Tour Bus Confessional: UK
Tour Bus Confessional
September 24 – 27 : UK
Crisis ahead…
It was the big day! The day of our departure! FINALLY!!!! Here’s how the scene was in Montreal: people sleeping on benches in the waiting room. We are excited! I mean, how could we not be? But we’re all exhausted… Without a doubt sleeping was the thing to do!!! We were quite a few people leaving (are you really surprised? lol!) Here’s the list:
– Alex (Singing, doing interviews, getting sick… and sick… and sick again!)
– Jeff (guitarist, more-manager-than-a-real-manager-can-be, perfect filming subject!)
– Miss Isabel (only singing, back then no keyboards yet! Oh yeah, and cooking!)
– Ben (the one with the best immune system out of all of us!)
– Sef (acting as a King, as usual…)
– Moose (I think he wasn’t called Moose yet… Or at least, did not want to be!)
– Matt “Big Byrd” (he had the weirdest haircut I had ever seen – at that time!)
– YB (filming everything he could… and falling asleep filming)
– Kanu (he had a lot of meetings planned, you know…)
– Marjo (planning all the interviews we had with different magazines and human rights organisms)
– Miriam (taking pictures!)
– Stephanie (yeah, that was me… I was correcting blogs/translating)
– Izabel Desjardins (VJ at Musique+, french canadian version of MuchMusic!)
– Mr. Manager (being himself… Only he could do that…)
So we took the plane… A direct flight from Montreal to London and about 6.5 hours later, we reached our destination… welcomed by typical London weather: rain! Nothing to complain about though… All of our luggage was there (thanks to the no-connection-flight!), and our tour bus was waiting for us! That tour bus… Well, it was different from what we expected! But hey, it wasn’t so bad! We all had a bunk bed. Although you couldn’t be too tall to fit in it: YB just couldn’t lie down straight on the bed! lol! And there was a small living room at the very end, with a decent TV and a PlayStation so we could watch movies. Somehow, we had brought with us the series 24 that we were watching all the time back then… lol! And there was a basic kitchen that consisted of a microwave, a kettle, and a small fridge, with a table just big enough to fit 4 people very uncomfortably! There was also a small toilet (well, that was a big word… What you were allowed to do there was very limited, and I don’t remember any of us ever using it, except for Mr. Manager…)
Our arrival in London… and the “living room” of the tour bus
The bus, in all its magnificence…
Our first stop was at the music store. Well, more of a factory actually. It was called John Henrys… It was in this old, old building and had the entire floors dedicated to different instruments. This is where we rented our gear. The guys had brought their guitars of course, as well as their effectors, but for the amps and cabs, well that was another story. The guys were like kids in a Toys’R’Us in there… and with reason… We didn’t leave with too much stuff though… just the essential!
Some rental gear for the shows
So that was when our trip really started… we had EVERYTHING that we needed! We were on our way to Nottingham, in awe in front of the scenery… We had never seen anything like this…
And of course, we made an obligated stop at the grocery store… Thanks to Tesco being opened 24 hours a day, we were able to do a bit of food shopping! We all got out of the bus and had a blast! Who would have imagined that Tescos not only had food, but also clothing and all that other stuff you never thought you would find in a grocery store! The guys had a tremendous amount of fun trying on clothes, while Miriam was doing the groceries as much as she could – but she couldn’t, so Miss Isabel did it. She was the best replacement we could think of… I mean, she had even brought a Microwave Recipe Cookbook and a “Magic Bullet” – also known as a portable blender… It was our first tour, but it was out of the question to eat junk all the time! Once the groceries and the other fun things were over, we got back on the bus!
– Recipe #1: Cold buffet
Result: What could possibly go wrong with a cold buffet made of food you just bought? I mean… Only one thing could… Serving ALL the food you had just bought for the next 3 days, without telling anybody they needed to save some. Everything got eaten pretty fast… At least we had water…
– Recipe #2: Carrot Potage with the Magic Bullet
Result: A pure mess everywhere on the bus, with a picture to prove it…
– Recipe #3: Peach Meatballs cooked in microwave
Result: We busted the micro-wave. Nobody told us we could only use it 1 minute at the time. We had entered 25 minutes for the meat to cook. In the end, the microwave cookbook proved to be totally useless… lol
Results of Recipe #2
We arrived in Nottingham at night, I think, not sure anymore what time it was… but it was out of the question that we would stay on the bus… We all got out, started walking and discovering the city of Robin Hood and the venue where we would be playing too!!!! It was still opened when we got there and we managed to get a peak inside… To find, to our surprise, a poster that some guy from the venue made for the band!!! And discovering just how early coffee shops (and any other shops) close in the UK! lol… We got back on the bus after walking for a while (everything was closed… so much for the nightlife in Nottingham! lol!)
Our very first morning, we were unable to get changed because our clothes were all in our suitcases under the bus… First lesson learned: bring your change of clothes with you every night! Jeff was among the firsts to get up. He picked up a bottle of water (you know, the only thing that had been left from the groceries…), to brush his teeth, as there was none on the bus as we drove…and what a surprise!!!! The water bottle exploded, as if it was a bottle of soda shaken for way too long. There was water EVERYWHERE… and every one was awake at that point! Only to realize that this “mineral water” was “sparkling water” that had spent quite a few hours under the bus…! Well, we didn’t finish that water and made sure to never buy it again after that.
Some things never change… Starbucks!
Then the real “first day” started… Some people went in the streets of Nottingham, distributing flyers with some fans that we were finally able to meet for the first time!!! How emotional that was!!!! Everything went so fast… The show was already over before we knew it… Then we all gathered at a nearby pub – a real English one! – With fans that lived around there, or that had booked hotel rooms… The night went by fast… Way too fast!!!! But it was incredible!!!! We needed to leave earlier than we wanted to, but since the bus driver was waiting for us (driving at night made things much easier and much faster!), we had no choice but to go! Of course, we watched some 24 episodes on the way to Manchester… Well, we tried! The excitement of the very first show we did in Europe won us over and we ended up talking about the show, about the people, and had to rewatch whatever episodes that had been playing… It was only after we had reached Manchester that we went to bed!
The Rock City, the venue where we played
Getting ready for the show & Meet & Greet with the fans after the show
At least we thought we were going to bed. This is how we discovered the wonders of the bunk beds… The ones closer to the floor were freezing cold, the ones in the middle were super humid, the ones at the top were way too hot and forget about lowering the temperature on the bus. The bus driver liked it hot. He wanted to wear shorts at the end of September you see, so the bus was very well heated! We didn’t sleep so well. Not that night… Nor the other ones! But hey, who cares? We were in MANCHESTER! The girls got off the bus first! No shower available, we all decided to squat the first Starbucks we saw and went in the bathroom (which luckily was large). The 4 of us washed a bit, then put on some make-up and we were ready for the day! We walked around the town, walked again, and walked again! Manchester was an incredible place!!!!! Little cafés everywhere, all with a stage for live performances… You could feel that music was well rooted in this city… and it was wonderful!!!! Soon came the time for us to do the sound checks and to get ready for the show… We were all just as nervous as the previous night… The venue was pretty nice! A small place called “Night And Day Café”… Café in the front, stage at the back… and behind the stage was a flight of stairs, taking you to the basement where the “backstage” was… Literally a small lodge!!!
The Night And Day Café, in Manchester & Inside of the Café
Once the sound check was over, it was time for the show! This time, we had a band playing before us… And already it was us on stage… Wow! A wonderful show!! Big Byrd will tell you otherwise, as this had been one of the hardest venues, sound wise… and being a sound engineer, you like it when it sounds good! As for me, in the middle of the crowd, I LOVED the show! Even better than the night before!!!! Back in the lodge after the show, we received a very special gift…
The special gift we received… A part of the forest named YFE
And then it was time to leave for London… Once again, we drove at night. It was faster and easier… And we didn’t mind. I mean… We were too excited! So many people we finally could meet in 2 days… It was like a dream, completely surreal! Meeting them before and after the show… Wow! Honestly… There are just no words to fully describe what it feels like to meet people you have been talking to for so long only on the Internet… And it took us at least those 2 days to realize that it was all real… lol! We woke up the next morning in London and headed for (surprise!) Starbucks! We found a pretty cool one… Where some of us decided to spend the day; since some of us had some blogs to write, correct, phone calls to do, videos to edit and upload! Others left to go in the city to take pictures, do interviews, and discover what life was like in London…
Promo poster at the venue & The venue in London, The Underworld
The day went by in a flash… After only a few coffees (A few coffees for all of us, though I remember I couldn’t count how many Alex had!), it was already time for the sound check and then the show.
Backstage at The Underworld, getting ready for the show & On stage
That show was completely amazing… The best one I had seen from Your Favorite Enemies so far!!!! Oh yeah, I cried… a lot. And I laughed but to live this with some of the people I had met the previous day in Manchester, and then with some other people I had never met before was a first for me… Something I never expected would happen… but that is what life on tour is all about! Experiencing, sharing, living, and it’s awesome! Show over, the band gathered backstage… and the excitement could be felt! It was so intense! You could tell the guys were really proud of themselves! Then, it was already time for the meet and greet… We had been kicked out of the venue, so it helped us move faster… We were all going to the Meet&Greet, what we soon learned to be a nightclub / lounge / disco type of place – there was music and you could dance. We all did. Even Sef… We regretted he did so later on! But we had a wonderful time, with people coming from not only all over the UK but from different countries in Europe as well…
Walking to the Meet&Greet place & At the end of the meet&greet, few missing people!
And then it was the end for our time in the UK… We left to take a ferry, around 2am, that would bring us to France, from where we would drive to Amsterdam for a day off before playing in Germany!
It was only the beginning, believe me!
Leaving UK…
– Stephanie
PS: At first, we thought of doing a blog for each city and then we changed our minds. I didn’t think I’d have enough to say… Now I realize that this one is tremendously long… But I hope you enjoyed going back in time with us, traveling around UK in our very modest tour bus…
Comments (21)
Sue
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Memories!! Still sad I missed that meet and greet!!!! But wonderful to see some pictures from the inside of the bus… and seeing the venues again….
5 years??? seems like yesterday.
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Stephanie
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Yes… It does feel like yesterday!!! I really had fun writing this blog, going through the pictures we had taken, but especially going through the memories… It gave me a new perspective on the saying “An image is worth a thousand words”… lol! Those images truly were speaking… and they were loud!!!!!!!
Inside of the bus? Small, way too small… and those colors… They don’t even have names! 😉
Thank you for taking the time to leave a comment! Would be cool to know your point of view about that part of the tour, too, as you were there!!!!
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Mary
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Wow what a journey! I remember how I was living this tour back home in Canada with the others in the HQ: waiting for every picture and video that could give us a glimpse of what the band was going through, what the shows and the meet & greets would create!
Very long blog indeed but so captivating … It’s like living the tour again, but with another perspective!! I can only imagine how special it was for the people to finally meet all of you… Recalling all the challenges you needed to overcome so that you would be all together, with music and love as cornerstones. It makes everything even more precious … even the uniqueness of the bunk beds … right? Lol!!
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Stephanie
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Thank you, Mary!!!
Yes, a different perspective… Some of the band members came to me after reading it, saying that they didn’t remember half of what was written there… lol!
So many things changed since then…! So many things that seemed horribly negative as we were on tour are now funny memories we like to tease each other with, we like to laugh at…! But back then, it was really different… lol! The challenges looked so much more real – they were the only thing we could see… But now, what we see is how we overcame these challenges, to be where we stand today… 🙂 I guess if I had been writing the blog after every show 5 years ago, the blogs would have been very different from what they are today… lol!
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Matheo
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That was a very cool blog 😀 thank you for that! I still remember the Berlin show, a few days after your UK-Leg, where I got your setlist and a pick from Jeff. You played in a club called “Magnet” and it was so hot in there… But YFE really did some serious rock action onstage and I enjoyed every minute of the set. Good old times. Hope to see you guys again, somewhen in the not too distant future. Greets xx
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Stephanie
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Hey Matheo! I am glad you liked the blog!!!!
I didn’t know you were there at the Berlin show… Actually, the blog for this part of the tour will be released next Monday, on the 1st of October… So make sure you do not miss this one… There will be even more pictures… 😉 And I’d be very curious to know what was your experience like!!
Do you still have the setlist and the pick??? You should send us a picture!!!! 🙂
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Max [YFE Deutschland]
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Hey Matheo!! It’s great to hear from you! It’s been a while!
I wish I would have been there with you in Berlin!!! Well… I can’t wait to trash the whole place with you when we come next time! The serious rock action won’t be only on stage 😉 hehe
Is this how you discovered YFE or did you know the band before?
Well… Don’t miss the next blog like Stephanie said… It will be about the concert in Berlin!! We want your insights also!!
Max
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Chris
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It’s funny cause, reading this blog, viewing these photos and remembering this time is a warm souvenir for me…I had the chance to be at the YFE headquarter at that time, guarding our home…not house but home, with everyone else (cause yeah…. If you thought there was a lot of people on the road… there was even more back home… yeah we’re that many…lol!!!)
It was exciting each time that a video was posted to listen to it all together, feeling the vibe of the tour and reading over and over each blog that was posted!!! Experiencing the same excitement as our friends from all over the world!!
Now, it was our time to feel and live through the camera lens what the band was experimenting in real life and, at some point, it felt almost more special…
I remember missing the guys like crazy but feeling excited…not because we would party all night long (Did I say too much!!) but because we were conquering Europe all together…
Even though some were there and others at ”home”… It was our first tour, we had just released our first EP, it was our first time meeting our friends from different parts of the world, first radio interview…first of so many things…I’m so touched that I was there to live it!! These memories are in my mind forever…
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Stephanie
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This is exactly what a family is… Though we are not always at the same place at the same time, we know we are all together… And it was the same thing for us! Though we were far away, we did feel at home, as we knew you were there with us, and we did feel at home in every city we visited, thanks to the people we met who welcomed us so warmly!
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Marcel B.
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Was ich an Ceremony & Jubilation mag ist, dass Leute, welche die Band zu dieser Zeit nicht kannten, entdecken können, was die Band in den vergangenen Jahren erlebt hat.
Danke, dass du deine Erfahrung von Großbritannien mit uns teilst. Es ist wunderbar einige der lustigen Geschichten, welche passiert sind, zu hören aber auch zu entdecken, was du gefühlt hast, als ihr die Leute getroffen. Es ist ziemlich unglaublich endlich jemand zu treffen, mit dem man schon für einige Zeit durch das Internet gesprochen hat. Was mich daran fasziniert ist, dass selbst wenn man diese Person nicht wirklich kennt und nur durch das Internet, man fühlt sich einfach so, als wenn man diese Person schon ein Leben lang kennen würde, einfach so als wenn man Nachbarn wäre. Dass ist, was YFE erschafft =)
Ich kann es kaum erwarten, dass ihr dorthin zurückgehen könnt, da sich so viele Dinge in den letzten 5 Jahren verändert haben.
Übrigens, danke, dass du Bilder zum Blog hinzufügst. Durch die Bilder kann man noch besser nachvollziehen, worüber du im Blog sprichst =)
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Stephanie
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Vielen Dank Marcel!!! Und du kannst mir glauben, selbst für uns, welche die Band kannten und welche auf Tour waren, dieses Ceremony & Jubilation Blogprojekt hilft uns, uns an alles zu erinnern, was passiert ist… Es scheint so lange her, trotzdem fühlt es sich zur selben Zeit an, als wenn es gestern gewesen wäre…
Und ja du hast recht! Wenn wir Menschen auf Tour treffen, fühlt es sich an, als wenn wir sie schon immer kannten… egal ob wir schon vorher mit ihnen gesprochen haben oder nicht… Was wir durch die Musik erlebt haben spricht laut genug!
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Marjo
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Thanks Steph for bringing back all those memories! Wow! So much has happened in such a short period of time…And there is still a lot to discover about this amazing tour we had the privilege to join!! One of my best memories is, how excited we we’re to meet with our family and friends we knew, as well as new ones we’ve never met…every time we would stop by a new city! We shared good times, laughters & smiles as well as passionate moments while attending the live shows of the band…Yep, those are all good memories coming back to my mind, right there! And I’m looking forward of being reminded of more in the upcoming blogs!! 🙂
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Stephanie
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Ahahah! Believe me, there’s a lot coming up in the next blogs… It’s really special to be able to “live” these moments again, in a way… And you are right, meeting with the people has been one of the most exciting parts of this tour… The people we met defined so much of what happened every day… 🙂
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Ben
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Great memories here, so many things happened in such a short time, I remember all of those little details of food explosions and all the scorching hot and freezing cold bunk beds….Lol!! I had a freezing cold one myself. But to have the chance to be in the place where most of our musical influences came from, was incredible… I’ll never forget when I saw the tiny road in London and almost got killed picking up the gear not looking at the right side of the road…hilarious, everyone that banged their head on the iron trunk door of the tour bus (sorry Kanu, had to say it)… But to meet our family there was completely mind blowing ….people welcomed us like brothers and sisters and I will never forget their faces, their warmth and their love which was the real reason why we were there. It was crazy to realize how far music and passion had led us !
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Stephanie
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There’s so many more stories that we could have shared about… lol!!!! Little details that became very important to all of us, that changed us, made us who we are… And that made us laugh (of others, and of ourselves at the same time)… lol! But you are right on one thing… Meeting with the people was definitely the most amazing part of it all… Can’t wait to be in Europe again, meet them again, and meet some new people as well!!!!
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Jeff
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If there was a documentary to be made about what not to do on tour, I think we could of classified pretty high! Lol! As you could of read in this blog!! Lol!! But one thing I’m most thankful and proud of, and that no one can ever take away from us, are all those moments we created and shared with our friends live and after the shows during the meet & greets! Reminiscing about those moments still puts a smile on my face!! The band existed for less than a year and the day we learned we were leaving for the old continent, to play music, to meet our friends, was the best day of our lives! Sadly, our manager and booking agent, weren’t really there to help, using our naïve state of minds, believing the wind would never stop blowing on the sails of our greatest dream! Closer we got to the tour, wider our eyes were opened, unfortunately for them! Lol… But for us, we truly were on our own!
A normal day, especially in the UK, was to wake up at 8am, find a coffee shop, preferably Starbucks since the internet on the bus was slower than you can possibly imagine, so we could post pictures and videos online, from the previous night! As some we’re doing that, I was looking for some places to go to during the day where we could promote the concert as well as do a promo video for that show! After that came the mid afternoon soundchecks, before having lunch with the manager and the event promoters! We were of course in a hurry, because we’re headlining an amazing concert in a few hours, little detail our manager informed us about a week before we left! Lol! And after giving all we had on stage for our amazing UK friends and other friends who were crazy enough to take the plane and join us there… we met up in a very nice place in order to talk, exchange, laugh, grow, and hug… hoping that night would never come to an end!! Then, all exhausted and burned out, we were, in the back of the bus talking and sharing about how awesome the night had been with our friends, and how fortunate we all were to live such a life! Then… it was time for series 24 with the one and only Jack Bauer!! Lol!
I’ll never forget September 2007 as we were discovering those three amazing UK cities, as every minute we were, without knowing, writing a story… our story in a country we dreamed a million times to play music and share our hearts with! Thanks to all of you, for making it not only possible, but eternal!!!
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Stephanie
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Do you really think so? I mean… Do you think we did what we shouldn’t have done? We learned what touring was the hard way… But I think it was worth every second!!! If you’d ask me if I’d go back on tour with such conditions, I’d say yes without any hesitation (I’d complain once living it, but that’s another part of the story… lol!)
I like the way you say it… As yes, this is now something eternal… That lives inside each and every one of us, but also in the people we met! Something that we can never forget, and that will keep growing bigger and bigger with every time we’ll go back there…!
PS: Did we have Internet on the tour bus? I never knew that… lol!
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Moose
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You’re right Stephanie… I did not want to be Moose at that time. I guess I had to learn to love myself in order to start living, dreaming and thriving. But hey… I am Moose today. It shows how powerful and how defining have been those seasons spent with my close family here and what we lived with you guys during that tour. This Ceremony & Jubilation year we’re having makes me realize how much I have been blind to pearls I had in my hands but most of all how thirsty I’m now to live every minute that I have. It was surreal to be out in Europe meeting the ones we had been talking with over Myspace, those who opened their hearts and joined this adventure that was just beginning. The blessing still lives, this is not the past to me, this is completely alive today as it became a part of who we are as a band and as individuals. I’m glad we can celebrate and honor you guys here and through the years to come. Much love!
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Stephanie
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None of us wanted to become something and at the same time didn’t want to become something else either… If we were to go back on tour right now, in those same conditions, the tour itself would be very different, no doubt about that!!!! And as you said… No matter what was there 5 years ago, who we were or were not, what we did or didn’t, what we said or didn’t say… What truly matters is what we are doing now, and how we take the opportunity to turn every moment into something eternal!!
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Anna
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I remember this tour as it was yesterday… I had just joined YFE and a few weeks later they were preparing to go on tour!!! The excitement at the YFE HQ was unreal!!! Everyone was so excited for this tour and I mean everyone!!! I remember running home from work, to get to my computer as fast as possible because I wanted to see the pics, the videos and read the blogs! I was so touched by the images that I saw, the smiles on the faces of our friends from the UK, the stars in the eyes of the band and crew!! It was magical!! I didn’t get to personally meet our friends but I felt that through every picture and every video I knew that much more about our dear friends! It was definitely a life changing experience to be a witness to all that was happening… something I had never experienced… but has been with me ever since…
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Stephanie
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Ahaha! Yes, I can totally imagine the excitement that was shared with everybody!!!! I have no doubts about this at all… 😉 And what you lived – feeling closer to people without even actually meeting with them – is what we live everyday even if we’re not on tour… Everyday we send them messages, share videos and pictures with them, and now also with the Bla Bla Bla and the SFCC… That’s something we call the YFE Family… 😉
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