The first gig

It was raining heavily when we left the hotel for the second time today.  But it was still quite beautiful.  Bucharest has a lot of French influence not only in the language but especially in the street designs and the architecture.  I freely admit I know almost nothing of Romanian culture except for Dracula and Ceausescu, so my little "academic assessment" of the culture and language here probably carries as much weight as single-ply kleenex.

But by the time we got the Romexpo, the outdoor concert park they have here, it had cleared up, and the air was nice and fresh.  We reunited with our regular Europe tour caterers, Jo and Rachel, called them bitches, they called us assholes, etc.  We always wish they could be with us in the States, but the whole union thing in the U.S. is quite rigid, and they apparently wouldn't even be able to use the concert hall facilities for cooking.  So we only get to see them when we cross the pond.

The festival itself was fun.  Several local bands played, as well The Ting Tings and The Charlatans.  They both sounded great, The Ting Tings only being the two of them, the guitarist/singer and the 

drummer/singer, with tracks, etc.  Resourceful, and a lot of energy.

There was this band that was playing on the second stage that was hanging around, and I forget the name right now.  But they were in 

full on Punch-and-Judy like attire - on stilts!  Playing a marching snare, cymbal and cowbell, a tenor sax guy, a tuba player and a baritone uke guy ho was the lead vocalist.  We jammed after the show backstage as we were leaving (and drunk).  It was hysterical, and they sounded great!  

The show itself was fun in some ways.  It was a beautiful night, with an almost full moon out.  The audience was fantastic, they were pretty energetic, especially for having been out there all day.  It always helps me play when I see the audience just give themselves over to pure spirit and energy.  It also helps me play when I see girls dancing.  Or even, just moving.  Or standing still, even, to a point.

Two big circumstances we had to deal with, though.  One was the fact that we had a new keyboard player.  There's a lot of music, and a lot of intricate musical and visual cues, and he had not a lot of time to prepare, AND he lives in L.A., and no one else in the band does.  All that adds up to lots of cues from me and the rest of the band.  So internally, anyway, for me, it was a less-than-inspired show.  But I made up for it in just having as much insane fun as I could!

[nerd alert - readers may want to skip this paragraph]

The other big factor was a repositioning of where I was onstage.  Sonically, it was quite an adjustment for me, since I used to be almost right next to the drums.  That meant I always heard and felt the drums more organically, as opposed to through the monitoring system.  In my new spot, I have to rely completely on the monitors, meaning I have to get a really good mix (hard to do on the fly, in festival situations especially).  So there was that as well...

But at the end of it, a good time was had by all, and it's still way better than being poked in the balls with a sharp stick.  And I mean way better.