So, second part of the tour blog.. Second day of our 2 night stay in Manchester, NH.
Good news is that Hurricane Irene is now downgraded to a tropical storm, so it's mainly wind and warm humid rain over us at the moment. We decide to venture onto the empty streets into town and find a great Mexican Restaurant.. Great food and good margueritas!
Not bad day off, considering we were due to play Boston today which was cancelled due to the storm..
We are still awaiting news on if the New York show will go ahead.. The club is in a basement, so if the storm hits Manhattan then there could be a possibility of flooding.. Finally we receive confirmation that New York WILL go ahead!!
Woke up early to make sure that we get to New York in plenty of time.. The city was locked down during the storm with people fleeing to other, safer parts of the country.. We suspect most will be returning today.
Get to venue early which is near Chinatown, so we take a walk to St Marks and have a great lunch at a tapas bar.. Beautiful sunny day with the front panels of the restaurant open for a cool breeze and great spot to people watch.. Food was superb!
ABOVE: With the Synthetic Division guys outside The Delancey in New York.
New York gig is Free entry, we have a good gig and decent turnout.. Also see some old friends!
We stay in New Jersey overnight then head out early for a 8 hour humid drive to North Carolina. We stay in Durham, NC overnight as its only an hour to our gig in Charlotte the next day.. We take it easy the next morning, go to hotel gym and get ready to leave for the show..
Just as we are pulling away we get a call from Tony from Bella Morte.. Charlotte is cancelled for no apparent reason! Promoter decided to pull the show but failed to let the bands, agent and venue know!
Another day off, so we decide to head down to Savannah, Georgia a day early and spend some time at the beach.. Gotta make the best of a bad situation!
Sad thing is that this was to be the last show with Synthetic Division so we never had a chance to say goodbye properly:-(
We check into our hotel in Savannah, have dinner at Houlihans (great family food) and find a great dive bar near the hotel.. Alexys stays at the hotel as she is tired, while myself, Andrew and Gabe head to the bar.. For ONE drink... We get to the bar and as usual in bars of this nature, everyone knows who you are and that you are "rockstars" within the first 5 minutes if sitting at the bar!
The bar lady is sweet, and can't believe that a "real" band are in her bar! She buys us a jagermeister each.. Each shot is the size a large glass of wine!!
More beers and locals start buying us more jagers! Then Karaoke breaks out! The locals want to show us how "well" they can sing!!!! Not Good! They are awful!!!!
They continue this while we get more drinks thrown our way..
We finally leave in the early hours of the morning, completely intoxicated!!! The bar take a group photo with us and we are off! Me and Gabe get the hotel and realise we lost Andrew along the way.. ! We head back to the bar, grab Andrew and help steer him back to the hotel! Excellent evening of drinking!!!
The next day we spend walking through the gorgeous Southern charmed alleyways of Savannah.. Beautiful colonial houses, spectacular riverside views, great food and free drinking on the streets!
We spend most of the day doing this then head out to the venue for tonight's show. We are playing a Gay Drag venue on a Fetish night! It's our last gig with Bella Morte tonight .. Gig goes well but not many people, as everyone is saving their money for DragonCon on the weekend.. Pity, as the promoters were great and provided us with a nice feast before the show.
We say goodbye to the Bella guys then head to the hotel.
Wake up super early for the 1000 mile drive to our next gig in Columbus, Ohio! 12 hours later, we are there, after driving through some gorgeous mountain views in West Virginia and Pennsylvania.
This is the first of our final 2 shows as Inertia headliner only.. We are greeted at The Shrunken Head by Kristy from Nilaihah Records and The Azoic. She owns this venue together with her husband.. Nice small venue.. There is a blues band playing a day session as we walk in, we head to the back tiki patio for a much anticipated cold beer.. Its about 100 degrees and humid!
We soundcheck and Kristy makes an announcement before we hit the stage about how we know her. Gig is amazing!!! Best all tour!! The audience dance throughout the set, then they all swamp the merch table after the gig ! Excellent evening with great fun people!
The next day is a day off before our last show in Ithaca. We decide to drive to Niagara for a bit of sightseeing. We get to the hotel early evening after the 6 hour hot drive.. And promptly all jump into the pool for a cool down and swim. Later we eat at a great "wings" restaurant.. Then turn in.
In the morning we head to the Niagara Falls and do some sightseeing. Spectacular.
Then we head to Ithaca in upstate New York.
On the way there we drive though very small villages including some Amish towns, we even pass an Amish family on an Amish buggy.. We all got excited:-)
We pull up to the venue in Itgaca, The Haunt. Great venue by the Riverside.. Lots of great bands have played here. Tonight they are having a "white" party for the goths in honour if Labor day.. All the goths have to wear white!! And they do!!! They all make the effort and look amazing!
We are treated to venue's well known BBQ dinners and have a great last show of the tour.. Staff and promoter rock!:-) great end to an interesting and exciting tour, where we landed in an Earthquake, dodged hurricanes, went through cancellations but most importantly, had a fun time with some great people..
Reza (Inertia)
