Tour Diary – Moncton, NB and Sydney, NS (July 3 and 4, 2012)

July 3rd: Two days rest was just what the doctor ordered. We had a great show tonight in Moncton, we had lots of energy and focus and a very supportive audience: a fun night and an odd, surreal day. When we arrived at the venue our bus was directed inside a huge empty hangar beside the arena and there we sat all day with tens of thousands of square feet of polished cement floors with which to amuse ourselves. So we set up the badminton net, took out the tennis racquets, got out the bikes for a little slalom between the pillars, we banged a few things and had fun with reverb tails. For a break I followed Al on his mountain bike to an enormous park across the street from the venue and watched him take on some spine-busting structures. We also watched Mick and Keef cavort about in “Ladies and Gentlemen the Rolling Stones”…what a groovin’ little band they have.

July 4th: Sydney is another scrubby little maritime town located in amongst some of the most beautiful country on the continent. I woke up early and sat beside driver Ron as the sun came up over the Cape Breton highlands and chased away the fog. If you’re looking for an exotic vacation and you don’t want to leave the continent, head in this direction. A slow drive circumnavigating Cape Breton may be just the ticket for your mental health, an inspired break from your daily grind….remember to bring your English/Gaelic dictionary. Unfortunately, after passing through such beauty, we had to spend the day in Sydney which is a patched together town of ugly 1970’s style government buildings and crumbling infrastructure, with not much excitement to recommend it: keep away and stay on the highlands. We had a pretty good gig tonight, not as focussed as last night, but it had good energy and the audience was, once again, very supportive.