So, it’s been a while - but lots of stuff has happened in-between: drunk people, sick people, annoying people, haha... all sorts of people have crossed our path.
Anyway, I wrote to you last from Dallas, TX. Now sitting in the van towards Des Moines, Iowa, I look back on several amazing shows and ”happy times!,” as Borat would have said!
The show after Dallas was in San Antonio. Nice weather, nice venue, and nice people all around. As we went to check out the nearby town before the show we stumbled across a bunch of columbian fans that had come to hear Hatesphere. Now, there has been Hatesphere fans to the shows before, but until now we had only been the secret surprise so to say... not that many people had known about us. But this night was different for sure.
These Columbians had waited I don’t know how many years to see us, so we were eager to give them one hell of a show. After having taken some pictures of them and us on the parking lot, we got their song wishes for that evening’s show. Luckily for them and us, we were able to play most of them - so they were a happy bunch after that. To make the evening even better, my buddy Steve was there as well. We have been emailing via Facebook and Myspace for a couple of years, and finally we had the chance to meet at a Hatesphere show in the States. All in all, a great evening!
The day after was a day off in El Paso - with a long, long drive through Texas, New Mexico and Arizona to follow! Well, it was nice to have a long sleep, but the drive almost goddamn killed me. Though we got to take a break in the middle of the desert in our quest to find a rattle snake or a scorpion... stupid Danish people, ha-ha, but of course we found nothing of that kind! Unfortunately, it would have been exciting... and most probably it would have ended with one of us getting killed, haha... not that nice, when I think about it!
Anyway, the next show was at The Rock in Tuscon, Arizona. Wow, a great, great gig in front of a crazy crowd. We had the pleasure of bumping into Anthony, the singer from Nightrage, who we have played some shows with before. He had brought some of his friends, huge Hatesphere fans, so we had a good time. Again, we asked them, if there were some songs that they wanted to hear that evening - actually we always make the setlist just before going on stage. So if we meet some fans that has song requests, we always try to incorporate them in the set...
Next up was L.A.! We came in early and got settled at a friends of Augury, at whom we were going to stay that night. After having checked emails, Facebook, etc etc, we finally got to the venue nicely situated on the Sunset Strip. So we went out checked out the famous bars and Hollywood, ha-ha, and got back to a line of people waiting to get in longer than anything I had ever seen before. After sound check I wanted to film this line and bumped into two Mexican fans that had flown all the way from Mexico City to L.A. just to see us. They both wore Danish National Soccer shirts - with Hatesphere printed on the back - and they had a Mexican National Soccer shirt for me! Fucking amazing! So I played in that shirt that night - and people were happy!! The night ended in a party. Some of the guys stayed at the strip while I went home with the rest of the tour party... a good decision, as I apparently couldnt walk straight!
The day after was San Francisco. A long but very beautiful drive up there, and after the show we went sightseeing with one of Mixen’s (bass) old friends from Denmark, who lives there now. Always good for this band to do some sightseeing - it differs from the usual tour rumble! Worth mentioning is that there were a lot of Mexican fans this night as well - so my Mexican soccer shirt was a good choice to wear. Our biggest fans was without doubt the venue chef, José, which was also Mexican... and a damn good chef not to forget!
Next up Portland and Seattle. Again a very beautiful drive through mountains and forrest, and great shows as well. Especially Seattle was amazing. Not only did we manage to play tourists once again (went up the Space Needle) but we had a lot of Canadian fans coming down to see us. One of the dudes, Mark, has seen us two times before in Europe, so he was super stoked that we were finally coming close to his hometown to play. So we had a great time hanging out with him and his buddies!
Waking up the next day our bass player Mixen was sick like never before - so the show in Boise ended up being really, let’s say different! It was a wonder he could even play, and as the crowd was really, really quiet, it is maybe not the show we will remember as one of the best on this tour - but what the heck, you cant have it all!
The day after we had a day off in a little mountain town, Rawlings, in Wyoming. What should have been a really relaxing day in this could, snowy town, ended up being aweful, as I ended up getting sick... so no sleep and relaxation to me! Luckily the show the day after in Denver was not only sold out but also truly amazing - even though I had to play with nausea and fever - so it made it up for it all!
To sum up after this part of the tour: we are more than happy to be on such a great tour. Nice and professional people all around and sold out shows - what more could you want of your first US-tour?
Here in the end, I just wonder about a couple of things:Why is it so difficult to find fruit and vegetable and healthy meals here? And why are they so expensive when a meal at McDonalds is around 5 dollars?
And why the hell do I have to show ID to buy a beer? Last time I checked my passport I was 31 - not 21! I guess I must look young and nice, since people ask me about that... but I can’t help to be a bit offended, haha! I will blame my good looks though! ;-)
