Day 14: Tourcoing
Nau mai
Yesterday we began our European leg of the tour in Tourcoing, France.
I awoke to a breakfast delivery from a very thoughtful Tristan Deck, a piece of baguette with cheese, a slice of brown bread with butter and jam, and a croissant.
Before I’d even had the chance to touch my food we got a message from our tour manager Justine, that overnight the van had been broken into and all our guitars, cymbals, snare drum, and backline were gone. We all walked to the carpark to see the damage. The front quarterlight window was smashed to get into the cabin and they had managed to go in through the back window, tearing through the plastic panelling of the cargo compartment to get the back doors open from the inside.
Justine had already called the police who rolled up a few minutes after we arrived. We had left airtags inside each of our cases and there were a couple still active so we accompanied four policemen to investigate the location. What we found was a quiet street and a helpful resident that showed us their security footage from the night, which unfortunately was devoid of any activity.
At this stage we were all feeling gutted. Our instruments which had populated the songs from the last four albums and served us through the last seven years of touring were gone. Thankfully the thieves had failed in their attempts to pry open the trailer and we still had our audio gear, and two of the pedal boards. The decision was made to continue with the show and we began to work to make this happen.
I went to the police station to submit the necessary paperwork and everyone else went to the venue to set up what they could. We were lucky enough to have some wonderful friends in this part of the world, only a short drive away in the neighbouring city of Lille and with their help we were able to scrape together a backline for the evening. Dateline generously lent us their guitars and cymbals to use, and Liz played through Gabe’s guitar pedals.
Our stage setup looking considerably lighter than usual.
It was a lovely little venue that we played, basically a small rock club but unusually clean and well lit. We had entered the EHZ (European Hospitality Zone) and as such there was beer and wine on tap in the catering room and we were provided with a healthy cooked meal that we got to tackle with real crockery and silverware. The sound system was excellent and the acoustic treatment of the room made everything sound pristine and helped Gabe to comply with the strictly enforced French decibel limit.
In the end it was an enjoyable and comforting show. Bringing our songs together on unfamiliar instruments was a fun distraction and it brought us out of our glum headspace. It will take a long time to rebuild everything that we lost but thankfully we can keep travelling and keep playing.
Thanks to Aurelian Gainetdinoff and Florian Nalenne for helping us to find enough amps and drums to make the show happen.
I’ll leave you with this memorial gallery of our lost instruments, and a piece of music to accompany your viewing. If you have any information regarding their whereabouts feel free to reach out to breakfastandtravelupdates@breakfastandtravelupdates.com
