Warsaw & Wroclaw

Day 5:

Warsaw-

The drive was fairly short, but it being around 80 degrees fahrenheit and crammed into a van with 8 other dudes, it gets a bit crazy. 

We had sandwich fixings waiting for us when we arrived, then we loaded on the stage and sound checked. 

We were offered dinner, but none of thought it was a good idea to eat before playing or we'd get sick. So I had a salami and cheese sandwich, and we did our pre-show exercises.

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Even before playing it was already extremely hot and humid, and I was sweating buckets. So I knew the stage while playing will be the ultimate heat. Luckily though, we got the fan this year. 

The polish fans are always some of the craziest fans. They went bonkers throughout the whole set, and for our last song in particular, there were much anticipated stage dives. They even all sat down for the quiet middle section of Wake, and then blasted back up for the finale. Poland is always crazy fun to play. 

We slept in the hostel next door to the venue. It was extremely hot still, with very little air movement. I chose to take my shower in the morning because I end up sweating through the night, so taking a shower at night was futile. 

Day 6:

Wroclaw-

Still hot this morning, and very humid. We made a stop off at a Tesco, which is like a grocery store combined with a small mall-like structure. We got some breakfast for ourselves. I had sushi, and it was nothing spectacular, but it was nice having an all inclusive meal with fish, veggies, rice, etc. 

Now on the road to Wroclaw. Still hot, but we hit a bit of rain clouds, and I think we saw that it's going to be cooler in Wroclaw. This is our last show in Poland for the tour, and in the city, and at the same venue we first played ever in Europe in 2009. So a bit of nostalgia, and a mess of good fun. 

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The show was awesome and crazy, and we had a lot of fun. People seem to be down with our new 'no encore' policy, but you have to understand, we do it not because we don't about the fans hearing the songs they love. It's about curating a set that we think fits the crowd, and then playing it to its fullest intensity up till the very last hit. When we are requested to do an encore, all our energy has been already spent on our planned set, and now you're getting a half-assed attempt to muster whatever energy we have left to poop out another song, and we felt that instead of that scenario, we'd just plan for s longer set, play the songs to their maximum intensity, and leave the crowd with an awe inspiring performance rather than ending on a low less energetic encore. 

Sleepy bye time at a pretty nice hostel in Wroclaw. Off to Vienna tomorrow. 

Berlin & Gdańsk

Day 3:

Berlin-

We were able to do laundry last night, which was helpful, but not completely necessary. We need laundry done later in the tour when we're running out of clothes rather than the second day where I've barely worn one set of clothes. No matter, it was still nice. We had some sandwiches and fruit for breakfast, some coffee, and then we hit the road for Berlin. A mostly smooth trip, around 6hrs, but a bit of traffic slowing us down at various points. 

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We got to the venue and immediately loaded in and onto the stage. I made a bee line for the bar to get myself a club-mate. Delicious energy tea/beverage. 

We had barbecue for dinner. Some very large sausages, grilled cheese, veggies, and steak.

The show was quite toasty, but luckily we have out trusty fan with us. We were all stoked when Armine asked people to not smoke during the set or it'll start hurting his throat (and the rest of us wouldn't be too happy about it either) and people actually listened and didn't smoke. 

The only real bummer of the day was when we got to where we were sleeping and there was barely enough room for all of us in an unventilated room. I slept on one of the couches in another room, along with Armine and Matt, and our driver Mike slept in the van. The toilet backed up almost instantaneously, and there was no plunger in sight, so it stayed like that. 

In the morning we had to be let out of the building because the front door was locked for security reasons. 

Day 4: 

Gdańsk-

We're now on the road to Poland. AC running again since it is almost 80 degrees outside. The  Poland countryside reminds me of Nebraska. Lots of farms and fields and nothingness. Pretty, but boring.

We got to the venue in Gdansk, and it's huge. It looks like a place where they're having s festival, but only using one section. 

On the down side of things, looks like the crappy room some of the dudes slept in last night had bed bugs...I'm super glad I slept on the couch (as did Matt, Armine, and Evan from North), and our driver Mike slept in the van. 

Currently sitting out in the middle of the main stage area (which is not in use) using the wifi since it doesn't actually reach to the backstage. We're staying at a hostel tonight, and then onto Warsaw tomorrow. 

The 2016 European adventure begins.

Day 1:

Philly to Frankfurt to Brussels -

Our flight out of Philadelphia was more than smooth, and we had no problems once in Frankfurt airport, however Norths' flight was delayed by about 4 hours, and we ended up being late to the show in Brussels. Thankfully we made it just in time to throw our gear up on stage for North to play. There was a hard noise curfew of 10pm, and we made it with 3 or 4 minutes to spare. 

We were also fairly lucky that all the gear worked fine, and we didn't have any broken or missing pieces for the gear. We couldn't figure out how to operate the keyboard stand we had gotten for Armines' sample gear, but we'll have enough time to figure it out tonight in Essen. 

Our sleeping situation was pretty nice. We didn't have to load out after the show since the venue had beds in the building. I was able to wake up and shower, and they had breakfast waiting for us. 

Day 2:

Brussels to Essen -

Only a short while into our drive we pull off the highway to use the bathroom, and there are police waiting to flag is aside. This will mark the first time Rosetta has ever had the van weighed on tour. 

When the policeman opened the side door, he noted we had no seat belts on. Obviously not, since we're about to hop out and use the toilet, but we weren't going to argue with the police. 

They had us pull to the side, and checked our passports. They then weighed the van and said we were 900kilo over limit (around 2k lbs). Along with the seatbelt fine, we payed around €630 just to stop and use the facilities. We were pissed. Only the second day of tour, and we were already being hassled by police. 

A nice sleeping spot, food, and vegan chocolate awaits us in Essen. Till then, we just enjoy the scenery and traffic on the drive. 

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The green room and sleeping spot at the venue in Essen had improved significantly since last year. The show was on a different stage than last time, but considerably better. 

We got vegan chocolate, and it was awesome, and pretty much all of it was gone by the end of the day. We got our exercises in before our delicious pasta dinner, and then rocked out. I got to take a shower, and we're doing laundry. On to Berlin tomorrow.