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Halloween Weekend 2023 - Tour Journal
🕑 Added 2023-11-01 20:24:04 +0000 UTCHi friends!
Giving this tour journal idea a go. This will be my first official entry. I was inspired by the OHL tour diaries as I love reading all of them and thought it would be a great practice in documenting my travels while also letting you all in on tHe LiFe Of A tOuRiNg DJ (lol?). Anyway, I hope you enjoy reading as much as I enjoy writing :)
(Photo that Ed from Glitch Mob took of me backstage at Midtown Ballroom in Bend, OR)
I played two shows this weekend. One in Portland at the North Warehouse and the other in Bend, Oregon, at Midtown Ballroom.
In Portland, I shared the stage with none other than Alix Perez and Yheti, with OnHell and Esseks playing on the 360 stage in the next room over. PDX turned up on Friday night and packed the venue with loads of energy, and great costumes (it's Halloween weekend!). I first played at North Warehouse with Tokimonsta when it first opened up 2 years ago and it was fairly raw. They've really done a lot of work since then and it's quickly become my favorite venue to play in Portland! Incredible sound, great staff, and the green room is a tour bus parked behind the venue (smelled a little like puke but I'll give 'em a pass).
The show itself was great. On a performance level, I honestly feel like I'm on one lately and really have a second nature with the CDJs (even the 3000s!). It's becoming more and more fun and almost 0% stress when I'm on them as compared to when I first pivoted away from Ableton Live performances around 5 years ago. PDX was no exception. However, I realized halfway through my set that I was playing a bit too much melodic/euphoric-sounding tunes at a HALLOWEEN party. As soon as I started going darker with my set, the room erupted and shit was LIT. I dropped 2 songs from the new EP, plus loads of new tunes I've been working on in addition to some fresh dubs from Cesco, Halogenix, Thys, GLXY, and other homies.
I had a chance to meet Deniro Farrar for the first time in person (we collabed on our song Stone Age for my Psyconia EP). He's got such a great energy and pure passion/love for what he does. Deniro is one of my favorite rappers in the world, look out for more collabs from us in the future :)
I usually don't mind talking to fans after my show, but some of my friends suggested I wear a wig anyway since it was a Halloween party so I could vibe out in the crowd during Alix Perez's set without being disturbed. I think it matched my fit quite well. My disguise was working in the main room, but once I went to the 360 stage to catch Essek's set I was a bit more noticeable and ended up doing quite a few daps and interacting with some fans (again, I love it!).
I also loved catching up with Alix, Tyler (Yheti), Onhell, and Esseks for a bit. So much so that we all ended up going to a random afterparty at someone's house a little outside of Portland. Afters aren't my normal vibe (haven't done something like that in almost 10 years!) but I hadn't seen Alix in years and we thought it would be funny. We spent most of the time splitting our attention between our conversation and random interruptions from drugged out party-goers. It was a fun practice in attention span, especially given how late it was. Speaking of late, we finally got out of there at 6:30am! Yuck.
I started the next day in Portland around noon by heading over to "Grits & Gravy" for breakfast. Holy shit, so good. This is what I call "tour fuel". Scrambled eggs w/ cheese, biscuits & sausage gravy, and fried grits. Drool.
From there I headed to the airport to pick up a rental car to drive down to Bend. It was about a 3 hour drive, and sheeesh it was beautiful. I got to drive right next to mount hood and godamn its a beauty. Got to see my first snow of the year too!
I arrived in Bend a few hours before our show. This one was with Glitch Mob, Chee and Eastghost. Unfortunately both Chee and Josh from Glitch Mob were under the weather, so it was just Ed, Ryan and I playing for a room filled with costumed Bendinities. This was my first time ever in Bend, and the running joke(?) was a song I wrote called "Never Been to Bend" that received light chuckles at most.
The show was really good, vibes were high and the crowd was open for pretty much anything I would throw at them. I played a similar set to Portland with a few moments where I lingered in the UKG and DNB space a bit longer than I had the previous night. Eastghost played some beautiful emotional trap type stuff, even going as slow as 110 bpm (scary territory for me!). Ed did a raging solo Glitch Mob set to end the night, rocking his modular set up for extra fun glitchiness. I really love the direction he and Josh are going with the Mob lately, really tapping in to some 90s Prodigy & Hardcore Rave vibes mixed with that inimitable Glitch Mob sound. I even pointed out to Ed after his set that his kicks and snares are always instantly recognizable. I dunno how he gets them so damned loud!
I spent most of the next day at the airport after doing some shopping around Bend. My flight was at 7:40pm (oof) so I camped out upstairs at the small airport in Redmond where I worked on some music, answered some emails and started writing this tour diary! I arrived home quite late, and witnessed a pretty gnarly crash on my way home. It didn't look like anyone was badly hurt thank god.
OK that wraps up this first tour recap. My next show is in Austin/Bee Cave in Texas on Nov 10th. I've also rescheduled the Vapor City 10 year anniversary LOT Radio set for Nov 11th. More details on that soon.
Speak soon, and thank you for the support!!!
T
Comments
Hi T!! I will be in Carlsbad doing visuals for this boeing event Jan 4-10, not sure how far you are from CB but hit me up if you wanna grab lunch or something. I miss you, and am so stoked on your output, I get all teary eyed when I hear how far you have come - from amazing to something otherworldly. Deep respect. much luv n haight
ND folks, living for the details, thanks for that! Cheers to a happy holiday season!
