cricket was played in the carpark and Jonathan’s new bat was put to the test. Jogs, and hikes provided cardiovascular stimulation. Our adjacence to Cerro San Luis Obispo, a fearsome looking volcanic peak, meant that we had a tangle of beautiful hiking and mountain biking trails to explore. My run was sweaty and fun, with challenging rocky trails, and a refreshing breeze that carried the smell of honey and wild herbs. Raptors rode the thermals in the sky above while lizards and quail scurried around in the underbrush. At the peak I found excellent views of the city and the surrounding mountains, and the great Highway 101 heading towards the pacific coastline.
Our soundcheck required some troubleshooting and it was Liz that devised a clever solution to a problem created by the controversial devices we know as subwoofers. The raw power and close proximity of these huge loudspeakers was vibrating the stage so much that her microphone would rattle sympathetically with every strike of the bass drum, a sound that would be carried through to the speakers.
It was an early show, and the daylight was still stubbornly hanging on when we mounted the stage at 7pm. It felt somewhat like a festival show with the temporary stage erected in the middle of this vast indoor pavilion, the happy crowd displaying their impressive breadth and nearly filling out the floor of the huge room. We played for a tight fifty-five minutes, a precise performance and a fun one encouraged by a man in the crowd holding up affirming messages on his phone screen, words like “GREAT JOB”, and “YOU’RE DOING GREAT”.
The Beths.
Afterwards we packed up in the darkness behind the stage and then ate dinner on the bus. Rested and refreshed we headed in to watch the headliner absolutely crush the second show of the tour, delivering sonic perfection to a loud and rowdy crowd of Californians.
Alvvays.
We ended the evening on the bus with our first movie screening of the tour, the 1986 historical mystery The Name of the Rose, starring Sean Connery and Christian Slater, 14th Century Franciscan monks attempting to solve a mysterious death at an abbey in Northern Italy.
It should be mentioned here at some point that The Beths have decided to do a clean-mouthed tour and will be remaining cuss-free for thirty days, both on and off stage. It has been challenging. Although the swear-free timer has yet to tick past the hour mark rest assured that we will improve ourselves, and we will persevere.