Chris' Progressive Nation Tour Blog:
Rehearsal day was awesome. I actually failed to add this part earlier but I was watching the Dream Theater rehearsal on front row up in the balcony at the Fillmore. Well, when I was walking down the stairs the lights were out and I failed to see the last step. So I ate it hard. Being a guitar player, the first thing that went through my head on the way down was "lift up your hands". So I did that and took it in the ribs.
Bruised ribs!
Day 1 (07/24/09): (Miami, FL @ The Fillmore, Jackie Gleason Theater)
So Day 1 officially started yesterday in Miami! We have been in town for a few days to make sure we made the long drive with no problems. Hit up the beach on the first day in north Miami. Water was so nice. Went to the Miami Beach strip and had some pizza!
Beach!
Pizza from the strip!
We got to the venue on Thursday afternoon and got to meet most of the guys in
Dream Theater and watch some of their rehearsal. Was sounding badass of course. I was actually watching from behind the stage as
Mike Portnoy walked out right by me and being the type of guy that I am I didn't want to bother him while they were rehearsing. He stopped, turned around, and said "Oh hey Chris". I was shocked that he recognized me, haha. It felt great though, super cool guy. I'm really looking forward to getting to know them all. First guy I met was
James Labrie. We walked into the venue, and then into the production room and I'm not making this up... I hear them from down the hall making Scale The Summit jokes. All I heard was "Is there a Summit around here?". We walk in and James goes "there they are". Haha so funny. Very nice guy. I met
Jordan Rudess a lot later in the day, also super nice guy. We was telling me that he just finished writing some stuff for the show, what a badass. Talked about a few other things, those guys have been my main inspiration for years now so it was amazing to meet them.
Got to meet
John Petrucci and his guitar tech a little later on after there first rehearsal, so nice. We talked a little about the new Mesa Mark V head and how much he loved it. I honestly didn't think we would want to talk with us about gear when he has being touring for 20 years, what a awesome guy, and I might add... he is still ripped. Maybe an arm wrestle? He would break my arm haha.. His rack gear is insane! I couldn't even begin to hook it all together. I'm hoping to get the chance to play through his setup one of the days, we'll see, this tour is on a super tight schedule for everything, fingers crossed though.
Catering on the tour is damn amazing. I had a hamburger, salad, and a nice cold soda for lunch and then for dinner they had cocoanut shrimp, pork chops, mahi mahi, green beans, caesar salad, and deserts. So good! Its spoiling actually, but I will admit that I love it, who wouldn't?
The Show: First off, we had about an hour sound check, which is fantastic. Longest sound check we have ever got the chance to have. The venue was massive and had great acoustics.
The Fillmore before doors opened!
The show was more amazing than I thought it was going to be as its the first show on the tour and sometimes those can be a little more scary. This one was perfect. We all played damn good, it sounded like everything felt great as well. We actually received a standing ovation at the end, so thanks to everyone that took part in that, it seriously made my year. We have also never played a seated venue before, so getting everyone out of their seats felt amazing on its own! Thanks to all the fans that came out early and to all the new ones we made and met yesterday!
Crowd shot!
We did a
meet and greet right after Big Elf's set, while Zappa Plays Zappa were getting ready, and so that everyone knows.
We will be doing meet and greets at every show in between the Big Elf and Zappa Plays Zappa change out. So just head over to the merch booth then, we'll be signing autographs, taking pictures, chatting, etc... So make sure to come hang out!
On the road to Orlando right now. Looking forward to rocking out at the Hard Rock tonight. Until next time! -Chris
Day 2 (07/25/09): (Orlando, FL @ Hard Rock Live)
We made it to the Hard Rock at about 3pm. Loaded in right when we got to the venue. On this tour, which I failed to mention yesterday was that most of these places are union based so you aren't allowed to load in your own gear. Thats a pretty sick rule if you ask me, especially since it was super hot in Orlando.
Outside of the Hard Rock Live!
I got to spend more time with Portnoy in catering before this show started as I was able to eat lunch with him. Me and Travis talked with him about the tour, future tours, what we grew up listening to, and his family being on the road. Its seriously the most amazing thing to be able to spend time with these guys on this tour and talk about things other than, "thanks thanks thanks for picking us on this tour" everytime I see one of them, haha. Mike hooked us up with some killer tour posters from the Miami show. You know they are getting framed as soon as I get home. The names on the poster couldn't be more rewarding for us. The logo for all the band goes in a circle, our name to the left of DT. So badass.
Show: Tonight again was amazing. We had been rehearsing everyday since this tour was announced to make sure we knew these songs forward in backwards with little room for error. We of course wanted to make sure that we put on a great live performance as well as deliver the songs note for note. So far its been going great. Another great crowd tonight, you guys are seriously making this the best year of my life, and its going to be hard to top after this tour is over. Playing seated venues is somewhere I thought we all belong as we're not super metal, so there is no need for a mosh pit, so its awesome that the crowd is still able to deliver that vibe all the way to us. It feels great. Another standing ovation as well, thanks so much for doing that guys!
Crowd Shot!
Meet And Greet: This was awesome. Glad so many of you guys came and said hello after our set! Nice talking, signing and taking pictures. Always fun!
One particular incident at the meet and greet was a dad brought his... about 8 year old son up to us so we could sign the "Carving Desert Canyons" postcard (which are free at the merch booth in case you need something for us to sign). I was the last one to sign it and when I handed it back to them his dad goes "there you go buddy, you got them all". His kid was so stoked, it was awesome, made me feel great seeing that kids smile. I remember getting excited meeting bands I liked. Just like when we met the guys in DT the first day on the tour, same thing, very awesome!
That about sums up the Orlando show, we're actually in our hotel room right now, everyone is still asleep. We'll be getting up soon to make our way to the next show, in Clearwater. I heard this venue is super nice. Excited once again.
Day 3 (07/26/09): (Clearwater, FL @ Ruth Eckerd Hall)
Venue was really cool tonight, I liked the seating arrangement. Super epic looking. I got to spend more time chatting with Mike and Jordan today just about stuff. It really makes the tour so awesome that they are open to just chatting with the other band members. Such nice guys.
Catering was so so. We are getting totally spoiled on this tour, because the fish has been so damn good, but tonight it was honestly just awful. Haha, not that I cared, I ate it anyway because its free. I broke down and ate a couple of cookies today as well. I've been trying to stay away from that stuff, but its hard because I walk by it about 20 times during the show. (*Edit: Found out the next show that the catering at the Tampa venue had uncooked Chicken, wow! Thankfully I didn't have chicken!)
One of the guys that worked at the venue was carrying around this little bunny he found outside. So tiny! Thought I should share!
The Show: It was great overall. Something was completely messed up with our in ear monitors though which made it unenjoyable for both me and Travis for the first 3 songs. Hoping to get things figured out at the Atlanta show. Thankfully we are all professional and know are songs forwards and backwards, so it didn't affect our stage presence or the crowds sound. Received yet another standing ovation which made my night once again. Seriously... all you guys are amazing! So glad to be on this tour!
Crowd shot!
Meet & Greet: It was great again tonight, so glad all you guys are so pumped on coming out to the merch area to say hello us, take pictures, and have us sign stuff. Its really good times all around and we're all very happy to do it!
Ducked out of the show early tonight. We actually left during "Metropolis", the last song in their set tonight, which was so badass. I got to watch that one the night before in Orlando, it is one of my favorites. We had to leave though, needed to catch up on sleep! About the hit the sack, staying at a Comfort Inn.
We have a day off tomorrow for the drive to Atlanta. I have a feeling this show, crowd wise is going to be insane! Its got a large standing room area and those are my favorite style of shows, you get the best vibe from the crowd when its up close and personal.
Day 4 (07/27/09): (Day Off / Driving to Atlanta, GA)
The drive is going great today. Its only about an 8 hour haul from Clearwater to Atlanta. We're going to be all staying at my aunts place a little north of Atlanta. Crazy rain on the way there, besides that the drive has been fine so far.
Made it to my aunts house in Roswell around 9:30pm. She ordered us pizzas and bought the guys beer. We ate it all pretty quickly, then went down her backyard to the community pool for an hour or so. Had the entire pool to ourselves, was super relaxing. Great day off.
Day 5 (07/28/09): (Atlanta, GA @ The Tabernacle)
We made it over the Tabernacle around 2pm. I couldn't believe the back up job I was able to do with the trailer in such a tight parking garage. The guy that helped us back it in came up to me after I put the van in park and started telling me to "stop breathing so hard". Haha, I didn't think I was, and then he's like "don't let anyone ever tell you can't do it". Haha, by the time that sentence was finished I was totally lost as no one said I couldn't do it, haha.
Dressing rooms were huge, it's nice to spread out and have some space. Got a lot of warming up and practicing done.
Catering was amazing! They had grilled zucchini and squash, tilapia with pineapple on it, steak, green beans, rice, salad... and finally... Dr. Pepper. Haven't had a dp in over 5 days now, haha. Was dying for one because I'm just not a fan of Coke.
The Show: The show tonight was amazing. The Tabernacle has a 1,000 general admission area for standing, and then a few balconies. I love the standing room shows as I feel more attached to the audience and you can feel the vibe a lot better! So much fun. The balconies were crazy, it almost felt as if they were sitting on top of you. We all played great again, practicing everyday before we left for this tour really payed off! It helps us to play more comfortable and put on a entertaining, active show. It was great! Thanks to all that came out early and made for such an amazing time!
Inside the Tabernacle:
Crowd Shot! (A very small percentage of them! As you can see from the picture above, there were balconies!)
Meet and greets went ok. Not near as many people came up to us as the past shows due to the standing room. No one wanted to loose their spot and they made sure to email/message me later that night to let me know, haha. Sorry you guys missed out, and we of course understand. There will be a next time!
Crashed out at my aunt's house again after the show. Thanks for the food and for letting us all sleep there. It was great seeing you again. It was awesome to have family come out to see us on this tour since the venues have been so amazing!
Day 6 (07/29/09): (Ashville, NC @ Thomas Wolfe Auditorium)
Currently in the van on the road to the Ashville show. Its raining hard and Travis is driving right now. Should be arriving around 2pm at the venue.
Venue was definitely interesting. Had the longest load in strip I have seen so far. Thankfully this place was union based so we had guys doing all the loading for us again. Its spoiling like no other!
Sound Check / The Show: We were able to get a nice sound check in today, which turned out to be a waste. BigElf showed up to the show 20 minutes before doors opened, which makes them like 3 hours late. They apparently, their crew or the venues crew moved or unplugged something as we play an intro and start are set right away. Travis noticed something not working in his guitar rig. It just figured that it would happen. We are the most professional guys that you will ever meet and take our performance seriously. The crowd of course thought it was funny, as everyone knows, shit happens! Its just that we couldn't have a more epic intro song picked out, and for it to be ruined is just irritating when we were prepared and something had been moved and not put back properly.
Crowd Shot!
Meet & Greet: This one went great, as this was once again a seated venue so people could get up without loosing their spots. Glad a lot of you came up to us. It was awesome meeting you all, signing stuff and taking pictures! Always a good time!
We have a day off tomorrow, so we decided to leave early from the show today... currently in the van. We're going to drive about 4 hours tonight and get a hotel, crash out and finish the rest of the drive to Philly tomorrow!
Mike Portnoy was out and about on the stage while we were setting up for sound check, Jordan told me that him and our crew dude were chatting about him coming out and doing a jam session with us if BigElf didn't make it in time for the show. Jordan said that he said he would love to but that our stuff and jordan quoted this, he said,
"you guys stuff is to hard". I laughed when he told me that. Yes, definitely Dream Theater's new album seems much easier than their older catalogue and way easier than the Liquid Tension stuff, but come on... haha. Thats just funny Mike said that. We all don't think that our music is really that technically challenging. Anyways... thats the random quote of the day, pretty silly. Just shows you that he is a real dude. So rad.
Despite the little mishap at the beginning of our set, I'm having the time of my life, if you couldn't tell : )
Day 7 (07/30/09): (Day Off / Driving to Upper Darby, PA)
Just did a bunch of driving, stopped at a Staples to fax a few things. Ate dinner at this Ranchero Mexican food place, got giant Margaritas, was pretty hammered and since I never drink it hit me pretty hard! It was really fun though. Food was great.
Day 8 (07/31/09): (Upper Darby, PA @ Tower Theatre)
Got to the club around 2pm for load in. Super tricky load in at the Tower Theatre, the streets are all one way so it made it a little hard to get to the parking area for the venue.
We finally got parked outside of the venue and this guy freaked out on Steven (our Tour manager) about how we needed to park the opposite direction so that his guys could load in the gear easier. They had an arguing battle back and fourth for a good while. It was honestly damn ignorant as if we turned it around it would only make us 10 feet closer to the door, which is ridiculous since all of our gear is on wheels. That guy was just being a jackass to be one I suppose. Some sort of "new manager" power trip. You guys all know we held our ground and didn't move an inch! So we won!
HOLY CRAP! The rain today was insane. It flooded on the side of the venue, and then one of the employees decided to open one of the side doors to the venue and the water rushed all the way in just like Jumanji. Literally 4 inches of water from the stage up about 10 freaking rows. It was pretty nuts. I couldn't believe how much water came in. That actually held doors about 50 minutes later to vacuum the water out. They were able to let everyone into the lobby area that way they are inside and then just had to run to get to there seats about 10 minutes before we started. Playing first is actually a lot less stressful, I like it... well on this tour since everyone knows to show up early!
The Show: Was amazing tonight! Everything moved really smoothly throughout our set, even the intro into our first song. It was great. Crowd seemed really pumped as well! I was playing really great tonight as well, very relaxed, felt awesome!
Day 9 (08/01/09): (Columbia, MD @ The Merriweather Post Pavilion)
Got to the venue around 1pm today as today we started at 4:30pm. It was crazy hot. The hottest show that we have ever played. Turned out to be one of the most fun shows on the tour so far! The audience was amazing! We were a little worried that no one would show up that early, but damn did they! Thanks to all of you that did! Really appreciate it and it made for a great show!
Crowd shot!
Catering was amazing today. Trying to remember everything they had right now. For lunch there were veggie burgers, wraps, fruit, salad, chips and salsa, and a bunch of other stuff I couldn't fit on my plate, so I can't remember it, haha. That was just for lunch. For dinner there was parmesan chicken, grilled salmon, potatoes, salad, bread, pasta, meat balls, fruit, soup, and again there was more but I can't remember what it was. It was soooo good though! Plus full range of drinks, excluding alcohol of course. Which I personally do not mind as I dont drink a lot. Plus its nice to hangout with fellow sober musicians.
Had to leave this show super early today as well, as we wanted to knock out some of the drive to Boston tonight. We'll get about 4 hours done tonight and then do the rest in the morning. I have been looking forward to Boston on this tour. I went to Berklee for one summer back about 8 years ago and fell in love with that city, can't wait to be there tomorrow. Looking forward to our set! Get there early, pretty sure we start at 530pm tomorrow!
Day 10 (08/02/09): (Boston, MA @ Bank Or America Pavilion)
We got to Boston at 5:30 in the morning. Decided to drive over night to get it out of the way and so that we wouldn't risk being late. Checked into a hotel at 9am and took a nap until about 1pm. Felt amazing! We were all super tired.
Made it over to the venue about 2pm. Pretty awesome venue. Its like a giant tent. Stage was massive!
Show was awesome. Once again excited that so many people are showing up to the show so early. Makes us feel great that! We played great tonight regardless of the fact that we were all ridiculously tired from the over night drive. Crowd was great as well, thanks again for the standing ovation! Much appreciated.
Crowd shot!
Backstage in Boston. My Dad, Portnoy, Me
Meet & Greets were a great success! Can't believe how many of you guys came to it. It was awesome. I think we signed something close 50 postcards! It was intense!
We have been leaving all the shows early over the past 4 or so. Finally able to stay through the entire show tonight. I have been wanting to soak this entire experience in, but due to longer drives we have been forced to leave early a lot! Glad we were able to stay. My family, and some family friends came out tonight as well, so it was nice to be able to spend some time with them.
Day 11 (08/03/09): (Day Off / Driving to Albany, NY)
Oh man, what a day off today!
First, we were able to sleep in a lot. Which was something we were all looking forward to!
We ran an errand to Guitar Center to pick up a new drum rug for Pat, as he seriously needed one!
Then went back to the hotel. I have been etching to get some actual practicing in, so I did that for about an hour.
Around 4pm we went to the local batting cages close to the hotel. That was fun, actually my first time ever in a batting cage and I actually killed it! Pretty exciting, haha.
We had dinner plans with the legendary Al Kooper tonight. If you have no idea who this person is then I suggest you google him so you can pass out reading his bio and all that he has contributed to the music world! Its ridiculous, you're going to want to take a nap after you read his bio. He discovered, produced, played on the first few Lynard Skynard albums! He has played with Bob Dylan, Jimi Hendrix, Rolling Stones, Blues Brothers, and the list could go on FOREVER! I suggest reading his bio. The guy is a legend, and the most badass part about it, is he is 65 and still touring and a huge fan of Scale The Summit! We wrote us a while back when our new album came out and said it floored him and went on to tell me he doesn't like anything, so I guess thats awesome for us, haha!
Him and his wife made us dinner including chicken, hotdogs (Boston ones, that were damn great!), and a bunch of other courses. It was really great!
Talked with him for about 3 hours, and then listened to a bunch of music, it was so much hanging out at his house talking about his life, experience, and our music.
I'll be posting a picture of us with him later on when we get to the venue and I have free wifi to upload photos:
After we left Al's house, we raced over to a local cinema as we have been planning to watch Funny People for over a week now, but haven't had the time. We made it about 5 minutes before it started which was perfect timing. I have to say that I was a little disappointed with it. I personally would have rather stayed at Al's house longer and hung out and talk music some more. Hopefully we can make it a regular visit when we come through Boston! It was awesome.
Day 12 (08/04/09): (Albany, NY @ Palace Theatre)
Currently driving from Boston to Albany! We will be there in about 2.5 hours. I'm excited to play. I'm not a fan of the days off. I get in the zone playing everyday and then get out of it on the days off. Pretty sure starting today we have 6 days in a row though, so thats going to be sick! I'm excited. See you guys there!
Venue tonight was really awesome. Looked like an old renaissance opera-ish venue. Really cool.
Show was amazing. I felt dialed on guitar today and everything flowed smoothly. Crowd was a lot more quiet than all the other dates. Really strange. The meet and greets were the same as all the other shows, packed with people wanting to meet us so everyone must have dug it, just not a active crowd I guess. It really feels good that so many of you come out and we love meeting you all, so keep it up!
Dweezil Zappa stopped by our room, I had him try out my 8 string!
Crowd shot!
On the way to our hotel right now. We booked one about half way to Wallingford to get some of the driving out of the way. See you guys, going to catch up on some sleep!
Day 13 (08/05/09): (Wallingford, CT @ Chevrolet Theatre)
Got the venue super early today! This place is freaking HUGE!
Early turnout tonight was pretty disappointing. Wallingford is kind of the middle of nowhere so I imagine everyone that came out to the show drove from somewhere outside of this town, plus its a weekday. Probably still more than 1,000 people there, just seems like less as there are over 4,000 seats... it appeared empty. Guess we're getting spoiled with all the other huge shows, haha.
The show went great though! I think we're all really getting into a nice grove of playing everyday as we were all pumped on how we played. Really fun.
Best catering of the tour so far. Salad and chicken wraps for lunch, which were very good. Then for dinner there was pasta, fish, salad, green beans, brownies, cookies... delicious! I also had skipper go through the entire bowl of jolly ranchers and pick out ALL of the blue ones. The catering guy saw him doing it, and was like "what are you doing?". He said "the guitar player likes all the blue ones", so he went in the back and brought out the rest of the bag. So I have a cup full of 50 blue jolly ranchers now haha!
Meet and Greets turned out great again tonight as well. I love how excited people get to meet us! Its really fun.
Today was also
New Guitar Day for me as Mike Sherman dropped off the new "Blue Bomber 8 String" as he called it, I like that name so its probably going to stick. Freaking badass guitar. We did run into a bit of a problem with the Planet Waves locking tuners as they were defective which he found out later after calling them. Turned out there was a recall on the January batch that was sent out, so if you have Planet Wave locking tuners I would look into returning them. Planet Waves are now next day shipping me the tuners to the NJ date (Those are the benefits of saying "Chris Letchford needs them as he is on tour with Dream Theater!". Basically what was happening is they are locking tuners and when locked all the way down the unwound strings would slip out, beyond irritating as we were messing with it for over an hour swapping out tuner heads. Planet Waves said the poles were made 1mm to short. Little annoying I would say!
Dont ask for pictures right now as you KNOW I'm going to post them as soon as I can guys! Just want to wait until I can get all of the strings on there, as it looks ridiculous without a couple strings, haha. So expect some pictures after the NJ show! Promise!
New Blue Bomber 8 String! More Pictures of it in the blog on my personal page: www.myspace.com/chrisletchford
Day 14 (08/06/09): (Day Off / Driving to Ashbury Park, NJ)
Day off today was actually filled with an off day show, that we headlined with local support. Not to much to write about as the turnout was pretty small. I will say that right next to the venue, I had one of the best Calzones I have ever had!
A local band to the area California Smile, another instrumental band was pretty cool. They had 2 guitar, drums, bass, sax, and piano. Pretty cool stuff. The album they released had really nice packaging as well. Definitely going to play another show with those guys in the future.
After the show we decided to drive down to New Haven to get most of the drive out of the way for the next day, as passing through NYC is always a freaking nightmare!
Day 15 (08/07/09): (Ashbury Park, NJ @ Ashbury Park Convention Hall)
Got the venue a little later than usually due to all the traffic heading south bound from New York City to New Jersey beaches. This venue is actually right on the beach which is really awesome, I'm a beach lover. Its super old though. Supposedly Iron Maiden on one of their first tours played this place, which is pretty crazy.
Smallest stage of the entire tour so far, we were all pretty cramped on stage. Not a big deal as we have played much smaller stages in the past. We definitely made it work. Also the smallest turnout, this place was basically a gym (as we could see the scoreboard), and then just foldable chairs lined up in front of the stage. I think the turnout barely broke 1,000 people, which compared to all the other shows, thats super low! Still really fun though.
Crowd shot!
We stayed and hung out on the boardwalk the entire rest of the night since we got a hotel room right across the street. I had a friend who I have known since I was a little kid come out to the show, who also came out to Boston. She hung out for a while with me on the boardwalk, it was nice catching up with her! We also had drinks and dinner with some of Jordan's family, my friend, and Pat's cousin, at the restaurant right next store. Had one of the WORST margaritas I have ever had! Compared to the one I mentioned last week that left me a little messed up, this was a huge step down, plus it was 9 bucks! Waste!
The hotel we stayed at across the street was damn nice, but it was suppose to be haunted. I slept great so who cares. The other guys went and found the abandoned, haunted 3rd floor, which isn't listed on the elevator selection haha. Said it looked fine to them.
Day 16 (08/08/09): (Farmingville, NY @ Brookhaven Amphitheatre)
My turn to drive today, again having to pretty much go through NYC has a nightmare! Stuck in traffic pretty much the entire drive over there. Its fine though, we just talked about people as they drove by... little did you know the guys in Scale The Summit were making fun of you! ha.
Today's show was at an outside amphitheater. Pretty cool place, really big! I think capacity was a little over 5,000. A lot of people showed up early which was nice since we went on at 6pm today. Kind of weird playing when its still light out, but didn't matter crowd seemed to really dig it!
I felt that I played spot on again today, I love those shows as I can concentrate more of stage presence since my playing was dialed, makes it a lot more fun... rather than sitting there having to concentrate on playing. Even though I do have a few small cuts on my hands that are pretty distracting and actually hurt while I'm playing, but I zone them out!
The Amphitheater:
Pat's kit:
Crowd shot!
Meet and Greets were awesome again today, a lot of people came out from their seats to chat with us, it was really fun! Signed a TON of postcards. For all those reading, if you don't have anything to get signed, get our new album from the merch booth or get a free postcard directly from us! Don't be shy!
Tomorrow is the Beacon Theater show, the show I have been looking forward to the most, just because the venue is insane! Very excited!
Day 17 (08/09/09): (New York, NY @ The Beacon Theater)
Thankfully we are playing a much larger venue in NYC than most tours go to, as parking in NYC is a NIGHTMARE. They had a spot blocked off for us right by the load in door. I was stressing about it all the way there, as usually you would have to unload really fast and then drive 30 blocks away and pay $50 bucks to park in a not so secure lot. So thank you Beacon Theater for getting us our own parking!
No catering today, so instead we each got a $50 dollar buy out to fend for ourselves. Alex and John from The Number 12 came out to the show and met us for a quick bite to eat at a cafe next to the venue. Thanks again for dinner John, good seeing you guys again!
Show was awesome, I played great and stage presence was in full force tonight! Early turnout was great as well. D.C. fans are still winning though, as their were over 2,000 people there to see us play at 4:30pm. Which was the earliest show time on this tour for us. All other cities take note, don't miss our set, get there early!
Meet & Greet's were going well until this total douche security guard started complaining that we were blocking the bar sales, instead he wanted us to stand right in front of the entrance into the main seated area. Pretty ignorant guy if you ask me. You wouldn't be making any bar sales if we weren't playing there that night! So I'm sorry if any of you guys came out to meet us and weren't able to. We'll get you next time in NYC! We'll definitely be back!
Left the show early. I had a hotel room in the city as we had friends and family come hang out. Me and my girlfriend went and ate at Chevy's Fresh Mex. I had some killer fish tacos there, but damn expensive! Then we rushed back to the hotel room to catch the new episode of Entourage, haha. Which was fantastic if I might add.
Me and her got up early and went and ate at a really nice cafe down the street from where the guys were going to pick us up. They all crashed at skippers brothers place in Astoria.
About to head on our venture to the Canadian boarder, should be interesting.
Day 18 (08/10/09): (Day Off / Driving to Quebec, Canada)
Made it to the border crossing at 8:30pm today. Took us until 9:30pm to actually make it to the first guard. That seemed pretty fast as I have heard it can take up to 4 hours to cross into Canada, as we are in a band. They are only going to think the worst. Luckily for us we are all pretty clean cut guys, so we don't look suspicious. They made us pull over to the side to go inside the building for them to run our passports. Chris "Skipper" (our crew guy) was called up to the booth first, and we all start hearing "uh, ah, um, uh", haha. She asked him what he did and no one told him that he is suppose to say "All Purpose Tech", as that is his job. That could have honestly screwed him from being able to cross over, as in you don't have a need to be there they don't have to let you cross. For the rest of us it was easy though. Mine went as follows: "Chris Letchford", I went up to the booth. "What is it that you do?". "Guitar". "Ok, you can sit down". Pretty smooth crossing.
Stayed in Montreal tonight at a Holiday Inn. Pretty descent room for the most part. Very spacious. Got some much needed rest on this day off! First Canada date tomorrow in Quebec, very excited! Heard the Canadians love their prog!
I will say one annoying thing though, the no dollar bills and all these freaking coins are just irritating. Plus if you dont use them, the US wont convert the coins for you when you cross back over. Come on, thats just inconvenient! Have to make sure I spend my coins I guess haha!
Day 19 (08/11/09): (Quebec, Canada @ The Agora)
On the way to Quebec right now, should be arriving around 2pm. Looking forward to hitting the stage again tonight, I love it! Do not like days off. Thinking about trying out the Blue Bomber 8 string tonight!
Today was AMAZING! Crowd was GREAT! Played the Blue Bomber 8 String today and it played awesome! I'll be posting a shot from around the front of house board, as its a super epic photo.
Epicness:
Meet & Greets were interesting being that its the french side of Canada. They all knew we didn't speak french so they did their best to talk with us in English. Thanks for coming up to us!
Canada is looking like its going to be a great handful of shows!
Crowd Shot!
Day 20 (08/12/09): (Montreal, Canada @ Bell Centre)
On the way to Montreal right now, very excited.
As if this tour couldn't get any better... tonight was insane! We played the Bell Centre which is Montreal's arena for their hockey team, Metallica is playing there this year, and we're playing the same place. I walked in not expecting its massiveness. Biggest place we have ever played, clearly, haha. Crowd was super into it as well. Received another standing ovation! But this time it was from 4,000 plus people easy. I'll make sure to post pictures and we actually got video from the stage of the crowd while we were playing. I will be posting week by week edits starting in a few days on our youtube channel, so make sure to check there soon. I'm just about finished editing footage from the first week of the tour, will post it soon! www.youtube.com/scalethesummit
the arena when we first walked in! huge!
crowd shot at the Arena!
Meet & Greets were awesome tonight as well. Merch was in 2 spots, so we're sorry if any of you guys missed us. We just picked the first merch area we got to. It was fun meeting all of you and taking pictures!
Day off tomorrow, I'll be doing some sleeping in for sure! Night.
Week 1 Video Edit!
Day 21 (08/13/09): (Day Off / Driving to Toronto, Canada)
Pretty much just drove to Toronto today. Got a hotel and hung out at the pool and whirlpool for a while and just relaxed. Big show tomorrow!
Day 22 (08/14/09): (Toronto, Canada @ The Molson Amphitheater)
Molson Amphitheater is huge! Show is also sold out tonight, 6,000 pre-sale tickets. Way to go Toronto, support progressive music!
Catering was amazing today! Portnoy was telling us the past few days that Toronto always has the best catering. He was definitely correct. My favorite was the greek salad and the seasoned potatoes, delicious!
Around 4pm today during me and Travis' daily warmup session Petrucci came into our dressing. Had him try out both of my 8 strings, said he really liked them and that they were super easy to play. Yeah, thanks to the few hours old new strings and setup I just did to them! Thank you Guitar Craft Academy for giving me the skills to setup my own guitars so that Petrucci approves them, haha. We're going to be doing a photo shoot with him and all of our guitars. Can't wait.
The show went great today! We all played great! I personally wasn't feeling it today, sadly, but still delivered the songs the way they should be played. Just one of those days I suppose.
Crowd Shot!
Meet and greet was a huge success today. Tons of people came up to us. They were definitely getting our new album from the merch booth as thats pretty much all we signed, the sides of the double sided fold out poster. If you don't have a copy, get you one, its worth it for the killer poster, with the blown up front image that photographer Tom Kilty took of the desert canyons. Hoping to have him do photography for our next album!
Perparing to leave the show super early today as we have a 24 hour drive to Winnipeg with only one day off to do it. Really want to stay for the entire show because Dream Theater are playing a Rush cover, which would be awesome to see, especially in such a huge place. Next time I guess.
Day 23 (08/15/09): (Day Off / Driving to Winnipeg, Canada)
Left the show at 8pm last night, I drove until about 1am. Its now 1pm the next day and we have been driving for about 12 hours now. Anyone want to say suck? This is the only thing I hate about touring, but thankfully we're still in our early 20's so it really doesn't affect us to bad, I just want to take a shower haha. We'll be getting into Winnipeg around 9pm tonight. Going straight to the hotel, showers, and then to bed! Can't wait to get out of the van and for the show tomorrow. The Canada dates have been such a huge success for us so far, crowds have really been digging our stuff, thanks Canada!
Day 24 (08/16/09): (Winnipeg, Canada @ Burton Cummings)
Venue is old, haha. This place has a ton of history though, which is really cool. One of Zappa's tech's was telling me that Houdini had even performed at this venue. Pretty neat place. Smallest stage out of the entire tour so far, but we definitely made it work!
I thought the catering was really good tonight, everyone else didn't seem to thrilled about it. Really good sandwiches for lunch with salad, and then for dinner there was fish, steak, veggies, potatoes, and fruit. All which was great.
Show was pushed back an hour today, which is always great for us since we are the first band. Today we started at 7pm. We had been told that this show had the lowest number of pre-sale tickets out of all the dates, which in my mind I was thinking something actually low, like 200. Pre-sale's did 800. Thats pretty damn good, but in comparison to Toronto's sold out show at 6,000 I guess those are bad numbers. Either way though, this venue can only hold 1,600 and the place was packed by the time our set was over.
Played exceptionally well tonight! The set is getting more dialed and easy now that we have been out playing everyday for over 3 weeks. Feels good. We all start with a lot more confidence now which makes for a better show start to finish.
Few guys from Into Eternity came out tonight, which was cool. Our tour manager is good friends of theirs from a past tour and they all know the guys in Dream Theater when they tour with them. Also, a newer band, Sights & Sounds, which record just came out and is already in my top 3 favorite records of the year, also came out to the show tonight. They are technically #1 right now as the other 2 spots will be filled by the new Between The Buried and Me and the new Necrophagist record later this year. I have high hopes for both of those! We did get to sample 20 minutes of the new BTBAM album as Paul came out to the D.C. show with his Ipod. I must say, the 20 minutes we heard of it sounded damn good so far! Jealous of our ears? haha.
Day 25 (08/17/09): (Day Off / Driving to Calgary, Canada)
This drive seemed to be ten times longer than the other one, seemed like forever! All we did was the drive straight to the hotel we booked, about 14 hours.
Day 26 (08/18/09): (Calgary, Canada @ MacEwan Hall Ballroom)
Dammit do I love standing room shows! Place was packed by the time we went on and the crowd was just insane! Thanks guys! Means a lot when I can hear you guys screaming over the volume of the sound system! Appreciate everyone coming out early!
Calgary was a smaller city in comparison to the eastern Canadian cities, but they apparently have a larger prog audience, ha!
This venue was at their college, just a huge open room with a pretty large stage, but very intimate compared to a lot of the other venues, it was nice. We all played great tonight as well.
Crowd shot!
Had a long talk with Petrucci today about warming up, he said still to this day that he can't figure out the best formula for warming up, so I told him "good, then I don't need to stress about it anymore".. Sometimes I warm up for a few hours, sometimes just 20 minutes right before we go on stage, never know what the best amount is. There are also to many other outside things like eating before you play, not stretching, drinking only water before you play (helps me), running through parts of the set vs. just doing strict warm up exercises. It sucks because sometimes when I do 2 hours of warming up that would affect my show, as my hands would already be fatigued. We just talked about all that stuff for a while. Sometimes I wish we didn't play such challenging music, haha, no I don't. This music is more rewarding to play than say pop punk... in my opinion of course!
Turns out Edmonton will be standing room as well tomorrow. I personally wish they were all standing room! Looking forward to another great show tomorrow.
Day 27 (08/19/09): (Edmonton, Canada @ Shaw Conference Center)
This city is really beautiful. Very clean. We got in around 2:30pm today and load in was a little weird. Basically had to drive a block around and then up the side of this big hill.
Venue was way bigger than last night, at least 4 times larger. Very excited!
Catering today was in the most inconvenient place yet. You had to walk many hallways and then take a freight elevator up two floors to this sectioned off room call the "River View Room". Clearly a nice view, but it took to long to get from one place to next. We have to do a lot of running around. We get to the venue, go eat, run back to the load in area to pre set up our gear. Then we load on the stage for sound check and then run back over to catering for dinner, and then back to the stage to play. So when things are miles apart from the other it stresses me out, haha. Plus I have to keep track of 3 other guys, and when I can't physically see them it makes me think they are either lost or not keeping track of time, as we are on a very tight schedule, there are no delayed set times on a tour of this caliber!
Show was amazing. Easily double the amount of people that there were yesterday. It was the first time all of these bands have played Edmonton and damn did those people make us feel welcome! Crowd was even louder than the night before. We have photos that I will be posting in a few days. We also have video footage of the last 2 shows that I will make sure to include in some of my next edits so you guys can see what I mean. Pretty intense crowds in Canada! Love it!
Crowd shot!
Bummer we are leaving Canada today. Have to leave right after our meet and greet today, we have a 20 hour drive ahead of us again, ugh!
Day 28 (08/20/09): (Day Off / Driving to Minneapolis, MN)
In the van now. I was actually able to sleep quite a bit on this drive. Overnighters are a bit rough on all of us, but it seems as though everyone is all good. We also mapped out a Buffalo Wild Wings so when we crossed the border we would have something to look forward to!
Border crossing. Is there a reason that they have to assume that we are like every other band, because clearly we're not. Come on, a guy who never drinks? haha, thats me of course. Then again, they don't know that. They pulled everything out of our van and went through just about everything we had, including all pockets of bags, guitar cases, etc... Its so irritating. Under paid guys on a power trip! Plus they keep asking you the same questions over and over again. They do that to get you to trip up on a lie, so annoying! Thankfully this only delayed us like 45 minutes of our drive time. We also crossed at 8ish in the morning... I had just woke up and the last thing I wanted to do was to get out of the van and talk to an annoying border guy.
Made it to the Buffalo Wild Wings in Fargo, ND! Between us all we went through 78 wings! Damn good. We had wings in a Hooters in Canada and it just pissed us all off as they are nowhere near as good as Buffalo. Another random note, if you are a huge fan of ketchup don't eat it when you go to Canada. It tastes so different than US made ketchup. I know what you are thinking... sounds crazy. Promise you though, me and skipper figured out that its because they use Maple sugar instead of the white cane sugar. Sorry Canada, your ketchup tastes awful, haha!
Back in the states, you all have some big shoes to fill as Canada crowds were amazing! 7 shows left, bumming that its so close to being over already!
About 2 hours from stopping right now! Can't wait to get out of the van!
Day 29 (08/21/09): (Minneapolis, MN @ Orpheum Theater)
Playing a very old theater today. Pretty cool vibe in the place though.
Turn out was looking lower than all the shows. By the time we went on the place was filled up a lot more. Not sure what it is, but america clearly seems to not care about Progressive music as much as other parts of the world. I was talking with Portnoy about this during the first few shows of this tour about how Europe and South America they play to crowds 5 times the size that they do in the states. Canada clearly loves their progressive music. None of the US dates are bad, just smaller turnouts.
Show went great, crowd seemed really into. We all played great as well.
Crowd shot!
Crashed out at friends of Travis' family house. It was super nice and spacious, which is nice after sleeping 6 in one hotel room for so many weeks! Best 2 nights of sleep on the entire tour so far. Thanks for the accommodations!
Milwaukee tomorrow, going to get to see our buddies in Misery Signals as well.
Day 30 (08/22/09): (Milwaukee, WI @ Milwaukee Riverside Theatre)
Got into Milwaukee at about 2pm. This venue's location is really cool, right on the river as the name puts it! Another older venue.
First thing we do when we get to the venues is go straight to catering. Well... as I'm walking up the stairs I'm following the "Catering" signs, and after each flight I'm telling myself that its only one more. By the time I got to catering I had walked up 8 flights of stairs. Walked into catering and to my right there was an elevator! Dammit! It was a super old elevator, but still an elevator. It worked, just took forever to wait for someone to bring it back up. Its so old someone had to literally stand inside it and run it for you. Imagine that as a job, sounds pretty boring. Decided that I was going to eat the lunch and then forget about catering. 8 flights with my heavy backpack is kind of past my limit.
Stage was actually more spacious than most of the venues we have been playing. Another old style theater seating. Pretty cool place.
Nice crowd during our set. Its great doing tours like these as people know that the opening bands wont disappoint like most other tours. Portnoy knows what he is doing guys! Thanks for coming out early, everyone that did that is!
Crowd shot!
Played great again, but this time was the first time in my entire live experience playing to where I almost lost grip on my pick while playing. I figured out after the set what was going on. Usually when I drink water on stage I grab it with the hand that goes on the fingerboard and not my picking hand. For some reason I kept drinking with my picking hand, so it basically rubbed what little oils I had on my fingers off. So there you have it, condensation is the enemy! Never again will I do that. I usually dont like to drink to much while on stage anyway, as I'm concentrating on the next song we're about to start playing and to just simply not distract myself. I get distracted easily. The number one thing (no its not something you can do when you come to the show) is I have a day dreaming problem. I will be rocking out and playing great, but I will start daydreaming about random unimportant things... and then sure enough a change happens in the song and I'm off in lala land. Mistakes are still nothing that anyone in the audience can really hear, but still its annoying, haha. I'm trying to think of something recent that I was daydreaming about. I know a lot of the time before I made it to east coast, it was "when is Mike going to finish my new guitars?". Sometimes its just completely random things, like "damn I would love to take a nap right now" or "that catering was terrible". Anyways... that would be how it goes for me sometimes. Busy brain I guess.
Brandon from Misery Signals came out to the show with a friend, and I guess everyone else was being a party pooper. Went over to their house after the show to hang with the rest of the guys for a little while. They all live with their good buddy, who is actually the drummer of Fall Out Boy. Pretty amazing house, which is what we all expected as he plays in Fall Out Boy. He wasn't there though as they are still out on the tour Blink 182 so I felt little weird being at the guys house without him being there. The guys from Misery Signals live there as well and kept telling me it was fine, haha. Don't like to be rude.
Stayed at our friend Ashley's hotel room downtown. She got a room there as she flew in for the show, fun hanging out. Thanks for letting us crash!
Day 31 (08/23/09): (Chicago, IL @ Chicago Theatre)
Chicago later today, freaking pumped! Chicago was awesome the last time we played there.
Parking was a nightmare today! Basically had to unload and then drive the van about 20 minutes away to where all the buses were parking. I personally didn't have to drive it over there thankfully. Turns out the parking was organized at an arena where Pearl Jam was playing tonight. Feel sorry for the buses stuck over there after that show is over, traffic is going to be insane. We are lucky though, we get to move our vehicle everyday around 9pm so we never have to deal with the people coming out of the show and in this case a far greater number!
Venue is really awesome, biggest theater style venue we have played on this tour and the coolest looking one on the inside. Lots of history in this place.
While waiting for the other bands to do soundcheck I went over to Loehmann's next store to the venue and bought me 2 new pairs of jeans. They sell marked down designer jeans, which I'm all about. Specially 7 For All Mankind, as its the most comfortable denim you can get, and at Loehmann's you can get them for 1/2 off the normal high end retailer store prices!
Show was awesome tonight! Great early turnout! Playing... well we all played great. Pat said he felt amazing about this show. I messed up a tiny little part and when that happens I feel like I ruined the entire set, haha. It was only like 4 notes out of our entire set, which probably has well over 2,000 notes in it, haha. I shouldn't give myself such a hard time, I bet only a handful of people even noticed as well.
Crowd shot!
Anyway, great show regardless. Meet and Greet was very awesome. Lots of people came out. Probably the most amount of cd's we have signed during one meet and greet on this entire tour. Thanks a lot for coming out to the merch area to meet us! Its great how excited everyone gets! Makes our day!
Day 32 (08/24/09): (Day Off / Driving to Denver, CO)
The only thing for this blog entry is: boring.
Its just flat and last's forever. Stopped somewhere in Nebraska tonight, I think, haha.
Day 33 (0825//09): (Denver, CO @ Temple Hoyne Buell Theatre)
We're about 1 hour from Denver right now. Can't wait to play this show tonight, and just get out of the van! After today, only 3 shows left on this tour! Bummer!
Here is Video #2, for Week 3!
Forgot to post these from Boston. Jordan Rudess (Dream Theater Keyboard Player) filmed these videos of me.