May 11 Heading South during “Outside It’s America”!

We arrived in Carrboro early in the morning. I got up before anybody else had, and decided to head out to the closest Starbucks. 15 minutes by walk, they said. Or 45 according to my numerous stops for pictures. I didn’t expect much from the city, to be honest, as I had never even heard of its name before. But after a few steps, and after meeting an old red pick-up truck, I was under its charms! Small, quiet but lively, sunny, young… it was everything a city had to be! I was expecting something a little more “countryside”, but was totally wrong. Alex and Jeff joined me not long after, and we’ve been visited by most of the other band members until soundcheck time.

Right after sound check, we went outside, where we met with a longtime friend, Tina, also known as hippiechick! She left those notes on the stage as the band was playing, and I thought it was pretty cool to see them pop on stage from time to time. And I am sure it gave a lot of energy to the band as they played that night!

And then the concert! Alex felt a little tired that night, as everybody else did. Not only that, but his voice felt a little rough that night, and it gave the concert a whole different vibe. His interpretation of the songs has been a little different from usual, but just as soulful and meaningful. It gave me a brand new perspective to the songs. I know the album versions almost by heart, the live versions just as well, but this time, it felt like the songs were completely new. A memorable night in a city we had never heard of, but that we won’t ever forget!

I woke up late in Atlanta. We all did. None of us went to bed extremely late, but the tour is taking its toll on us… You don’t sleep as well on a tour bus as you would home. Can I be honest with you? I was expecting to find a very desolate city. Thank you, The Walking Dead. But no. People are normal, look normal, and nobody tried to eat me. The closest Starbucks was 143m away from me – or so did that Starbucks app say. Actually, it was more like 1,000 meters considering there was no straight road between Starbucks and I… Well worth it, as I have discovered the best Starbucks I have ever seen 🙂

There’s a love story between Your Favorite Enemies and Starbucks. I don’t know if it’s requited love, or if Starbucks is only being nice to us while we’re there. But everywhere we go, we always check for the closest Starbucks. It’s like that everywhere. The vibe is most of the time better than at the venue. Let’s be honest, though sound checks are important, they’re often a pain to listen to! But hear me well, I do not mean that music at Starbucks is always good. So here’s the thing. I usually wake up before everybody else. The first thing I do is check out where the closest Starbucks is. I seem to be the designated “Starbucks finder”. That means that I have to find the closest Starbucks. But Starbucks, please, can you hear the plea of a trio that has roamed your locations across America for 21 days – or at least mine as I struggle through your app?

1) Make wifi available everywhere. In half the locations we’ve visited, your wifi didn’t work at all.
2) Can you identify which locations are actual stores and which are ridiculous stands inside supermarkets? Walking for 15 minutes in an impossible heat in Washington DC to reach a supermarket is a total let-down!
3) Could you please incorporate wine into all of your locations? Your store in Atlanta was the best we’ve ever seen – we want more like this!

But Starbucks, we love you anyway. Special kudos to Angus in Brooklyn, and to Tesley and the girl with short blond hair in Atlanta! I guess people spending time in a Starbucks from morning to evening isn’t exactly common and that we do attract attention being a pack of people, tattooed, with long hair and beards!

And then the show happened. THE SHOW FUCKING HAPPENED!!! I rarely swear when I write blogs, because I check my language, and because other people read it before it’s online, making sure it’s “legit”. But tonight was FUCKING amazing! Sometime along the tour, Alex started changing the lyrics in the bridge of “Midnight’s Crashing”, the ones where he talks about “the girl outside in the parking lot who’s thinking of jumping”. She’s stopped thinking about jumping, or maybe she has already, maybe she made that step she felt so hesitant about. Maybe she realized she didn’t have to jump. Maybe she’s changed her destination. Maybe she’s opened her eyes on something new. But right now, what she’s thinking about is “Outside It’s America”.

And tonight, as I was in the middle of the crowd as Alex sang those lyrics, I could hear people react to them, saying “Yes, this is it! This is what America is made of, this moment we are living right now, this connection we live through music… This is America. It’s crazy to think that this Canadian guy understood this better than a lot of people here in America ever will.”

You can’t deny that there is a very unique vibe to the city. I have stayed at Starbucks during daytime, and I haven’t visited much. We often joke saying that this tour is yet again the Starbucks tour – and I think that reading the above paragraph, you can’t really say that name would be wrong 😉 We spent our night on the famous Bourbon Street, where all the action is happening. From bars, to restaurant, oyster bars, cabaret, absinthe lounges, you really find it all! It’s lively, and though buildings are only a few storeys high, you get this impression of being in a very big, tall city – the noise, the action, the lights and the neon signs everywhere really add to the vibe of the city, or at least of this street.

It felt a little weird to have only 3 shows before a day off, and though we have enjoyed it, nobody could really see the necessity of that day off, especially since that day off fell on a Saturday. But we were admirably well welcomed by the people working at Gasa Gasa, which doubles as a small record store during daytime as well. A show that has been as warm and colorful as the city itself, diverse in its numerous hearts and souls.

There are only 4 shows left to the tour now, all of which are in Texas!

May 11 – Houston, TX @ Fitzgeralds
May 12 – San Antonio, TX @ Korova
May 13 – Dallas, TX @ Club Dada
May 14 – Austin, TX @ Holy Mountain

To get your tickets, click here.

– Stephanie

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