It was a very early morning for all of us… And it’s especially early when you consider that some of us went to bed way past 5 in the morning. Second night on tour, and we can already say goodbye to those long, comfortable nights of profound sleep! Wait… Have we ever had them before? 😉 I guess that’s life on the road, but especially life with YFE in general!

Jeff left for meetings, Miss Isabel & Moose went grocery shopping, Sef & Ben made sure the guitars and all the other equipment were ready for tonight’s show, while Alex did some vocal exercises and kept in touch with you all! So many of you have written to him concerning the recent blog he posted (in which he posted never before released lyrics of a song that was never heard before! And they are just sublime – both the song and the lyrics! If you haven’t read them yet, the blog is right here!

The morning disappeared before we truly knew it was here! Already, it was time to load the van, and we were heading to the Morrison’s Irish Pub, where we played tonight! We were scheduled to do the soundchecks at 1pm, but it was delayed a little… We decided to go for a coffee! After an unsuccessful attempt at finding a coffee shop that would welcome 9 of us for only a coffee at lunch time, we decided we would go back to the Morrison’s, this time at the lounge section. We sat down in one very cool section of the place, and discussed different stories… Jeff’s snoring (and some of the others, too, but Jeff is still unbeatable in his category),
Moose’s shampoo (he has displayed them in his room! Just how crazy is that!), and Sef who is just being Sef. A tour without him would definitely not be the same… In a way, we are glad he didn’t send a sixth guitar on tour instead of coming with us… A guitar causes less trouble, sure, but it never is as funny as Sef!

And finally came time for the soundchecks! We brought all the equipment inside – easy! No amps to bring this time! But then we had to fit everything of stage… Not so easy! The stage is already very small when it is empty… So imagine it with a drum, amps, footboards (Sef’s spaceship in itself occupies half the width of the stage!), a keyboard, and 6 people… Look at the space they have left at their feet! But hey, we managed to fit everything in… And I can tell you that this concert is going to be a very punk rock one! It might be a small place, but walls will fall tonight, this makes no doubt!

We then talked with the owner, an Irishman who surprisingly speaks a perfect French! As tonight’s set is scheduled to be only 30 minutes, we even went as far as asking if we could play longer, to which he agreed “only if you are good, otherwise, I turn down the sound!”.

We then went back home, around 4:30pm, where we shared a light snack and read the different blogs that had been released! Yes, it looks like a new tradition has been born for us on the road! It gives birth to very special moments, and allows us to share on a different level… Not that we don’t usually do it, but let’s say it’s a good spark to new conversations 🙂 We all went for a quick nap, blame it on the very late nights and early mornings and all the traveling in the past few days!

Nap over, we gathered in the living room/bedroom/dining room where we discussed the set list for the show we were giving at The Morrison’s that night! We finally settled for the following songs:
– Lantern Lights
– Where Did We Lose Each Other
– Would You Believe
– Open Your Eyes
– 1-2-3 (One Step Away)

Followed a quick rehearsal only with an acoustic guitar, a way to put us in the mood of the show before we even left our little apartment!

We then all got in the van and drove 15 minutes to the venue, in the heart of Cannes. We drove in front of the venue, to see people packed not only inside, but outside as well. It made the stress level of some people rise up, while on my side, it just made me even more excited… After all, way before being a photographer for YFE, I’m a fan 🙂

We stopped the van not too far away from the venue, and then it was time to get ready. Because the place where we were playing tonight was a pub, there was no such thing as a backstage, no matter how small it could have been. So it’s seated in the van that Alex listened to the songs and sang over them, that Miss Isabel did her vocal exercices and that Moose clapped his hands in a very special way (to be honest, it’s a very funny exercice to see, but it apparently makes a whole lot of a difference… but only he can tell!)

Then it was time for the show! The turnover (that period of time in between 2 bands to get the stage ready for the following one) wasn’t an easy task! Even though all our equipment was just beside the stage, there were so many people that it was hard to just walk from one point to another… Now imagine with Sef’s giant spaceship-like footboard… 😉 And once everything was ready for us on stage… SHOWTIME!

And what a show it’s been! The opening song of the show, Lantern Lights, simply started the whole thing with a bang. And I mean a MAJOR BANG! It’s hard to really explain what this song makes you go through… Starting with spoken words and screams, it suddenly shifts to a melody that captivates your soul, before changing to an epic cadence with a feeling of emergency like you’ve never known it before… And the rest of the show? Well, let’s just say that Alex was on somebody’s shoulders in the first song, that he walked around the whole room twice, that he jumped from the bar into the crowd (not from the second floor balcony this time, though it would have been possible!), and that the drum ended up on the bar, with Moose playing and Alex singing on the bass drum, and the whole band in the crowd. I think nobody really expected such a thing to happen tonight, but everybody took part in it, embracing the moment, and making it even more grandiose. People we’ve known for a long time and who drove several hours to come and see us, people we had been talking to for a long time but whom we were meeting for the first time, people who discovered the band that night… We knew the show would be pretty punk rock. We knew we would remember it. We knew the walls would fall down while we’d be playing in that venue… We just had no idea what these walls would be until tonight. And now that they’re down, everything can be rebuilt with a brand new perspective. And this is the most exciting part. Because it means there are no limits no more. Because it means that everything is possible, as long as we believe so!

We were supposed to be allowed to play for 30 minutes. We played 70. I guess that means we weren’t that bad… 😉 And the owner, at the end, told us that we could have played 5 more, and he would have been happy about it. In 13 years of business, with shows EVERY SINGLE NIGHT, he has never seen anything quite like this before… And in the end, we were kicked out of the pub at around 2:30, half an hour after its closing time.

It’s right now 6:00am. I guess it’s time to say good night…

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Very first morning in Cannes! And it’s sunny today! 🙂 The little apartment we have doesn’t allow much sun in, but it’s enough to know the sky isn’t gray outside anymore! We started our morning as any usual morning… on our computers, sharing and catching up with you all! That’s also the last thing we’ve done last night before going to bed! We’ve had a Skype with the people at the HQ, sharing with them the adventures we’ve had so far, and then read all the blogs that had been posted all together. I think it’s the first time we do something like this… I mean, we read all the blogs/posts that each and every one of us post, but to read them out loud… that was a first! And hopefully something that we will do again! 🙂

So we’re here gathered around the table, sitting on the couch, on the chairs, and on suitcases before we leave and head for our rehearsal studio in Nice.

Jeff: When are we leaving?
Band: As soon as we’ve had breakfast
Jeff: When are we having breakfast? Not that this is a way to have breakfast now… I just wanted to know… But I am horribly hungry! I could have breakfast right now!

Now guess which breakfast was Jeff’s one, and which was Alex’s… Easy? 😉

We ate, loaded the van, and then we were on our way to a rehearsal studio in Nice! Knowing we had a 45-minute ride ahead of us, we decided we would watch the second DVD of Julien Temple’s Glastonbury documentary. The screen in the back still didn’t work, but we were accompanied by Nick Cave, Kaiser Chiefs, Radiohead, Pulp…

We had one stop to make downtown Cannes, at Orange, for the problems we still had with our wifi connextion (or should I say non connextion!). It was the first time for each and every one of us to be in Cannes, except for Jeff, who previously came twice! He was super excited to show us around the places he knew, his favorite spots and streets. “And just around that corner is the McDonald’s!” Thank you, Jeff, for making our experience such a cultural one!

Then Matt wanted to please us, so we stopped at a Starbucks in Nice. But try and ask for directions in Nice… Nobody’s from Nice! “Ah non, désolé, je ne suis pas de Nice.” This is what we kept hearing over and over again! We finally decided to go to a nearby McDonald’s to ask for directions… There’s no way an American corporation wouldn’t know about another one! And we were right! They directed us exactly where we needed to go!

A few more minutes driving and we arrived at Nice Sound Studio! And what a wonderful place it was! The people who welcomed us over there welcomed us as family, making sure everything was perfect for us to rehearse, that we were comfortable and felt like home! And then the rehearsal began! And it was a memorable moment! It amazes me every time to see how much a rehearsal is similar to a real concert – by its intensity, its passion, and the amount of sweat that drips through their pores! I really feel privileged to be with them in studio. I am not a musician myself, but every time they play music, there is no such difference anymore. It doesn’t matter who’s playing or not anymore, as what is going on is a pure communion of hearts. You’re not in the band, you’re not a member of the crew, you’re not a fan. But together, we are. And at that very moment, it is the only thing that really matters. We are alive. And free.

Those 3 meaningful hours of rehearsal ended with an incredible conversation with the owner of the studio, Olivier, who built everything by himself, in order to give a little place to music here on the Côte d’Azur.

We then went to the oceanside, where we walked a little bit, remembering the different emotions we lived during the rehearsal… A simple moment, looking at the lights reflecting in the ocean, some very close to us, others very far away in the distance… A little bit like us. We’ve all been very close, and at times very far. But that fire inside of us never stopped burning… Even though this light is something we have stopped believing in, even though it is at times something that we cannot see anymore… Before we can even notice it, we find this fire alive and well… we find each other again.

We are now back home, after a stop at the Morisson’s Irish Pub, where we will be playing tomorrow night! We are on stage at midnight sharp, and the gig is free! Bring your friends!

– Stephanie

PS: Miss nothing, and follow the band absolutely everywhere! That’s an experience you definitely won’t regret!

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We left home it was 3:00 in the afternoon. Ok, it was 3:30 in the afternoon, and we were late already. But you have to understand that packing is always an adventure. There’s the easy part: the music equipment. Everybody knows what guitar to bring, they all have their own special cases for transportation, same thing for the different pedals that need to come with us. It’s a done deal, and besides one exception this time (a new pedal for Sef’s spaceship), we always bring the same equipment. What we don’t bring with us we pick it up at John Henry’s. Then there is the other part, our suitcases. We are leaving for 2 months, and we wanted to make sure we wouldn’t forget anything… Maybe that is why Moose brought with him 4lbs of shampoo, stating that he needed all the family-value sized bottles for himself, absolutely. After a lengthy explanation, he decided he could buy some when he would eventually run out of it.

We arrived at the airport after enjoying Montreal’s weekday traffic, a little late on our schedule, but still on time for our check in! Thanks to being faithful travelers (and maybe because they feared the long hair, the beards, the tattoos and all the heavy cases we were carrying with us), they opened a counter just for us so we could enjoy a quick and smooth check-in! We then went into a kind of exclusive lounge, where we had a toast to the adventures to come, knowing that the only limits there would have would be the ones we would impose ourselves. And then it was time for our plane! A flight that we all welcomed as we knew it would give us a few hours of sleep. After 2 days without sleeping on what Alex calls “beat the clock YFE’s way”, it couldn’t be otherwise!

We landed in London at 7:30 in the morning, welcomed by a day on which the sun had not yet risen… Everywhere we looked outside, it was pitch black. But by the time we cleared customs and picked up our suitcases, we recognized London as we know it… Gray and rainy! Yes, this is it, this is the London we know and have learned to love despite her character… 🙂 Being back here for the third time in such a short time, seeing places we know, coffee shops we have been to, venues in which we played or seen shows at, wandering its streets, we really felt like we were home, as those places are alive from the moments we have shared with people who are family to us. We stopped first at John Henry’s, where we picked up all the gear for the upcoming shows, where we were welcomed like longtime friends. To be honest, they were all a bit disappointed to see that YB wasn’t wearing his wonderful and now worldwide famous short shorts… 😉 A stop at the grocery store, and another one at St. Pancras to get a Starbucks, and we were on our way to the Westbourne Studios!

The Westbourne Studios is a lovely place, where creativity and artistic spirit overflow. We met with 2 wonderful teams, people we are working with in the UK and the people in charge of the Coffee House Sessions. We were there to record 2 acoustic songs we will be playing during this university tour, one of which is Where Did We Lose Each Other (you were able to listen to a part of it in the 20th edition of the Bla Bla Bla: The Live Show, rerun online on Feb. 2nd!). The other song, for now, will have to remain a secret, I guess 🙂 It has been a very meaningful moment, soulful and deep… One of these moments where Your Favorite Enemies make time and space disappear before your eyes, as your spirit flows with every note that is being played and sung… We then ended it all with an interview, talking about different aspects of the band!

Even though we would have been supposed to be exhausted from the previous days, from the flight and from driving all across the city all day long, we were all super excited! Excited of what had just happened, but also of those crazy adventures we knew would find their way to us throughout those 2 months on the road! It was then time to leave London, direction Dover, where we would catch the ferry that would take us to Calais, before we embarked on a 12-hour drive to Cannes! Some of us took the opportunity to sleep, others to eat licorice (a must every time we are on the road!), while others worked. It is at that time too that Ben told us he was disappointed to have forgotten the gift Jeff has given to him, a small jar of Marmite. Believe it or not, he says he likes it… (and let’s be honest, we don’t believe him at all 😉

And then we hopped in the ferry. It was the first time we didn’t have any problem at all, and Matt even made the custom officer laugh! It was the first time we didn’t have to wait an extra hour before catching it! We entered the ferry super excited to find the huge comfortable couches on which we could sleep, only to find cafeteria chairs and tables all over the place… Except in one place! After some reconfiguration on the ferry’s interior design, we decided that this is where we would spend the ride!

We were woken up by a high-pitched shrill voice who lovingly told us we had arrived to Calais, all while clapping her hands… Yes, good morning to you too, lady! We got in the van and decided we would watch a DVD… Glastonbury, directed by Julien Temple, who Alex really likes. After several long minutes of having only the sound working (birds chirping and cows mooing), we managed to get the image to work, too! But only on one of the 2 screens, as one kept becoming blue all the time… So much for entertainment!

The road to Cannes was long, very long… And while we were expecting to be greeted with warm weather, azur ocean and white beaches, we arrived in a gray and rainy Cannes… In fact, it was raining so much that we couldn’t even go out and walk in town… So we opted for a cozy little dinner in our big, luxurious room! Ok, it’s not exactly big, and it’s not exactly luxurious either! But this will be our little home for the next few days, and we like it already! As long as we are together, nothing else matters! So it’s with a French TV playing in the background that we shared dinner… And let me tell you, French TV is very, very entertaining!

– Stephanie

PS: Make sure you miss nothing!

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