Day 1: Southampton
Welcome
Yesterday we drove to Southampton and played our first show of the tour.
I try to be very careful that all of my food writing comes from a place of objectivity. I believe that all breakfasts are equal, or failing that at least have the same function or are created with the same intent. That being said whenever I’m in London I do visit the same bakery without fail and that bakery is the Dusty Knuckle and it is located in Dalston. I was incredibly pleased to discover that Dusty Knuckle has opened a second branch and that it was located no more than 300m from our accommodation. We all visited this bakery first thing in the morning and I enjoyed a chocolate croissant and a fennel, sesame, feta, and honey pinwheel.
We were lucky to have our van and backline delivered right to our accommodation so when it arrived just before 1pm we piled in and set off for Southampton with Tristan behind the wheel. It was only a couple of hours’ journey and started out along the M25 ring road before linking up with the M3 to head Southwest, thoroughly enjoying being back on Britain’s comprehensive motorway network.
Our venue in Southampton was called The Loft and as with most lofts it was afforded access by a substantial staircase. The first load-in is always a great way to establish an intimate knowledge of the sizes and weights of all your rental equipment and it turns out that everything we hired is extremely heavy with most of the weight coming from the bulky lead-lined protective cases that help to prevent radiation leakage from the amps.
Mounting the stairs with the big drum hardware box.
All of our gear assembled ready for unpacking.
After a pretty smooth first setup and soundcheck we spent a while counting and sorting our merch - an essential step to keep the bean-counters back at Beths HQ happy. Our support band for this tour is Cherym - a three piece pop punk band from Derry, Northern Ireland. Cherym describe themselves as ✨THREE BASIC B!TCHES FROM DERRY✨but in reality they are much more than that. They came across as three beautiful souls who set the stage alight with their skill and energy. Prepare to hear a lot more about them in the coming days.
Jono counting the white mediums.
We had a great first show and it was nice to be heckled by some fresh accents. Cherym’s tour manager Will took a few shots of our set and I’ll post them below.
📷 Will Reading
📷 Will Reading
📷 Will Reading
At the end of the night we unplugged everything that was plugged in, returned all the amps to their cases, and boxed up all the tshirts that were out of their boxes before carting it all back down the stairs and into the cargo compartment of our van.
Tristan taking the time to back the van up against a lamppost to prevent any unauthorised entry into the cargo compartment.
Finally back at the hotel we collapsed into our beds hungry and exhausted and were lulled to sleep by the sights and sounds of a BBC nature documentary.
