The end of a great time

I was watching what looked like a handful of glitter that had been thrown onto black paper, from the small aeroplane window as we flew into LAX last night and thought of the way Conner Oberst from Bright Eyes explained coming home from tour.

“It’s like everything turns from techno colour to black and white. You’re no longer a super hero anymore.”

That’s exactly what was happening right in that moment. That was the last glimpse of techno colour that we would see for a little while and I couldn’t help but feel a small amount of fear and discomfort about that. Why did I fear coming home to the place where everything is familiar and comfortable? That didn’t seem normal at all. But I guess that’s what is so romantic about touring. Nothing about it is normal; nothing at all.

In our last two weeks in Canada, we continued playing shows all over the place. We had the very best time playing Summerfolk and Ottawa music festivals, did our own headline show at the legendary Hugh’s Room in Toronto and began to fall in love with that city which is so comparable to Melbourne. It’s an extraordinarily exciting feeling when you see people reacting positively to your music in another country. Whether it was in a moment of looking out into a festival audience and seeing tears in peoples’ eyes during Grandma Song, or having one of our own songs requested by a youthful bunch of girls who sat out in the pouring rain just to see us play, or hearing the kind words people would say to us after a show as they bought a CD, every single time it was thrilling and moving, and gave us that much more confidence and motivation for what we are doing.

I’ve spoken about first times before in previous blogs, but truly nothing compares. The first time of anything tattoos our memory like life chapter headings that are willingly or unwillingly used to compare everything else we do against from then on. I can’t wait to get back again and watch the seed that we’ve planted grow. Thank you to every person who played a major or minor role in making this trip what it was – a true success.

Beth