Day 26: San Francisco, CA
Nau mai
Yesterday we played at San Francisco Airport.
At 8:30am we woke up to the bus pulling up outside door seven of the San Francisco Airport’s departures level. It was something of a miracle that they were able to accommodate a bus we thought considering the usual multi-lane unloading chaos that we usually found at an airport drop off zone. There were a big group of stage hands waiting and we stood back and watched as they rapidly unloaded the trailer, whisking our gear off into the terminal.
I made the closest thing to a cooked breakfast that is possible aboard the bus, chopping tomatoes, cucumber, and avocado to make a simple salad dressed with olive oil and salt. I finished off by adding a side of freshly toasted sourdough slathered with butter and and Marmite.
It seems physically impossible but we were able to park our bus in the airport’s drop off area for the seven or so hours we were at SFO. How the airport continued to function is beyond me. It is said that no vehicle has ever remained stationary in this lane for so many hours and none shall ever again.
Once we were all fed and caffeinated we headed into the airport. We had an escort leading us, the SFO duty manager who had a handheld radio and complete knowledge of this immense facility. Instead of heading for TSA our escort headed for a pair of while double doors next to the check-in area. The doors had warnings printed on them, things like STERILE AREA/DO NOT ENTER/NO UNAUTHORIZED ENTRY/INTRUDERS WILL BE IN A LOT OF TROUBLE etc.
Our man made a quick radio call and swiped us through the doors, then immediately through another pair of identical doors, and without any body scanning ceremony, placeboic x-ray, or the celebratory removal of shoes, we were in the concourse. We all chuckled to ourselves and retrieved the litres upon litres of unfiltered water and large bottles of shampoo that we had smuggling inside.
We were playing at Gate B4, a pleasant venue in Terminal 1 on the south side of the airport. There was natural light, plenty of comfortable seating, and a good vantage point to watch airport operations. Our green room was just across the other side of the gate lounge, an unfinished room filled with all the airport seating that had presumably been removed so they could erect a stage at Gate B4.
Surprisingly, a crowd of people turned up to watch our show at San Francisco Airport. It was a free concert; all you had to do was get an SFO Gate Explorer pass and you could make your way through security to enjoy all the fruits of the terminal. We were flattered by the amount of gate explorers who had subjected themselves to this experience for a short Beths show.
There were also handful of opportunists watching who had been in transit and had come to us after tracking down the unusual airport background noise that was the echo of sound-checking drums finding its way through the concourse.
As far as airport shows go we thought this one was surprisingly good. The audience were receptive and hopefully have now gained a positive airport memory/experience. While we played we got to watch the comings and goings of the planes. Sadly there were no arrivals at Gate B4 during our set.
Here are the points from the day:
