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Post by lilhan on Feb 10, 2009 7:54:06 GMT -5
awesome. pure and simple.
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Post by khstalker on Feb 10, 2009 8:02:56 GMT -5
So glad everyone had a great time over here in sunny Western Australia...the Laneway show was just awesome. I was pretty much on the front row and it was a fantastic way to spend an evening....that 45 minutes went by so so quick. Would love to see the guys return sometime in the not too distant future for a full show. And judging by the size / reaction of the crowd I'm not the only one! I put up a video of 'Lord Im Discouraged' from the Perth show, hope thats cool.... its here www.youtube.com/watch?v=wXbnujQr9qs
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Post by jwd on Feb 10, 2009 8:13:35 GMT -5
Very cool, khstalker. Thanks and welcome to the board!
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Post by dustdudes on Feb 10, 2009 8:23:48 GMT -5
I am so close to being finished with this. Everything after the Perth show is written except for my flight home yesterday. I just have to remember what happened in Perth.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 10, 2009 17:44:09 GMT -5
awesome tour diary! No Age did a house show in Sydney that i forgot about... should have gone i'm not sure if they finished the Bon Scott statue... Nick Cave wants to built a statue of himself in his hometown. i'm the only guy i know who thinks its a good idea
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Post by sunsetparade on Feb 10, 2009 21:28:28 GMT -5
I think that No Age would've been playing that warehouse around the same time THS were playing at Laneway unfortunately (in Sydney). I would've liked to have gone seem 'em too, especially given how shit the crowd for them was at Laneway, but wasn't going to bail on the rest of Laneway for it.
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toastie
Sniffling Indie Kid
Posts: 159
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Post by toastie on Feb 11, 2009 5:09:54 GMT -5
Day 9: There's supposedly a statue of Bon somewhere in Perth but we have no idea where it is. It's called Kirriemuir, About 50 miles from Perth, Scotland.
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Post by dustdudes on Feb 11, 2009 10:54:13 GMT -5
From Perth to the end.
Day 10:
Here's everything I remember: Tad finished the Slash autobiography while we were out by the pool. Franz got a sunburn. Bobby and I walked around town and went shopping. He almost bought a hat that made him look like Crocodile Dundee but backed down at the last minute. I had a seaweed salad and an ice cream bar in a park. Perth is a great city to walk around in. It was the best of the No Age sets that I've seen. This was the only festival date that had catering backstage. Nothing blew up during the show. I wanted to go back to the tiki bar after the show but ended up crashing early at the hotel. Walking around in the sun all day wore me out. I almost got a tattoo of a koala talking on a Blackberry.
Day 11:
Perth to Adelaide is quick and painless. The hotel is on the same block as the festival site. It takes less than two minutes to get from my room to the backstage area. Adelaide is a weird city. It is the smallest city the festival is happening in. There's a long outdoor mall running from the hotel up to the city hall. The high-fashion shopping and red light district and teenagers standing on fruit boxes preaching eternal damnation are all on what seems like the one commercial street in the entire city. McQ comments on the drive in from the airport that every other city we've been to has felt like California. Adelaide feels like Florida. He's right. Single-story box-shaped buildings that look built to resist hurricanes or hard partying. The entire city looks like on-campus living at a big city college. I have the only bad meal that I've had in all of Australia and it is entirely my fault. Emboldened by my burrito success in Sydney, having gone to the one place that was highly recommended by everyone, I try the first Mexican restaurant I see on the street. It is terrible. They don't even fold the burrito properly. Cold tortilla, cold cheese, cold sweet mango salsa, lukewarm chicken and rice, I can only eat half of it. Next door to the burrito place I have as much sushi as I can eat for half of what the burrito just cost me. Lesson learned. When in doubt, stick to what the locals know.
The weather was great for the show, it cooled off and a breeze came up when the sun went down just like every night. The show got cut short by a boneheaded soundguy from the festival but the crowd was great and the band was on fire. We stuck around after our set and watched Girl Talk. There's been a lot of hype around Girl Talk in Australia since a near riot happened during his Melbourne set. Adelaide seems like a city that's already sort of inclined to riot and having a DJ inciting one certainly didn't help keep things under control. After Girl Talk everyone called it an early night back at the hotel in preparation for a painfully early 6:45AM wakeup call in the morning.
Day 12:
Adelaide to Perth is a short flight. We're back at the same hotel with the rooftop pool that we stayed in a few nights ago. It is comforting to check in someplace and already know the lay of the land. The first thing we do is drop the gear off at the festival stage. The stage manager is Leesa's boyfriend, Alex. He promises to take good care of us. He does. I have a large area set aside for working on guitars all afternoon. The stagehands have been briefed on how all of our gear is to be set up. It is the best run stage of any festival we've ever done. If every festival day was like this I wouldn't fear them. Tad and I have been talking a lot about what to do about our amp rental situation in the future. We're both not totally happy with the crapshoot that is the AC30 rental. We consider the Fender Hot Rod Deville. The stage happens to have one available that Architecture in Helsinki rented. We try that as Tad's inside amp with a Vox on the outside. It sounds great when we line check it, it sounds great for three songs, and then it blows the hell up. We swap it out with the spare Vox. Now we remember why we no longer rent them: They're unreliable junk. That's the only thing worse than being bad sounding junk.
We consider lots of ideas for what to do in the future. The craziest: Have a flight case that holds both of his Silvertone heads and then renting a Marshall 4x12 stereo cabinet for backline. If I trusted those Silvertones were any more reliable (and if I wanted to fly with even more gear) then it would be genius. So far it is only brilliant. When I'm back in New York I'm going to work on making the Silvertones road-worthy and send measurements to A&S Cases in Los Angeles for a quote on the smallest and lightest possible case for them. They're small enough that they could almost be carry-on sized.
Back at the hotel I shower and iron the one nice shirt I brought on tour. It has buttons. And a collar. I am so relieved to be putting away the roadie costume in exchange for jeans and a real shirt. We all head to the official festival afterparty on Oxford Street around eleven. I'm in the bar for less than thirty seconds before I head back out the door. Blaring techno music, lots of dancing, and no room to even turn around in a circle. Craig and Andy and I are gone before the second car even gets there. We walk back to the hotel stopping for a pretty great kebab on the way back. Afterparties suck anyway. Back at the hotel I get a call that the afterparty is actually totally amazing and there is another room that is quiet, air conditioned, and has an open bar. Oh. Okay. So I walk back to the party alone. Galen and McQ and I get into last-night-on-tour-party-mode. Danny who runs the festival is there, as well as Magda and Leesa and the best driver ever, Garreth. Garreth who has been giving us the low-down on Sydney sung in the voice of Mark E. Smith. We stick around until the bar closes at three and then head up the block to a bar that is still open. I've convinced myself that this is how I'm going to beat the inevitable jet-lag on the way home: By acting as if I am on New York time right now. McQ and I take a cab back to the hotel around five and crash in the room with our clothes on.
Day 13:
Flight home. Checked all baggage at the Sydney airport, spent fifteen hours in the air. My new strategy of not touching airline food no matter how hungry I am and having coffee instead is working out well. I don't feel queasy or sick. Unlike the flight out here I do this one without a pre-flight beer or sleeping aid. The plan is to stay awake for the first eight hours of the flight and then sleep for the rest, thereby putting me on a roughly American sleep schedule. The in-flight entertainment and having an entire row of four seats to myself makes this impossible. With four blankets and six pillows I built a nest and fall asleep immediately. It isn't comfortable and I don't feel terribly rested when I wake up but making hours pass without watching The Duchess or The Secret Lives of Bees is really the name of the game. Somehow I end up watching both of them anyway. The last four hours of the flight drag on forever. We boarded the plane early in the afternoon and the sun has gone down and come back up before we land in LA. Upon arrival we're all surprised at how together and not-exhausted we feel. This turns out to be an illusion.
We land in LA fifteen minutes early. We have one hour until our flight to NYC takes off. We spend thirty minutes at baggage claim waiting for guitars, ten in line for customs, ten running to the next terminal to recheck our bags, ten waiting to get through security, and finally get to our gate just as they're about to lock the cabin doors. Had there been Yackety Sax playing through the terminal muzak it would have fit perfectly. As it stood we were just stressed out and angry and nervous about our checked baggage making it onto the plane. The six hour flight from LA to JFK seemed to drag on forever but I don't really remember any of it. I was too tired to sleep and couldn't focus enough to read a book. I just stared at the seat ahead of me until we landed. Claiming baggage at JFK was the most hassle-free it has ever been. Everything came down the chute together and before anyone else's baggage. Our van driver was there right when we were ready for him to take us back to Brooklyn. We dropped the gear off at the space and everyone split up their separate ways. Craig and Bobby and I crushed excellent American burgers at the Greenpoint Coffeehouse. I got back to my hotel in Long Island City around midnight and crashed.
Day 14:
Wide awake at 4:30AM. So is Andy. We were in the lobby waiting for the continental breakfast to open at six. Jetlag sux. I'm in New York for the next week or so. Tour story OVER.
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Post by lilhan on Feb 11, 2009 11:04:34 GMT -5
i am sad this is over. hope the jetlage gets better soooooon!! thanks for keeping us updated, it's been a blast.
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Post by dustdudes on Feb 11, 2009 11:12:42 GMT -5
I do not like waking up at 6 in the morning. I hope it gets better too.
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Post by Matt Jones on Feb 11, 2009 11:13:52 GMT -5
For an amp suggestion, you guys would have to buy this, but just shipping a head isn't that expensive. I don't know if you've heard of "Wizard" Amps, they're made by AC/DC's guitar/amp tech. They're basically unbreakable. Think AC-30 on the clean channel and a Hi-Watt on the gain channel. They're expensive but worth it. www.wizardamplification.com/products.htmwww.youtube.com/watch?v=N-9BBZqUjow&feature=relatedKind of a shitty demo, but you get the idea.
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mattjs
True Scene Leader
Posts: 573
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Post by mattjs on Feb 11, 2009 11:26:53 GMT -5
Dude, thanks for the updates they have been great! I reckon they should be gathered up and put on the website under a "dustdudes tour diaries" tab.
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toastie
Sniffling Indie Kid
Posts: 159
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Post by toastie on Feb 11, 2009 11:29:53 GMT -5
On a side note of Jonesie, Hiwatt are a solid as brick S$£t-houses and sound awesome. If your in the U.K and need one, give me a shout.
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Post by dustdudes on Feb 11, 2009 11:36:48 GMT -5
We've got our US and UK tour gear sorted. It is the fly-out dates where we have to rent gear that shit gets tricky. You kind of get what the rental company has available. And every rental company has two AC30's.
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 11, 2009 13:47:52 GMT -5
our amps for the festival season over here in the UK this summer:
Vox AC15 Heritage. Fender DeVille.
I'm now incredibly worried that everything will go awry.
By the by, who do you use to rent drums over here?
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Post by dustdudes on Feb 11, 2009 14:06:31 GMT -5
Where is "here?" In Australia we mostly rented from Billy Hyde. In England Bobby has his own kit.
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2009 17:18:16 GMT -5
is that Magda from Chugg? i went to university with her... i don't think she likes me anymore can somebody give me the name of the Mexican place you liked in Sydney? i think the Melbourne riot was less about Girl Talk then about the bad festival organization... at least from what i've heard where was the afterparty? Vegas Bar/Q Bar?
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2009 17:43:59 GMT -5
and on the subject of Bon Scott/Perth, i got this at work today:
THE BON SCOTT PARADE KICKS OFF AT 2PM THROUGH THE STREETS OF FREO, WILL GO FOR ABOUT AN HOUR AND A HALF. IT INVOLVES THE BAND LOST SAINTS PLAYING "LONG WAY TO THE TOP" ON THE BACK OF A PRIME MOVER WITH BAGPIPES AND ALL.
pretty funny
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Post by dustdudes on Feb 11, 2009 19:52:19 GMT -5
The burrito joint was just a few blocks from North Bondi Beach and across the street from a bunch of guys working out. I don't remember the name of it but this is a picture:
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Deleted
Deleted Member
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Post by Deleted on Feb 11, 2009 19:54:50 GMT -5
coool i'll keep an eye out! if you're ever in Great Barringston, Mass. there is/was an amazing burrito joint there... used to go when i was at university
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Post by sunsetparade on Feb 11, 2009 23:36:00 GMT -5
Awesome diary. And thanks for smiling at me both at the show at the Metro and at Laneway while you were on stage!
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seann
Clever Kid
Posts: 125
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Post by seann on Feb 12, 2009 11:32:51 GMT -5
Great stuff Dustin. Thanks for the day-in-the-life reviews. Great fun to read.
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Post by jwd on Feb 12, 2009 14:06:45 GMT -5
The burrito joint was just a few blocks from North Bondi Beach and across the street from a bunch of guys working out. I don't remember the name of it but this is a picture: Was that place called Dece Burrito?
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Post by dustdudes on Feb 12, 2009 14:52:37 GMT -5
Sadly, we won't be anywhere near Dece Burrito until Goin' Off Fest next year.
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Post by nosferatu on Feb 12, 2009 19:43:50 GMT -5
Where is "here?" In Australia we mostly rented from Billy Hyde. In England Bobby has his own kit. oh cool... yeah, when I said "here" I meant the UK. My kit is falling swiftly apart the more on the road action it sees. I'm sure it'll be fine! Didn't realise Bobby used his own stuff over here, is he still using that green Slingerland or the new natural type lookin' one? The kit he used on the BaGIA tour sounded sweet.
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