For some reason I'm unable to add anymore to the other blog. Myspace has a size limit I guess? Here is the continued blog from where I left off.
Day 34 (08/26/09): (Day Off / Driving to San Jose, CA)
Another 20 hour overnighter! Got to San Jose around 5pm the next day.
It ended up being another great day off! We were able to hit up another Buffalo Wild Wings, play some basketball, relax in the hotel, and hit up the hot tub! Best day off of the entire tour!
So close to being over! Real bummer. Most people want to go home close to the end of the tour, not us.
Day 35 (08/27/09): (San Jose, CA @ San Jose Civic Auditorium)
I have admit its strange that we are playing these off the wall convention center type places. I figured for just another hour north San Francisco would be able to have a place designed more for live music other than a convention center.
Regardless, Dream Theater's sound company have been able to make every room sound amazing, our sound guy has been doing a great job for us.
Show turnout right when we started was pretty low, filled in pretty nicely about 2 songs into the tour. Now when I say small there is still already close to a thousand people. I'm just using "low" as these rooms are huge, so with just a thousand people in them it looks empty, even though the crowd is still large.
Played great tonight. Finally out of my so called slum of playing from the past 3 shows. Just wasn't feeling the way I was playing.
Back to the talk that me and Petrucci had a few days back we kept wondering if there is a perfect warmup routine that can make for a better performance. I can honestly say everyday its been different. Some days I have warmed up for 2 hours, gone out and played an amazing show. Some days I dont really touch a guitar until 10 minutes before we go on and still have an amazing show.
I have made a never discovery. Today, I actually was in Dweezil's room for 40 minutes right before we went on. I was just in there having him show me a bunch of killer licks and talking about guitar. I think that relaxed the pressure of going out on stage as I played one of my best shows tonight. Very interesting as I thought it was going to distract me rather than help me. Also got to play a PRS that he just got. Amazing guitar, semi-hollow body, super light weight. Played great as well.
Good day for sure. I have been wanting to play with that guy since day one, but everyone, including myself is always so busy. Good stuff!
Driving over night to Vegas tonight, poop.
Day 36 (08/28/09): (Las Vegas, NV @ The Joint (Hard Rock Hotel & Casino)
Made it to Vegas at about 8 in the morning. Pat's parents got us a room where they were staying so we all got to take showers and a few of the guys caught up on some sleep before we headed over to the Hard Rock.
So damn hot in Vegas. It said 101 out and was definitely, if not much hotter. Thankfully once again, on this tour we haven't had to unload our gear on our own.
Speedy sound check today, as they had a rehearsal for a special jam that is happening tomorrow at the Greek, we took group band photos, and then group shots with all the bands and crew. I'll make sure to post one of them in here later on tomorrow when I get them. You guys will be surprised how many crew go into making these size tours happen.
Show was great again today. Playing was spot on! Really fun. Early turn out was horrible, but right when we started playing everyone I guess hanging out in the casino came to their seats. Really loud crowd tonight. I think its funny when you hear just a single people that are extra loud screaming random things. Fun stuff, haha.
Crashing in Vegas tonight, leaving tomorrow morning super early. Greek show today is very early. Doors at 430pm, so everything including sound check is much earlier!
Day 37 (08/29/09): (Los Angeles, CA @ The Greek Theater)
Video #3, Week 4:
Made it to the Greek around 1pm today. So hot out today and this is an outside show having us play at 530pm. Its going to be pretty rough!
Sound check went great today, feeling good about the last show. Which is a huge bummer!
Today is a special day though. They are doing the drummer jam, Pat will be jamming with Portnoy during "Beyond This Life" towards the end of Dream Theater's set. So excited about it. Steve Vai is also playing in the guitar jam at the end, which is also awesome! Its going to be a really exciting show for the audience tonight.
Early turnout was surprisingly really great today as we were all a little worried since it was one of the earliest times for us to play and being that its the last show of the entire tour we wanted it to end awesome. It definitely did and the crowd were really into it. We all played great today, awesome show!
I personally only had one little mistake... let me know explain. Not to make excuses as I tried my very hardest to ignore the situation but as everyone knows I just got my new 8 string, the blue bomber, which I have been playing at every show since CT. This thing is bright blue and I play with a bright yellow cable. There was a damn bumble bee that was persistent on landing on my left hand (fretboard hand) for the first 4 songs of our set as my bright gear was obviously drawing its attention, and we're playing only 5 songs... so basically the entire set. So the entire show I'm trying to keep moving away from it while also concentrating on my stage presence and playing my parts. Finally in "City In The Sky" I decided to give it a quick swat, which didn't really do anything at all. I was hoping that someone in the front row would have seen it land and try and kill it, because I could tell a few people noticed my "bee dilemma". Haha, anyways... thats how it happened. Damn bee's!
Our meet and greet today was the biggest one of the tour. So many people came out to hang out with us, take pictures and have stuff signed. It really made for a great last show! Thanks to everyone that came out to us, glad to hear so many people enjoyed the set! Appreciate the support guys!
Jam tonight was insane. Pat got to play first with Portnoy, which is so awesome! It went really great! I'll be posting video of this part as soon as I finish the last normal edits!
The guitar/keys jam was a little nuts, it was Petrucci, Vai, Dweezil, and Jordan Rudess shredding all over this Ab piece at the end of "Beyond Thie Life". The crowd went nuts when Steve Vai was introduced... I have never seen so many camera's pulled out so quicky in my entire life, it was really funny.
The crowd absolutely got their moneys worth tonight, with all the surprises!
Hung out with everyone for about an hour after the show. It was sad saying goodbye to everyone. Bummer this tour is over.
I was lucky enough to meet Dweezil's Mom after the show, Frank Zappa's wife. It was funny, she was really nice and said that I was "12 years old". haha.
We're actually going to see most of the Zappa band tomorrow and a few of Big Elf at the Baked Potato jam. Jamie Kime the guitarist of Zappa plays in a jam band every Monday up there. So we're heading over there on Monday to hang out with everyone some more before we start heading back to Texas.
I had a blast on this tour, and I hope everyone who came out to the shows did as well! Hope you guys enjoyed reading my blog! Take care.
P.S. We have a few shows on the way home. Thursday we play in Albuquerque, NM and Saturday Sept 5th we play an early headlining show at Emo's in Austin! We also have a headlining "Welcome Home" show in Houston on October 17th @ Warehouse Live. We'll be playing "Carving Desert Canyons" in its entirety as well as bringing back some oldies! Pre-sale tickets are available through our online store and ticketmaster. <a href="http://www.scalethesummitstore.com>STS Online Store</a>
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