Telephoned Tour Tales

Posted on Sep 7th, 2010 in Live > Pics > Videos by Mr. Goldbar

Ring ring telefans! We had an amazing summer getting lots of traveling in, highlighted by spending the last month on a North American tour with Chromeo and Holy Ghost!

There’s a lot to cover so get ready for a hefty whirlwind recap (penned by Ms Maggie Horn) of our experience on the almost totally sold out tour!

We began in my home city, Washington DC. Growing up going to the 9:30 Club as a feisty teenager, this was an exciting way to start our travels. The show was fun and energetic and we got our first taste of the amazing performances from Holy Ghost! and Chromeo that we would be lucky enough to watch so many more times from the side of the stage. The show was a success, sold out and a blast.

Check out more pictures and a review from DC right here.

After another show in Philly, we had a brief but jam packed stop at home in New York. Wednesday saw us celebrating our new mixtape, Keep Their Heads Ringin at Ella with Nicky Digital and our NY fam.

Following up that terrific Wednesday, we performed at the Bowery Ballroom – another sold out show, complete with our new merch! Our shirts just came in that day, along with hundreds of CD copies of the new mixtape just in time to hit the road for real.

Next stop was Sammy’s hometown, Boston. A third sold out show, the touring was chugging off to a great start! The crowd was excellent, and even Ma and Pa Bananas, as well as some of the other extended Banana family got to attend!

The next morning we picked up our trusty rental car, Che-Vy Co-Balt Mu-Sic, headed north and soon smoothly crossed the border into Chromeo’s home town of Montreal. It was an extra special show because it also was P-Thug’s birthday (and mine the following day!) Neon Indian was in the house for this one and played a psychedelic, terrific set featuring Alan flexing his Thermin skillz. The night ended with a entire birthday cake shaped like the infamous Chromeo lady legs keyboard stand.

After other great shows in Ottowa and Toronto (shout to our hosts Drastik and Grahmzilla!) we came back down to the states for a fun one on our own in Cleveland.

The next day in Detroit, we got a special tour of the infamous studios where Eminem recorded his first smash hit albums. Then it was on to Chicago for general Lollapalooza festivity-related madness. Sammy played an all-house DJ set in the Hard Rock Hotel and we went to the Chi-Town stop on the Stones Throw x Fools Gold Discotheque party.

Following a few days off we headed out for the West Coast leg of the tour! First we hit Calgary (and cameo’d in the upcoming Smalltown Romeo video), beautiful Vancouver was next up for yet another sold out show.

Holy Ghost! rocked another great set and finished it as they did every night with their amazing new “Song for Jerry.”

After an eventful trip back down to the US which involved a car chase at the border and a hot tattooed woman in a bikini serving coffee out of a shack at a truck stop (the place is called Foxy Lady cafe), we arrived in Seattle. The Pacific Northwest was so very good to us. Our first show in Seattle was quiet eventful. I hate to harp on “sold out” but it really was exciting and inspiring to be performing for such big excited crowds.

For more pictures and an excellent review by the prestigious KEXP, look over here. The crowd was so crazy for Chromeo at this point, the crew had to hold the lighting to make sure it didn’t fall from their quaking and jumping!

In Portland, we had what would prove to be our second best show thanks to another full house with loads of energy to spare! They showed lots of love for us at the end of our set.

Check out the review of the Portland show here.

San Diego proved to be an awesome sold out venue just before a few days off in Los Angeles. We managed to find a very Cali way to spend the time…LVLZ!

After fun times at the beach, in many pools, hot tubs, rollercoasters at Magic Mountain and stuffing our faces constantly, we headed back home to some weather that was not quite as forgiving.

The Pool’s Gold Jelly Pool Party turned out to be wild with a wonderful lineup. The day suffered from mega showers and wind, but the fans of Fool’s Gold and Jelly NYC waited quite some time (though somehow happily!) through the rain to see the great performances. Ours in particular was a bit hairy. At one point I was chasing down records and slipmats on a wet stage that had blown off Sammy’s tables in a gust of wind. Punk rock! The show must go on… until it couldn’t anymore because you can’t use a computer while its getting rained on.

Heres URB’s Pool Party review, and the full FG wrap-up.

Finally, it was off to the south for our last leg of the tour! The first night was a hot and sweaty sold out crowd at Stubb’s in Austin. In Dallas we had the best BBQ of the tour (best ribs of our entire lives???) and on the trip from Dallas to Nashville we got to ride in the Tour Bus and got to see what really goes on behind the scenes…

After that it was off to Honky Tonk land, the one and only Nash Vegas! Nashville’s Cannery was a house full of southern charm and friendliness. We ended the night honky tonkin’ and catching a terrific Rockabilly band on Broadway.

ATL was the last stop on the tour, and we spent a little rooftop pool time with the man Jackie Chain!

The final, sold-out show in Atlanta was hands down the best show we’ve done. An emotional send-off to the tour, all the bands pulled out all the stops. The crowd was positively bubbling with excitement and very welcoming.

It was a perfect ending to frankly, a nearly perfect tour. Every member of the bands and crew were a pleasure to work with and be around and the music inspiring to watch every night. We’re gonna miss these guys.

Early the next morning we pulled up to the airport in tour bus reeking of Tennesee moonshine and bacon maple bourbon. I had no time to change (or was this the plan all along?) and showed off what Chromeo refers to as “Airport style”. (#airportstyle)

Thanks to all the bands, and most of all to all our new fans, the hundreds and hundreds of people who came up to personally shake our hands to tell us the love what we are doing. Thanks also to everyone else who supported us buy buying T-shirts and CDs!

We’re off to the studio for the next month or so, with some shows peppered here and there, but we’ll be back for you again America (and beyond!)