Tour Diary – San Francisco, CA (June 19, 2014)

Jason Lent will be following us and the World Cup over the next 10 days. We'll be mixing things up by posting his diary as well as Michael's diary (whenever he can pull himself away from watching futbol).

by Jason Lent

With a day off, we slowly made our way up to the city by the bay. I've been coming here for many years and there's an excitement about the city that you feel as soon as you cross the bridge. Back in college when money was tight, a fan on the band's website offered me a couch to crash on after a show despite having never met me. Thanks to him, my adventures following the band from town to town became a reality.

After a late night closing down the same hole in the wall dive bar we found on last year's Junkies tour, show day started with a walk down to Fisherman's Wharf where we watched Suarez dissect a slow defense and push England to the edge of elimination. The Wharf has grown into another nondescript hub of American vacationing with a multitude of chain restaurants and food stands offering ice cream and fried everything. A mile away but a world apart, Great American Music Hall sits in a crumbling area of the city that seems to be slipping further and further away from the souvenir stores and donut stands on the Wharf. After sound check, I went to meet Chris and Stephen in the bar next door and walked in to find a pit bull wandering around having just left a puddle near the pool table and a troubled soul being thrown out by some of the regular drunks. Trouble was brewing and we dared not stay much longer.

The Great American Music Hall is an absolute gem and there was an energy in the room even before the show started. Built in 1907, the classically designed hall with beautiful mirrors and ornate molding adds to the atmosphere on stage. The lighting design was the best I've seen at a Junkies show and it added to the mystery of the music as Margo stepped forward to sing "Mining for Gold".  The Trinity Session was recorded live and represented a moment in time that can never be replicated. It was special. Tonight, the band created another special moment in time with stunning versions of the same songs in front of an audience that could not have been more in tune with what it all meant. The excitement boiled over during the encore as the band cut loose and the audience roared in appreciation. On these trips, our little caravan of fans rotate who takes the floor of the hotel room (Holiday Inn Express seems to be sponsoring our vacation) and there's always that one show that makes those nights on the floor worth it. Tonight, the band and audience delivered that show together.