They Might Be Giants Tour
Now that I have a blog, I figure this a good opportunity to write about the tour I did last Spring opening for They Might Be Giants. To summarize, it was one of the craziest, most fun things to ever happen to me.
The Logistics:
Leah and I followed TMBG 5000 miles in two and a half weeks. Usually, when touring and traveling great distances, one would have a driver who would sleep during the day and drive all night. That way, all the travel time happens as you sleep and you wake up in a new city every day. That's how it was for TMBG in their tour bus, but the TMBG bus was too packed with crew members to possibly fit us. So, Leah and I drove ourselves around in a little rental car, which was crazy. Much of the time, we'd play a show and then get on the road immediately, drive until 3am, stop at a creepy motel in the middle of nowhere, sleep till10am, then get on the road again and arrive just barely in time to play the next night's show!
The Highlights:
Before the first show of the tour at 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., Leah and I were sick with nervousness because we'd never played for even close to that many people before (I think that show was sold out which means it was 1200 people!). I had no idea what was gonna happen. It seemed possible people might just talk right through my whole set (I'm practically inaudible even when everybody's quiet!) or maybe even heckle me...but then when I walked on stage with a ukulele, everybody screamed and cheered with excitement. It became immediately clear that TMBG audiences didn't have the anti-ukulele prejudice that permeates most of the world!
In Asheville, NC a cool punky kid bought my black "You'll Pay for your Day at Pleasure Island" shirt and tried it on while I was there and he looked really tough in it. When he wore it, it seemed to mean "If you're happy, I'm gonna kill you!"
Seeing They Might Be Giants play every night was incredible. And they were ridiculously nice and funny. Also, their whole crew was amazingly nice. Ukulele players rarely receive such kind treatment.
Leah and I barely ever fight, but everyone warned us that going on tour together makes you fight, that we would be making an unscheduled stop at "Break-Up City". But that turned out to be false!
It was amazing how many girls came up to me at the merch booth and told me they were in love with me. Before this tour, I had only been told "I'm in love with you" by two people ever, so this was very overwhelming.
The Lowlights:
Leah and I had a rider (a list of things you get to have backstage at every show), but I couldn't think of what we wanted so I basically asked for junkfood which was really stupid because we just had melted snickers backstage everywhere. It was sort of sickening and I was embarrassed at my stupidity at every single show on the whole tour.
Charleston, South Carolina was scary. We were staying with friends of friends and I was looking for their apartment in the dark when a pickup truck slowly drove up behind me and stopped. I was sure that drunken Charlestoners were gonna jump out with baseball bats and smash my ukulele. But then they just honked really loud so I would jump! Then they sped off. They just wanted to scare me, those jerks.
We sold out of CD's and had a show at SCAD in Savannah with no cd's left. I had always promised myself that I would never be the kind of musician who "sells out", so it was depressing.
On our day off, Leah and I went to Chicago to play a show without They Might Be Giants. We played with my musical genius friend Emmett's band The Cairo Gang. Everyone who showed up was really hot and cool and it made me realize how much happier I am when playing for dorky people like myself and how I'm doomed in the world of indie rock which is unfortunately dominated by hot, cool kids.
The Logistics:
Leah and I followed TMBG 5000 miles in two and a half weeks. Usually, when touring and traveling great distances, one would have a driver who would sleep during the day and drive all night. That way, all the travel time happens as you sleep and you wake up in a new city every day. That's how it was for TMBG in their tour bus, but the TMBG bus was too packed with crew members to possibly fit us. So, Leah and I drove ourselves around in a little rental car, which was crazy. Much of the time, we'd play a show and then get on the road immediately, drive until 3am, stop at a creepy motel in the middle of nowhere, sleep till10am, then get on the road again and arrive just barely in time to play the next night's show!
The Highlights:
Before the first show of the tour at 9:30 Club in Washington, D.C., Leah and I were sick with nervousness because we'd never played for even close to that many people before (I think that show was sold out which means it was 1200 people!). I had no idea what was gonna happen. It seemed possible people might just talk right through my whole set (I'm practically inaudible even when everybody's quiet!) or maybe even heckle me...but then when I walked on stage with a ukulele, everybody screamed and cheered with excitement. It became immediately clear that TMBG audiences didn't have the anti-ukulele prejudice that permeates most of the world!
In Asheville, NC a cool punky kid bought my black "You'll Pay for your Day at Pleasure Island" shirt and tried it on while I was there and he looked really tough in it. When he wore it, it seemed to mean "If you're happy, I'm gonna kill you!"
Seeing They Might Be Giants play every night was incredible. And they were ridiculously nice and funny. Also, their whole crew was amazingly nice. Ukulele players rarely receive such kind treatment.
Leah and I barely ever fight, but everyone warned us that going on tour together makes you fight, that we would be making an unscheduled stop at "Break-Up City". But that turned out to be false!
It was amazing how many girls came up to me at the merch booth and told me they were in love with me. Before this tour, I had only been told "I'm in love with you" by two people ever, so this was very overwhelming.
The Lowlights:
Leah and I had a rider (a list of things you get to have backstage at every show), but I couldn't think of what we wanted so I basically asked for junkfood which was really stupid because we just had melted snickers backstage everywhere. It was sort of sickening and I was embarrassed at my stupidity at every single show on the whole tour.
Charleston, South Carolina was scary. We were staying with friends of friends and I was looking for their apartment in the dark when a pickup truck slowly drove up behind me and stopped. I was sure that drunken Charlestoners were gonna jump out with baseball bats and smash my ukulele. But then they just honked really loud so I would jump! Then they sped off. They just wanted to scare me, those jerks.
We sold out of CD's and had a show at SCAD in Savannah with no cd's left. I had always promised myself that I would never be the kind of musician who "sells out", so it was depressing.
On our day off, Leah and I went to Chicago to play a show without They Might Be Giants. We played with my musical genius friend Emmett's band The Cairo Gang. Everyone who showed up was really hot and cool and it made me realize how much happier I am when playing for dorky people like myself and how I'm doomed in the world of indie rock which is unfortunately dominated by hot, cool kids.
posted by michael_leviton at 1:06 PM
5 Comments:
Hi Michael, my hubby and I were at the Savannah show and we both hope you'll let us know if you ever come again. We really enjoyed your tunes and found the lyrics most stimulating and refreshing! You are a fab performer! All the best - The Nowickis
Hey, I'm a bit late in finding and responding to this post, but I thought I'd do so anyway. I saw you and Leah at the Atlanta, GA show and enjoyed it immensely. I got the CD afterwards (T-shirts in my size were sold out!) and have been a fan ever since. So I'm glad you two were there with them. And I enjoyed getting the behind-the-scenes story as well.
Here's hoping one day you'll be playing some shows somewhere relatively near here again!
Michael, I was at the Columbus show and you were amazing! Come down to Cincinnati, please! I really liked hearing about what the tour was like for you. I now have your CD. You are amazing, and I wish I had had time to meet you after the show. Next time...
- Joe-Bob
I was at the Asheville, NC show and I noticed you seemed nervous and self-deprecating onstage. I wanted so badly to reassure you that it was all right, that a TMBG audience is ready and willing to be excited by some of the less-used instruments in the great pantheon of human music-making devices. I'd never seen a 'plugged' ukelele in all my life. The music geek in me lit up inside with warm and fuzzy feelings that were only amplified by your masterful entendre-laden way with a lyric.
Thank you so much for enduring long hours on the road, melted Snickers, seedy hotels, and looming vehicles of the Confederacy's motor pool to bring your summery songs to us. I hope one day soon you'll consider touring again, especially with a fresh summer ahead and rumors of another TMBG tour in the works!
--Kassi
I saw you at the TLA in Philadelphia with TMBG. My boyfriend and I thought you were great! You were sitting at a little table and there was a really big mess of people everywhere attacking the merch stand when we got out and realized we wanted to, but hadn't met you. But we couldn't get back in so I just remembered your name and found you on myspace the next day. Because everyone's on myspace.
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