Day 32: Lisbon
Nau mai
Yesterday we played our final show of the tour in Lisbon, Portugal.
We began the day at the Holiday Inn Express Madrid – Alcorcón, a busy hotel with a busy breakfast buffet. I was in and out, serving myself a few orange slices and quickly wolfing them down to make it to van call on time.
It was another huge day in the van but also another beautiful drive. Farmland that looked dry and golden was the main course and there were plenty of old stone buildings and neat groves of trees to keep me entertained. The truck stops we visited in Spain were a breath of fresh air, the espresso bars and made to order sandwiches giving us a reason for an extended break. These places also carried excellent selections of knives, blades of all forms and functions, which sorely tempted us with their utility.
I spent some time with ChatGBT trying to get my email button working on the mobile website view but I still haven’t figured out how to get it to go in the right place.
Arriving in Lisbon was one of the most spectacular experiences on this tour. The highway approaches the city from the west but then meets a significant obstacle on the way, the enormous breadth of the River Tagus Estuary, which flows down from the north and turns into a huge harbour with an entrance to the Atlantic. Enter the Vasco de Gama Bridge. A ten-kilometre viaduct carries the roadway out across the water and gradually ascends as it heads towards a huge cable stayed bridge on an approach that seems to take forever, which is not a bad thing as the views of the city are magnificent. Out ahead of us is Lisbon, grandly sprawled over the hills and soaking up the warm weather. Out the right-hand window we can see up the Tagus, the edges of this huge body of water fading into haze in the distance. Out the left-hand window is one of the great harbour entrances, a red suspension bridge spanning this gate to the open ocean. Finally, we reach the cable stayed section, a 420-metre central span 45 metres high that is the climax of this crossing with its steel cables strung tautly from the huge reinforced concrete pillars like the strings of a lyre.
We felt invigorated as we pulled up to the venue after this magnificent end to our final drive. It was a row of large warehouses that we had arrived at, each containing a different size venue that made up a part of the Lisboa ao Vivo entertainment complex (except for the one on the end which was a BMW dealership). There were tour buses parked up which indicated that there would be a gig happening concurrently to ours and from the amount of black tshirts we saw walking around it seemed like it would be a heavy one.
The room at LAV that we were playing felt familiar in its blandness. A polished concrete floor provided plenty of standing room and despite not being an ideal surface to deaden acoustic reflections it did provide easy cleanup for any spilled beverages. There were the usual air conditioning ducts visible to provide an industrial vibe, and of course there was a stage plonked at the far end, hidden behind by stout steel barriers that would protect us from the unruliest of crowds.
We had a lengthy soundcheck and in making use of this time a great victory was achieved with the completion of the upgrade to the Martin 00-15 acoustic guitar that Liz had recently purchased. Jon was able to install the magnetic pickup across the sound hole, and this guitar became once again the Swiss army knife of Liz’s touring guitar sound.
It was 10:15pm when we finally went on stage for our set. We had watched Dateline play a final perfect thirty-minute rock music statement and it had brought us both sadness and joy, as our dearly beloved friends completed the massive achievement that is a European tour.
The room wasn’t full, but we had a nice crowd that showed up for our first headline show in Portugal. It seemed that the line of black tshirts we had seen outside were waiting for the larger venue next door, and although we do sell a black shirt at our merch stand it wouldn’t have been guaranteed that our show would be heavy enough to sate these thirsty metal lovers. We were tired, but we dug deep one last time and made it happen for ninety minutes, finding the energy and the concentration to get through.
This tour ended as most do – with a rushed pack out and some crucial logistics that demanded proper execution. Our equipment had to be organised and prepped for freighting as it would make its way to the US independently of us. We said goodbye to our crew, Teddy and Justine, and we said goodbye to Gabe, who we would also meet in the USA. It was nearly 2am when we left the venue and everyone was happy to finish the night with a big, long sleep.
Shower door daily finishes this tour with a really well executed shath. As boring as it is to see this one crop up over and over again the timelessness of this design must be acknowledged. For as long as people have a had the need to access the pampering slowness of a bath and the rapid efficiency of a power shower in the confines of an economy sized bathroom this has been the way forward. This example has a nice radiused corner at the top of the pane that is both safe and elegant. The existence of a lip around the top of the bathtub meant that there was a good seating of the rubber seal and any water running down the inside of the door pane would be returned to the bathtub.
“⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️”
I’m pleased to leave you with another fine piece of Tristan Deck video content, the closing chapter for his series of European Tour Vlogs. Here is episode three.