Latest tour catch-up (feat. Philly Cheesesteak)

Well, it's been a while since the last blog entry, but it's not really stopped for us.

After so many shows in a row without stopping and all the traveling that goes with it, we managed to have a few days off.  In the process we got a bit carried away in rest mode and forgot to write the blog.  Ooops!

We then got back on the road, performed at more cities and scribbling down our thoughts on the road and finally with a bit of time in the hotel, were able to finish it off today.  So, what have we been up to?

Urbana & St Louis both went really well.  It's quite rare for us to do a classic club show these days (we generally prefer the layout of theatre-style venues), but that's exactly what St Louis was.  Urbana was a true college town show, and we knew we'd feel at home when we saw this sign outside the venue!

Urbana welcomed us with this as we got out of the tour bus

And then this ensued later!

Minneapolis was also great - somewhere we've played before, but it had been a while since we've been there so we managed to dig out 1 or 2 older tracks to make up for that.

At the end of the shows we're started to try and do signings by our merchandise stand where possible, and here we were overwhelmed by the response - so thank you for bringing all your stuff to be signed.

Living up to the venue name - "Epic", Minneapolis

It's amazing how the human body works - I didn't realise quite how tired I was until we stopped doing the shows.  I've read you can't really properly catch up on sleep, but if that is the case then on the day of the Super Bowl I certainly broke that rule.

Late in the afternoon after sleeping for what seemed like half a day, after checking out the mall (and resisting buying another Tumi suitcase - trust me, it may sound boring but quality luggage somehow becomes exciting when you spend a lot of time on the road!), we headed out to watch the Super Bowl with half a crew.

The rest of our team were nursing their sore heads after a long night of post-show celebrations which ended at around 9am according to Paavo who joined them for the whole time without drinking a drop of alcohol!  Hats off there.

Sam our driver managed to book a table at a Sports Bar to do the proper American thing and watch the game…. I think I was the only one to actually drink a beer as everyone was understandably feeling a bit worse for wear.

I must confess I'm not too familiar with American football, so it was more the experience that I was interested in.  What shocked me was quite how many commercials you have during the televising of the game!  So, given that I can't really comment on the game, what did we all think of the performance from Madonna?  Well I was pretty impressed personally.  Still amazes me how she can jump around in the way that she does at her age.  Inspiring stuff that makes me want to be that fit my older years.

Paavo had been given a tip off by our LED screen tech, Carson, that Prince might make an appearance at a bar somewhere not far from our hotel, so after grabbing some steak & sushi (only in America do they have 2 restaurants in one!) we headed out to check out the band.

Unfortunately "the little man" didn't turn up, but the band were incredible, playing a lot of soul/disco/jazz hits.  We always love seeing live musicians.

Carson, our "pro" screen tech man hanging with some fans

The next day, around midday we set off in the direction of Bloomington, with the intention to stop over night somewhere fairly near Chicago for the night to break up the journey.  Along the way, our now filthy bus (from all the snow in the cold weather and associated dirt) was due a bit of a clean, so Sam pulled it into the truck wash where lots of helpful burly men with spray guns, brushes and other cleaning stuff (and an assortment of tattoos) proceeded to clean the bus and get it nice and shiny.  As we normally spend most of our time in the USA on the west coast, it's a country I associate with fairly warm weather so it's been interesting to fully experience a different climate in the states - next time I will be prepared and bring more winter wear!

Pride of Anjuna gleaming in full glory - probably the cleanest we will get to see the A&B logo, so time for a quick pic!

Sam, our brilliant "captain of the ship"

So, what were the memories from Bloomington?  Well, apart from eating this tasty bean burger....

Probably one of the healthier meals on the tour

....Bloomington was one of the hottest shows of the tour - a real "sweat box" as we rather affectionately call such a venue.  The crowd were very loud, chanting along - even to the instrumentals, let alone the songs.

Bluebird, Bloomington

Bloomington - the "sweat box"

The next day, over 2 travel days we began to head towards Norfolk, Virginia.  We were Virginia virgins, so it was nice to be made to feel so welcome here.  What a beautiful drive through the mountains to get there too - I wish I'd taken some pics to post here.  Paavo did take this nice shot in one of the tunnels, though:

A tunnel

Enjoying the comfort of the reclining "buddy seat" while chatting with Sam, soaking up the scenery

Outside the venue, Norva

Setting up

Norfolk crowd

Because of the time schedule, after the Norfolk show (well, after a post-show hang out on the bus with all the crew) we slept on the bus after the show and Sam drove us to Philadelphia.  I think it took about 6 or 7 hours.

The next day I woke up in the street where the venue was and immediately headed out to procure a Philly Cheesesteak sandwich - a true pilgrimage!  I had planned this!  I knew I had to try one, and what better time than for breakfast?

We found the place with the biggest queue called Jim's, and after a bit of abuse from the staff (as we didn't know quite which one to go for and they weren't used to indecisive customers) we ended up with this tasty little baby complete with peppers.  Well, actually that's a 3rd of a sandwich as knowing how big portions can be in the states I decided to share it up a bit:

Destiny - a Philly Cheese steak

Inside Jim's

Bloomington had set the standard for the hottest show of the tour.  It'd be easy to complain about the heat at these kinds of shows, but there's really nothing you can do when the A/C in a venue doesn't cut it, so you may as well just make it your mission to get as hot and sweaty as possible and go with it!

So then, Philly delivered us the hottest show of the tour:

A small piece of the great (and sweaty) Philly crowd - true Group Therapy

We've been fortunate that many of the shows have been sold out on the tour, even in some of the places we've never played before.  That's really exciting for us.  We find it really motivating and love to bring our music and show to as many places as possible, and in the US it's possible to get on a bus and drag a trailer with all the right kit to each venue and do it properly with our screen and crew.

When we look back at the tour it all becomes a bit of a blur and ask questions like "was it in Ottawa or Waterloo where we played Alone Tonight?".  Often fans ask us if we remember them from another show from a while back - we try our best, but when you're doing in excess of 150 shows a year, it really does meld into one big gig!

Doing these shows can also be very inspiring, and sometimes during the gigs ideas for tracks or other ideas spring to mind.  I've already come away with quite a few ideas for tracks/remixes/bootlegs that I'm personally looking forward to having a fiddle with in the studio….

Also, thanks for all the gifts you brought at the shows - here are a few:

These do seem popular....

Mmmmmm!  Let's hope it doesn't explode in our luggage....

Personalised!  Thanks Philly!

Some other bits and bobs on the tour....

Home-made Sun & Moon T-shirt

FRUIT, FRUIT, FRUIT, FRUIT, FRUIT, FRUIT.... ummmm....CARAMEL SAUCE!!!  Only in America :)

Paavo "Abwall-ing" with Carson, our amazing LED screen tech who has toured with Madonna, Bon Jovi etc 

London, ON, Canada

Neil "Lights" Marsh

School's out!

The sign of a good sound guy

Alex, our merch-man preparing his DJ set - he warmed up for us at many of the shows before selling merchandise

Backstage in Urbana

So hopefully this blog gives you a flavour of what it's like to be on tour.  We're in Baltimore now and are excited about tonight - another sold out show.  See some of you tonight, and the rest of you - well, we hope to see you at a venue soon.  Thanks for reading, and we'll leave you with sunset in Baltimore.

Jono & Paavo x

View from 25th floor of the hotel in Baltimore

One of those days

Proof that canadians love their morning coffee like we do in London, ON!

Yesterday was 'one of those days'. We kicked off queuing through this megaqueue for that ever-so important caffeine boost at 10am after an awesome party at the London Music Hall where we tested some new visual tricks like our newly invented 3d Group Therapy logo, made possible by all the trailer full of lovely toys we're travelling with. Oh, and the genius of our master of light, Neil who's fast becoming such an important part of the show he feels like a member of the band.

Thanks to you who took this beautiful picture of the first ever 3d Group Therapy logo

But trailer packed, troopers on the bus, we headed towards Ann Arbor and across the Canadian-US border. Little did we know, we were in for a 'special day' due to a paperwork mixup. We went through 2 shift loads of customs crew, who went through our entire bus' contents with a toothcomb hoping to find something interesting but had to admit in the end: 'you must be the cleanest band we've ever seen cross this border, we found nothing, nothing at all'.  Strange that they seemed almost a bit disappointed that there wasn't anything wrong!  We weren't really that bemused, as all this took them over 10 hours!

They let the band through after 8 hours so we wouldn't miss our gig, so we left our bus in the customs and headed to Necto in Ann Arbor. Unlike most of the other gigs on this tour, we obviously couldn't do any special production with the equipment at customs, but the vibe at the party was so incredible it quickly turned what had been a tiring and long day into something so positive and fun. We danced our frustrations away with hundreds of smiling people. This is what Group Therapy is all about, and what we are so ever grateful for.

These people truly made our night.

Our bus, and the trailer full of toys, ready for a new adventure.

The journey continues - see you at the Canopy Club in Urbana for another Group Therapy Session tonight (and yes, we have our bus, trailer and toys, so we'll keep improving the show with you again tonight)

p

Spying pregnant buses in London

A little update on A&B antics.... 

Tonight we're playing in London (Ontario) and we arrived a few hours ago.  There are certainly a few nods to the city it borrows its name from:

Seems Canada is obsessed with our London Underground logo

A "London Taxi"?  Hmmm.  It looks more NYC to me....

A little different from the Covent Garden I know! 

Sam (our bus driver) managed to get the bus right next to the venue as usual for our crew to unload and set up all the equipment for the show tonight.  We have a lot of stuff in our trailer and the crew are doing an amazing job of setting up all the screen panels and lights to make the show special.

Sam managed negotiate a route through what seemed to be a pretty busy car park.  It amazes me how he can be so relaxed parking such a big vehicle in a tight space when I struggle to parallel park my car sometimes!  I suppose it's all in the mental approach to these things.

As I was chatting to him after we parked, he managed to sneakily press a magic button that caused our bus to give birth:

Pregnant bus?

When I turned around inside the bus after our brief chat, I was greeted with an even wider front lounge - as if we needed any more space!

Front Lounge 2.0

I was left wondering if Sam has any more tricks up his sleeve with this bus?  It really is a great place to be and is very smooth on the road, not least thanks to Sam's driving.

When we arrived, Sam also spotted a "Spy shop".  My dark side quite fancies the idea of bugging our Tour Manager, Seamus, so I headed over there after lunch to see what I could pick up.

Unfortunately upon arrival the store was closed, but I managed to spot a few interesting bits and pieces through the window including an innocent looking alarm clock (amongst all the standard "phone tapping" stuff) that had a secret camera built in.

Presumably this is designed to enable you to catch your partner having an affair?!  Just who is buying this stuff I wonder?  Are there a big population of private detectives or people that need keeping an eye on in London?!  I'd better watch my back while I'm here!

Sherlock Holmes anyone?

Anyway, a little about the show last night (check Facebook.com/aboveandbeyond for a nice shot of the crowd) in Guelph.  I think the lasting memory for me, was Paavo grabbing what looked like a fuel hose (or some kind of weapon) which was actually a CO2 gun.  He then proceeded to fire the thing off in time with the riff in Norin & Rad's "Bloom" to rapturous applause and cheering.  Quite a surreal moment that the audience seemed to love, managing to drain the whole supply of CO2 in one swoop.  I suppose that was last night's "air horn incident".

Thanks to all the team last night for making the show happen - it's amazing how a mundane Monday night can end up feeling like a weekend night :)

Back in London, I hope the crowd make us feel as welcome as the stores have:

Thanks for the welcome.  It's spelled "Jonathan", by the way ;)

Till next time, goodbye!

Jono x

Baker Street, Air horns, and welcome Paavo!

A little update from Guelph, where we just arrived.  I did feel at home arriving here as when we got off the bus today we were greeted with this sign:

London, UK anyone?

So, a little bit about the last few gigs.  Thanks to all the people who've come to the shows over the last few days - I'm almost at the stage where I'm losing track of exactly where we've been - really!  I had to ask what day it was today.  Ooops!

Ottawa was Tony's favourite show of the tour I think, and the crowd certainly were great there.  I honestly struggle to pick favourites as each has their own memory for me and really we've not had a bad gig.

Last night we had a great show in Waterloo - another new place for me.  Perhaps the most memorable thing about last night (other than the amazing crowd who were extremely loud during "sun & moon") was Simon, our production manager, telling me "we don't have any CO2 tonight, but you see that button there?  Well that's the air horn if you want to have a go!".

I'm not a huge fan of those things, as they are a little bit toy-town in my opinion, but boys will be boys and it was getting towards the end of the night, so inevitably I was going to have to hit the big red button.

A big red button

I had a go and couldn't get the thing working during Megashira, and then suddenly it decided to work, emitting a rather pathetic "paaarrrp" at completely the wrong moment causing Tony, myself and many people in the audience to burst out laughing.  It was like being at an old western movie.  Within minutes and a few more jokular blasts from Mr McGuinness, my eyes were watering and I was in hysterics.  It wasn't even that funny, but I had started laughing and couldn't stop, then before I knew it my eyes were watering and I was in that laughing loop thing that happens once in a while.

I'm not sure air-horns are very "us", but there you go.

Waterloo - a bit of a blur!

Montreal, the place where they party VERY late!

No air horns here in Ottawa!

Well, posting those pics really has reminded me that I need to dig out my proper camera as the iPhone 4 isn't cutting it (a poor workman blames his tools, eh?).  Thankfully today Paavo, Mr Photographer Extraordinaire, arrives in town so I will be kept on my toes and will now have to charge up my Fuji X100 to keep up with his prowess!  Tony has now left to go back to London as he has gig with his 80s band "Sad Lovers and Giants" in his other life....

So, tonight we're in Guelph and I managed to grab some lunch as we were here so early - again a benefit of travelling by road today as we're not just confined to dodgy airplane food.  I managed to stop off for a quick gourmet burger in the downtown area.  I forget the name, but it was something beginning with a "W" for any locals reading....  I generally try to eat healthily on the road, though it's not always easy, but as we actually have a bit of time today it seemed a good opportunity to scoff on some comfort food that I can take a while to wear off....  The burger was pretty good, but what was interesting was how they served the water!

Till next time....  Jono x

A "glass" of water, Madam? :)

A cool bead bracelet from the amazing two gigs in San Diego

We took this picture at our hotel after one of the mad San Diego Group Therapy Sessions - are these bead bracelets the new 'flower in your hair' you need to have when you're in California?

Breakfast of Champions

Someone asked what we are eating for breakfast, so here is what I'm using to make breakfast for Mrs Grant and I on the tour bus:

According to scientific research I'm told Goji Berries are extremely high in antioxidants, and my dentist recommended I get lots of those on the road to keep my immune system in tip-top shape.  

Normally I'd top it off with some walnuts and would use fresh if available, but on the bus dried is convenient.  Seems to work pretty well, and porridge (or oatmeal as you seem to call it stateside) keeps me full till lunch with its slow energy release.  We have a microwave & kettle onboard so it's all pretty easy to put together in the morning....

Keep the questions coming on Facebook.com/aboveandbeyond or twitter @aboveandbeyond or @jonogrant and we'll try and answer them when we get a mo'.

Just caught up on TATW at the gym doing some running (it would have been nice to run outside, but anyone who's in this part of Canada will know it's a little cold for that at the moment!), which was presented by Paavo this week back in London, and now it's time for me to get ready for our show in Waterlook tonight.  Looking forward to trying out some new material ;-)

Over & out,

Jono x