We played after them. Despite the rain, it was a ton of fun. The folks that toughed it out were there to have a good time. After the show we were able to just walk across the street to the hotel, take a shower, and head right back out to the festival. Thank God we had time to clean the stink off.
After our set, the rain cleared out and Debo Band played. They were incredible. Their front man is a force of nature. At one point he was dancing on top of some speakers and water was splashing everywhere. Then he jumped over the barrier and started dancing with the crowd, including a few guys from Ethiopia who really knew how to get down to that music. Their sound was massive. They somehow mix metal with Ethio Jazz and it never sounds forced or contrived.
Lastly, the world famous Dirty Dozen Brass Band took the stage. They brought an undeniable energy to the stage that got every single person in the audience moving their feet.
The next morning we were up around 6:30am to catch a shuttle to the airport. Our next show was in Denver that night (Sunday). The shuttle bus was waiting for us when we hit the lobby and we got to the airport quickly. The only problem was, he dropped us at THE WRONG AIRPORT. Once we figured that out, we ran to the Super Shuttle counter and caught a ride to the correct airport 30 minutes away. We got to the airport about an hour before our departure and sailed through check-in before hitting one of the longest security lines I’ve ever seen. There were hundreds of people waiting for one gentleman to check their ID and boarding pass. Just when it felt as though there was no way to get to our flight on time, two new security guards took over and the line started moving quickly. After that we blazed through the rest of security and got on our plane with only a couple minutes to spare.
We arrived in Denver, and Grisha (our tour manager) picked us up from airport in The Knight Train, a used shuttle bus that we converted into our tour bus. He drove the bus from Minneapolis, to Denver and arrived at the airport right as we were touching down. It went very smoothly.
The show in Denver was at a new club downtown called Baur’s Listening Lounge. It’s an intimate room that sounds great. The stage is small, they have a dance floor (which was used all night), and the food is top notch. We made so many new friends and we already can’t wait to come back to Denver!
After the show we loaded the bus and headed up to The Pinecone Retreat in Winter Park. We had a full day off in Winter Park today. We started the day right with some amazing food and drinks at Casa Mexico. After we finished lunch, we were treated to the finest tequila any of us ever had (served out of some sort of hoof).
Tonight we’re just hanging out at The Pinecone Retreat and watching the Vikings game. Skol, Vikes!
Tomorrow morning we’ll get back on the bus and head to our show at the Musical Instrument Museum in Phoenix on Wednesday night. We’re super excited to check out this room. It looks like a very cool venue!
Check out the rest of our upcoming dates on the west coast, here.
-Eric (Drums)