Day 2: Dublin
Nau mai
Yesterday we began our Europe/UK tour with a show in Dublin.
It was a spacious morning. An early afternoon lobby call left us with many hours in the first part of the day to complete tasks in the categories of leisure, business, wellness, and nutrition.
The rhythm section braved the slippery cobblestones of the waterfront for some running, a small amount of cardio that provided very nice sightseeing as we jogged alongside the Liffey towards Dublin Port.
Breakfast was a ten minute walk from the hotel, an establishment called Tang that served handsome middle-eastern inspired dishes. I ordered the hummus eggs, with two fried eggs on traditional hummus, fetta, dukkah, spring onion, chili, and sourdough.
The guitar section began their day setting out from the hotel to eat some vegetables. With this important piece of bodily maintenance under their belts they returned to the hotel and conducted the business of the band, attacking and destroying an inbox full of hostile emails.
Our work day began at 3pm when we arrived at The Button Factory, a venue in the extremely historic and touristic district of Temple Bar. We entered a tall, square room with a tall stage at one end facing off against a steep mezzanine on the back wall. The room was soon a scene of chaos, strewn with the pallets and packing cord that had carried our equipment from the USA, as well as a collection of drum and amplifier cases divorced from their lids and contents.
The new banner had arrived. A huge piece of stitched canvas emblazoned with our crest that could be hung at the back of any stage to proclaim our name and shine our colours. It turned out to be very heavy (the bottom of the banner is weighted with chains) and the venue stage hands perspired as they climbed an enormous ladder to hang it for us.
Dateline had also arrived, one of New Zealand’s finest rock’n’roll bands, crossing the international dateline to join us and play support on this run of shows. We love this band and we are thrilled to show to them off to the fine audiences of this continent.
Our soundcheck had been somewhat abridged and we hadn’t played together properly for over two weeks. The questions hung over our heads: would we remember how to play the songs properly? Would we be too jetlagged to function? Only time would tell.
I tried to drink the appropriate beverages to prepare myself for optimum performance. A terribly bitter cup of coffee to improve my focus, a can of Guiness to steady the caffeine jitters, a good gulp of water to hydrate, and a pair of mandarins for vitamins. This ancient remedy combined with some performance adrenaline granted me an amount of concentration I didn’t expect, and I was surprised as the songs flew by and we suddenly reached the end of the set unscathed. We were all happy, and relieved, as the Straight Line Was A Lie album cycle eased itself gently into motion.
