The Big Show is Tonight!

It's now 4:40 pm and the van will be here to take us to the Festival site in 20 minutes, so I don't have much time to write this. Tonights show is a big one. This will be our fourth year performing here and we always enjoy this crowd. We play at 9ish and then again at 2am. We head back to Amsterdam at 5:00 for an early morning flight to Denmark to do a show there tomorrow night. We are gonna be exhausted.

So let me catch you up with the last few day. Last time I wrote was on Wednesday when we had a day off in England. It turns out that it was Brian McSweeny's Birthday. He turned 31. So after we did laundry, we celebrated Brian's birthday at the nearest neighborhood pub.



Oops! I guess I didn't mention what we did on Tuesday. Well, we left Wales for London by bus on Tuesday morning. There we met Jonathan Brown for Furious/Fierce Records. We loaded up into a van and drove a few hours to Kent. That night we played a show in a big tent for a camp meeting kinda vibe. After the show we loaded back into the van and drove back to Heathrow. That puts us back to Wednesday like I was talking about above, 'ya know with the laundry and Brian's birthday.

Ok, now that we are back on track....

Thursday morning we woke up early and took a cab to Heathrow. We knew it would be a madhouse there so we left three hours before our flight. It was as crazy as expected. No cars are allowed near the airport now, you get dropped off in the parking lot and then hike to the terminal. When we got inside there were crazy lines everywhere. In this advanced security state, extra workers are in place to point you in the right direction and give you assistance. We got in the que and were then "assisted" by one such worker. She looked at our itenerary and told us we needed to get out of line and come back in an hour. We attempted to argue with her, but she insisted. So we went downstairs and got a cup of coffee. We all disagreed with her thought process so after waiting only 45 minutes we went back upstairs to find that the line was much longer now.

The line moved very slowly. When we got to the check in counter, we could see the line for the security check growing and growing. After recieving our boarding passess and all our bags were tagged and put on the belt, they fast tracked us through security. Even the "fast track" line took about thirty minutes. Once through, we ran (like we always seem to do) to our gate. Thankfully the plane had not left yet, but we were some of the last people on. In spite of our attempts to get checked in early and not be rushed we still ended up getting on the plane 15 minutes late. We were very glad that they had not left. I guess they too know how messed up the system is.
The flight was only 50 minutes long. We landed in Amsterdam, loaded into another van and drove another three or so hours to Eindhoven. We arrived at the hotel around 8:00pm. That was one long travel day. We figure in the 13 hours that we had been working to get to our destination that only 4 were actually spent moving in the right direction. That's around 9 hours of waiting.

I must be honest, I had forgotten how much time we as musicians spend waiting while touring. It really can drive you a bit koo koo! No wonder when we slept till one o'clock this afternoon.

Here are some shots of our hotel hallway.


Here are some of Brian on his laptop and Ian waiting for the elevator.

I think they look a electro pop dou, like the pet shop boys or erasure.


They sure do like bicycles here.



Ok, that's it for now. I'll have more to share after the show in Denmark Saturday night. I'll have pictures from Tonight's show and more traveling stories.

Love to all,

Christian

What no comment Love?

Mom, Dad, anyone reading this? In spite of being busy with all the traveling and playing, I am getting a bit home sick. So feel free to leave comments on any of the post that interest you. I'm putting this up here so you can keep up with what I'm doing, but I would sure love to be able to hear what you think.
I love and miss all my peeps! Can't wait to see you all again soon.
Christian

Sunday Night in Wales

I don't have any photos of the show tonight, but here are some cool photos of Brian and Costa as we were waiting for our ride to the venue.
This was our best show yet, but that is no surprise considering it is only our second show. We have made some major changes to songs that we did the first night and have worked the songs into major show songs. We will be great by Flevo Festival! 

Saturday Continued

Another caption contest with no prize.

Just playing with my camera on the train to the city.

We ate dinner at Ian's favorite Thai restaraunt called, Ko Phangan. It was actually really good and the atmosphere was great. I just wish the company could have been better. Just kidding! We had a blast.
 

Saturday the 12th

Today we got in a van to head back to Stockholm. We stopped off for lunch at McDonalds. The menu is a bit different so I thought I would show you.
I had a fish sandwich, Carrot Sticks, and a can of fizzy water. MMM delicous.




After getting back to the hotel we took the train down into the city center to visit Ian's favorite Thai restaraunt. We had a great time taking the train and enjoying the atmosphere of Stokholm.


I took the pictures, but haven't come up with the captions for them yet, so I figured I'd leave it up to you. If you can come up with a silly caption let me know. 

The First Show


The guitar amps were good as well. We met the guys running sound and lights, we sound checked and then ran through the songs for the very first time. It sounded great! I was very impressed with how well everyone had done learning the songs and I really think we locked in to each other real well, especially considering it was the first time we had played together as a group ever and we were all very exhausted.




The show was good! Notice I said good but not great. The crowd loved it and the energy was fantastic. I think I started really running out of energy. Everyone else did great. It was a ton of fun to be rocking again. They were no major catastrophies just a few bumpy spots. The crowd chanted for an encore so we came back with Bright Red Carpet. Right after the guitar solo at the end, my brain got through to my body and told it that it was too tired to continue and I hit a brick wall. It was so strange, all of a sudden the sticks weighed 100 pounds each and it was literaly all I could do to stay on task and finish the song. I got light headed and had to drop my head down and focus to the finish. I felt like a marathon runner that could see the finish line but falls to the ground and crawls over the line. I'll tell you what, hitting that last cymbal at the end of the song was the best note of the night for me! The crowd loved it and it was all worth it. I always remember the maxim, "The Show Must Go On!". All in all, this has been a success.


We rested for about 5 minutes and then went to the autograph table to sign cds for the fans. I drank 3 bottles of water while we signed to reinvigorate myself.


After the table, Ian and I did an interview with some local journalist.

The saga continues tomorrow. After a well deserved nights sleep we head back to Stokholm to be by the airport and catch an early morning flight to Wales for the next show.

 

YEAH!!! Thursday at noon I arrived in Stockholm! I contacted all the people I needed to and a driver was dispatched to retrieve me. I hoped it would be a short wait, but I was sorely mistaken. Four and a half hours later, Stefan loaded my gear into his car and we were off to the Hotel a short 3 hour drive away. On the way I had my first meal since the Panini at 6am. I had him take me to someplace to get Swedish Meatballs (surprisingly they just refer to them as meatballs here).
It was awesome to pull up to the hotels and see the relived faces of Ian, Brian and Costa. We had an hour at the Hotel to shower and relax. It doesn’t seem like a long time, but it was heaven for me. 8:30pm We loaded into a caravan and went to the Venue.






It is the third day of a four day festival. There are several tents but the main stage is in a big red barn. The backline gear was great! The drumset was perfect! I didn’t have to make any changes to way it was set up, I just sat down and started playing.

 

Thursday Night August 9th 1:50am (truly its Friday morning August 10th)

So, I’m writing this entry at 1:50 am Friday morning laying on a HM Customs countertop right next to SAS Check-in desk. My goal is to sleep a little bit and then be the first in line to check in for the standby list to Stockholm. If I can get on either one of the first two flights there, I’ll make the show, If not I’ll be staying Hans Solo in London until the rest of the guys arrive Monday.
Well the first part of my little plan is not working too well. I’ve been laying on this hard countertop for three hours and not sleeping.
This adventure began Wednesday August 8th at 6pm when I left Los Angeles. The plane arrived Heathrow a half hour early but we sat on the tarmac for an hour and a half since the entire airport had been shut down. When we finally got inside the airport I realized it was better sitting in the plane because at least there we had a seat. The airport was packed full of frusterated travelers.After collecting my bags and going through customs I headed to the SAS Counter to see what was next. My connecting flight was for 1:50 but it didn’t look like I was going to make it. After getting there I spoke to gate agent who informed me that all planes were grounded until 4:00. They didn’t have any info yet and would know more at that time.



So, as not to give up my place in line, I stood there with all of my bags for 2 ½ hours. A little after 4:00 they put a sign stating “We regret to inform you that all flights have been cancelled for the remainder of the day”.
I headed upstairs and started making calls. Long story short, it looked like there were no open flights to Stockholm until Sunday. My only hope is to get on a flight in Standby mode if someone doesn’t claim their seat. So that is why I am laying here on this countertop. I only slept for about 3 hours on the plane so I am exhausted but I can’t sleep. I guess I’ll continue laying here until I do.



Friday August 10th.

I slept for about 45 minutes on the countertop and decided to get in line at 3:00am since a line was already forming at the ticket counter. I made some friends with the Swedes in line. It was fun to hear everyone’s stories. Once we all got on the standby list we had a little picnic on the floor with our Starbucks and Panini’s.




After our breakfast we all waited by the gate hoping our names would be called. The order in which names were called was somewhat random. My picnic friends were two mothers, one with her 13yr.old daughter, and one with her 9yrs and 15rs old sons. The gate agent called the several names for standby seats and the last person she called was the 13 year old girl. After much arguing with the gate agent the mother of the girl said to give the seat to someone else if they couldn’t fly together. The agent went back to her computer and then my name was called!!! My new friends all applauded when I got a seat and as I was headed to luggage check-in they cheered and wished me luck with my concert. I very quickly got onto the plane and then we sat on the tarmac until we cleared for the flight. We left England at 9:50am.

 

Here is a good article about what I've just been through.

CTV.ca | Tears of frustration at British airports

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I made it!

I'm in Stockholm!!!!   It's been a crazy trip to get here and I will post the details and photos as soon as I am able, but I wanted to let everyone know that the show must go on, so I am here.

Check back soon for the story and photos.

Stockholm - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

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Stuck in Heathrow

Well, it's 9:00pm now and I have been here since noon. Because of the attempted attack on 9 US bound jets, we are in a high security situation. My airline has canceled all remaining flights. I am supposed to be in Sweden now. So we are trying to figure out a way for me to get there.
Keep tuned in for more updates.

Happy Birthday Mommmy!

Today is my mother's birthday!!! She is fantastic and I love her very much!

Getting Ready for the Road

I've been practicing and will be rocking in less than a week in Sweden. 

Good Times!!!

Flickr: Photos from christiancrowe

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Clementine is Super to! 

Super Crocket!

 

Visit from Sivje, Don, India, and Ahnalin

This last week we enjoyed the company of my sister Sivje, brother-in-law Don, and nieces India and Ahnalin. They arrived Wednesday night and were with us until Sunday morning.


India is nearly 15 and fabulous!


Soon to be 2 year old Ahnalin, just joined our family last year from China. Here she models her lovely bathing suit purchased during her visit to Disneyland earlier in the week.


Sisters in front of a big fish tank at the Long Beach aquarium.


The Parishs.


Here Ahnalin explains the fish's names and their Latin origin as India looks on in awe.


seahorse


On Saturday we celebrated Sivje's birthday. She is two years older than me, so if you do the math she is almost 30! Wow! ;-)
We had a great time with and look forward to the next time we can all be together.