Day 17: Sacramento CA
Nau mai
Yesterday we enjoyed our third day in Sacramento and finally got to play a show.
Our third day in Sactown began at the Home2 Suites by Hilton Sacramento at CSUS. For the uninitiated, CSUS is a prefix to a family of chords that could sound anywhere from contemplative to worshipful, but is also a neighbourhood in east Sacramento that takes its acronymous name from being the home of California State University Sacramento (this version is pronounced cu-s-uss).
The fridge supplies on the bus were running low so for breakfast I walked six minutes to the nearby Mediterranean chain restaurant Pita Pit and ordered myself a falafel pita with humous.
In the afternoon we piled inside Lavonda and drove the seven-minute journey into central Sacramento. The streets were quiet, and the footpaths were covered in the yellow and orange autumn leaves that had yet to be turned to mush from a large rainfall.
We began the load-in into our venue, a dark and dingy room that we knew would glam up once it was hit with a hundred coloured light beams. The security was tight at The Ace of Spades. Our personal bags were searched by a very enthusiastic security guard who said that as long as he recognised our faces, we would be able to bypass this security check, but if we went out for a while and he forgot what we looked like we would have to be searched again.
There were no major problems to overcome during soundcheck save for the huge subwoofer which vibrated my corner of the stage, but I have learned to treat these distractions as gifts for me to enjoy, and I enjoyed every time I played my lowest bass notes and the speaker thundered beneath my feet.
It came to showtime and the room was busy but organised, the audience partitioned neatly by the white strips of tape that clearly demarcated the fastest accessways to the restrooms and the bar. This was a blessing for those standing near the back or the sides who wanted to slip away for a quick beverage refill but was a nightmare for those unlucky enough have a foot in the aisle when the security patrol came past.
This Sacramento crowd were good to us. They commiserated us on experiencing the defeat of their basketball side, and we doubled down on our commitment to support this brave sports team in the future, expressing this sentiment through the power and energy of loud guitar music.
