April Tour: Day 10

Thursday April 19, 2012

What a gorgeous day in Chicago! Norah and I went for a run first thing in the morning and what a gorgeous day it was. It was about 17c and the neighbourhood was beautiful, the flowers were out and birds were chirping away. The perfect day. I got back to the house and there was a beautiful breakfast served. We took turns eating and having showers and eventually packed up to head out. This packing up process ended up taking a bit longer than we thought because we all felt so at home at Kathy's house that our suitcases kind of exploded in the comforts of our rooms! I'm pretty sure Norah was the worst, as she almost forgot her flutes in one room, whistles in another, laptop and iPhone in yet another! It was pretty funny but we all got sorted out and we finally hit the road. It was kind of like leaving home for college, as we drove away yelling our goodbyes and waving to Kathy and Cary in the driveway. Awwww! :-)

We then headed to Fairfield, Iowa. Looking at the beautiful huge & funky houses as we drove into town. Norah always talks about how relaxed she feels whenever she comes to Fairfield, probably because there are so many people that practice transcendental meditation here, everyone just feels the vibes! We arrived at Café Paradiso and got our coffee's and hung out for about an hour or so before our soundcheck. Thanks to their free wifi, we all got to catch up on some business and phone calls. We then got set up and did our soundcheck which was a breeze because of the lovely Tim who does sound there and is great at it. It was lovely to see him and be back in Café Paradiso again, as I had just been there a month and a half earlier with The Fretless. We had a nice little catch up after soundcheck as we all went for Thai food for dinner. We then headed back and got ready for the show. We all were so exhausted for some reason, so tried to get ourselves pumped up for the show, which worked. The audience was into it and we had a great time...despite Cillian breaking about 3 strings. Every time Cillian would break one of his guitar strings, I would break about 2 bow hairs, so I told him in the break that he can't break anymore strings or else I wouldn't have any bow hairs to play with!!! It was so hot and our instruments weren't used to the different temperatures so were acting up a bit. It all turned out ok and I even saw many people who were excited to The Outside Track, as they were at The Fretless' show the month before. Gotta love music lovers!

Exhausted, we piled back in the van to head to Tim's place as we were staying there for the night and were going to follow him there. Somehow we missed seeing his vehicle drive away and we literally thought he disappeared! He was parked right beside us and then he was gone!! After circling the block a few times, we guessed at a street and luckily he was just on his way back to find us! Another adventure! We unloaded at the house but the funniest scene yet, for this tour for me was Norah unloading the van. Everyone had taken their stuff inside and I was coming back out to help with the last few bags, and all I could see was Norah pick up a suitcase and fling it out of the van as it flies through the air and lands on the grass! It was probably the funniest sight, as she was bent over the seats in the van, lit up by the interior lights of the van. Both her suitcase and mine are broken and the most awkward to get out, and with our exhaustion those 2 bags ended up flying out of the car. Definitely a funny tour moment! We were very happy to see our beds that night!