tour report - vienna

after leipzig we left immediately to start the long journey to vienna. i slept through most of the trip, so i missed seeing the black forest and the czech republic entirely. which is kind of a bummer, but i think it was mostly dark, so i'm not sure what there would have been to see anyway. when i did get up and go downstairs, we were stuck in traffic somewhere in the outskirts of vienna, and running late to the gig.

when we got into vienna itself, we were amazed at how classically beautiful the city itself was. it's sort of like the quintessential european city in an aesthetic sense. the architecture was just stunning, everywhere you looked. it was really amazing, and i was sad that we didn't have more time to get out of the bus and take pictures...seemed like everywhere i looked there was something snapshot worthy.

but, like i said, we were running late. so when we arrived at the venue, we had to get all hands on deck for the load-in. the informatik load-in is so easy...just a few small cases and our instruments. the mesh load-in, on the other hand, is a crazy amount of work. all the lighting rigs, and flat screens, and instruments are in huge professional flight cases. plus a bunch of massive lighting trusses, this is why they have 4 people who are dedicated to loading! it's a massive effort, and i can't stress enough how impressed i am by their team, everyone is just so awesome and professional.

we managed to get everything into the venue, built out, and setup for soundcheck with enough time so that we all got soundchecked, even janosch. it was pretty impressive, given everything that had to happen to make it possible. one thing that kind of sucked was that the merch had to be put into a separate room, outside of the performance space. that's bad for business, and it makes a boring night for sandra (our merchbot).

we did a little walking around since we ended up having a little extra time, and i thought i'd try to find a new flashlight to replace the one that i lost in leipzig. it's funny about the flashlight...it's possibly the one piece of gear that i have used more than any other thing on this tour. every night i keep it in my pocket so that it won't get lost. this has the unfortunate side effect of causing bruises all over my right leg, since my guitar is getting slammed into my body repeatedly during our set. rich from mesh made the suggestion that i take it out while onstage, which seemed like a pretty legitimate idea. and of course, it immediately grew legs and walked away, never to be seen again. in any case, i was unable to find a replacement, so...r.i.p. flashlight!

dinner tonight was a buyout so we found a restaurant downstairs from the venue where we could get some falafel, which was delicious. however, i have to say one negative thing about vienna: everyone smokes. and not just smokes, but chain smokes, and not just outside, but in every conceivable indoor space. when we walked into the restaurant, it was like walking into a fog machine made of cigarette smoke. kinda nasty when you're trying to eat. and of course, people in the venue were blowing smoke at us the whole time as well. i've been coughing for a few days now, and i though it was just because i was getting sick...then i realized, i'd inhaled enough secondhand smoke in vienna to last a lifetime.

the show itself went well, we had plenty of people upfront for our set, i have to say it was one of the more physically attractive audiences on the tour. i don't know what that's about, but we all agreed on that one. people were singing along, and that was great, it's always nice when we're not playing to a completely cold audience. as it turned out after the show, there were some people who had come to see us from as far away as finland and slovakia! so that was really pretty amazing! i am always impressed and greatful that people like our music enough to make those journeys!

mesh and janosch both had good shows tonight, and the whole thing turned out to be a really good time, even after the high stress load-in. not our biggest crowd, but definitely very awesome people, and we all had a really great time!

we'd like to thank: lalli (for coming from finland and teaching us about austrian red bull with cocablatt), the slovakian girls, our soundpeople and the local crew for helping out, and everyone else that we met that night! i am getting much worse with remember names, the longer this tour goes. sorry about that! vienna, you were wonderful, and i hope we can return in the future (with a little more time to explore).