Day 40: Columbus
Welcome
Yesterday we played the final show of our 2022 North American Summer Tour.
It was our last early morning wake-up. The deep golden light from the recent sunrise fell upon the scattered houses and old brick warehouses on the slopes of Mount Washington alongside the Monongahela River. We drove down the Boulevard of the Allies and onto Insterstate 376, passing the famous Duquesne Brewery clock as we headed west to leave the city.
Twice the size of Big Ben, the 18.3m Duquesne Brewery clock was the largest single-face clock in the world when it was installed in 1933.
Tristan had the honour of driving our Mercedes Benz Sprinter for the final stint to Columbus, Ohio. Sitting in the back seat I ate my final tour breakfast, a cold slice of cheese pizza leftover from the previous night’s show.
Our morning appointment was a radio session for WWCD in their live studio ‘The Big Room’, a medium-sized room with lots of upside down and broken guitars on the walls. The story with morning sessions is always the same – vocal warmups in the van, more vocal warmups at the venue, steam the voice – trying to accelerate a process that is much easier at the end of the day. We set up on the Big Room’s small stage and performed four songs to a small in-studio audience and then fielded a few questions from the radio host.
It wasn’t far to the venue, and we headed there next, arriving early, which gave us time to do a thorough clean-out of the van. We had been keeping a fairly tidy ship and apart from a minor cashew infestation around some of the rear seat mounts it didn’t take long to return everything to a respectable condition. The back row of seats was reinstalled and once again our Sprinter was returned to its native fourteen-seater passenger carrying format.
At long last, our 26th show was upon us. We were at A&R Music Bar, a 300-capacity room in Columbus’s arena district. As we were sound checking we could hear the notes of The Star Spangled Banner carrying on the breeze from the neighbouring baseball stadium, opening up the evening’s game between the Columbus Clippers and the Iowa Cubs.
Then it was time. Rosie Tucker walked up on stage to play their last opening set. We stood out on the patio and savoured every last moment, feeling incredibly sad to be hearing these songs for the final time.
During our set Rosie and their band stood side of stage and tried to distract us at every opportunity. Luckily, we are an extremely professional band and were able to deliver a solid performance and keep the Columbus crowd happy.
We celebrated after the set with Prosecco and icecream, all nine of us packed into the tiny green room. To say that we have become attached to the Rosie Tucker band over the past month would be an understatement. They have been the perfect travel companions, the most inspiring performers, and the kindest friends.
It took a lot to get us all to leave the venue, but it had to happen and eventually we said our goodbyes. Rosie will drive their van, Mammoth Jenny, all the way back to Los Angeles, while we will fly to LA, and from there on to New Zealand.
The final goodbyes outside the venue.
We in The Beths are incredibly grateful to everyone who came out to see us over the past six weeks. An extra special thanks goes to the folks who masked up at our shows. Touring in the pandemic is still filled with uncertainties and we are so thankful that we were able to make it through this run without anyone getting sick.
Finally, thanks to Jake, Apple, and Anthony at Monster Management for all your incredible behind the scenes work.
I’ll have a a small break from blogging now. Catch you all in a couple of weeks when we head to Australia, and then New Zealand.
Ben