Tour Diary – NYC (August 5 and 6)

If you’re in a band you aspire to one day play a gig in New York City: that’s just the way it is. And once you play that first gig you realize that all the hype and anticipation can’t really touch the reality. The energy in the city is just too damn thick…anyone that is in the business of harnessing and focussing energy has almost too much to play with in this town. So you never get jaded about a NYC gig; whether it’s the first, the second, the fiftieth, it’s always a challenge and the payoff when things go right, indescribable. We had two very good (bordering on excellent) shows at The City Winery in downtown Manhattan. It’s a very comfortable space for us and allows us to relax and go about our business. Our older sister Suzanne and our Mom was in town for the second show.

The real difficulty of an NYC gig is simply getting in and out of the city. A forty-five foot bus with a fifteen foot trailer is not the easiest vehicle to manoeuvre around these streets. Then there’s the day to day of just going about your business; the noise and general insanity on the streets takes its toll, especially when the temperatures are pushing 90 degrees. I took it easy for most of my two days in the city. I took advantage of us being downtown and went to take a look at the World Trade center site. This was our first time in the city that the “freedom tower” (or whatever they are calling it these days) could be seen above the skyline. The activity and bustle down around the site is pretty intense. Between the office workers, the construction workers and the tourists there is not a whole lot of room to move on the sidewalks down here. Once the construction is finished and the memorial park is in place this could become a welcome and needed place of reflection. Only the years will tell.