(Tokyo Police Club's Graham Wright will be sending us weekly
posts from the road as his band tours the U.S. with Weezer, so stay tuned! Ed.)...When I was fourteen, I went with my friend
Josh to see
Weezer play in Toronto.
It was the second concert that I ever saw (technically it
was the third, but I only went to
Econoline Crush because of a girl so it
doesn't count), and a band from Toronto
(I think) called
The Weekend (I think) opened.
At the time I thought that any band opening for Weezer must be the
coolest and most wildly successful band ever, and as was natural for me in
those days, I wiled away many a pleasant hour imagining what it would be like
to be in their shoes. Around the same
time, I got a free Weezer sticker from a radio station, and I spent the next
two years trying to find something worthy of being adorned with such a bitchin'
decoration, until I lost it instead.
What I'm trying to say here is that somebody had better invent a time
machine quick, because now that my band is actually opening for Weezer, I need
to give my fourteen year old self a high five.
I've always felt like a bit of an imposter in the music
industry, but never more so than when I'm strolling around backstage at a
Weezer show. Up until now, the biggest
venue that we ever played could fit maybe 1400 people, and even that was
abnormally big. Weezer is regularly
playing venue ten times that size, and packing them with adoring fans. It's the kind of rock stardom that I've
always dreamt of, so its amazing to be tagging along, even as the lowly opening
band. Its always tough to explain what
being on tour is really like, but heres what an average day looks like.
3:00 Arrive at the venue and pull our rickety old van and
trailer into the back lot amongst the shiny tour buses and freight trucks as
the local crew eyes us suspiciously, wondering if we're actually supposed to be
there.
3:30 Find our way to the (surprisingly small) dressing room
as teamsters carry our gear into the venue for us, setting our broken and
beaten up amps beside countless professional road cases and huge lighting
rigs. At a generous estimate, the total
value of our entire pile of equipment may rival the cost of Weezer's guitar
cases.
3:30-6:30 Eat.
Seriously, the best part about doing a big tour like this is the
catering. Hot meals prepared that day
and served on real dishes? Sign me up!
6:30 After Weezer and Angels & Airwaves finish their
professional soundchecks, set our stuff up and run through two quick songs
before doors open.
8:00 Play for a wonderfully short half hour. Hope people listen/care.
8:30 Switch off brain.
So far, its been great.
Weezer's crew has been welcoming and helpful, the crowds have listened
politely and sometimes even cheered as if we were a real band, and I've eaten
like a king. But we're only four shows
in, and who knows what the future will bring...
Tune in next week as I continue my quest to chat up
River
Cuomo, who I'm totally intimidated by.
