Day 33 (10/11): Big City Lights
In stark contrast to Pittsburgh, New York City invariably stresses me out and I always dread it. All my fears were realized as soon as we arrived at Irving Plaza in Manhattan, not finding any parking for our bus, and then being subjected to TSA-level security checks that were, strangely enough, far stricter than what the general ticket holders had to go through. I didn’t have to deal with it as much as the band members because I was by my merch table all night, plus luckily I’m too fat to wear my belt at this point, so I didn’t have to take it off every time I went in. But the band was searched whenever they re-entered which got really ridiculous when they were loading out their gear straight after their set. The security staff strip-searched Eli at one point, which was not racist at all, right? But this was Jill’s hometown for ten years, she was definitely excited about the show and fulfilling a lifelong dream of playing Irving Plaza. The band delivered the goods on stage and she lived up to the occasion. Before (and after) the show I went to the famous Crocodile Lounge for their ‘free pizza with every drink’ speciality and it was great. Security hassles aside, this was probably the most positive NYC experience I’ve ever had.
Day 34 & 35 (10/12 & 10/13): “Sorry mom & dad!”
After two high-profile shows, the off-date headline gig at Dingbatz in Clifton, New Jersey was a pleasant departure, and what could be more Jersey than Steve Zing being the in-house sound guy? The local talent here was far better than that in Braidwood IL or Spartanburg SC, and one band even played a good cover of Iron Maiden’s ’The Trooper’, which I thought would never happen after witnessing so many bad covers of that song through my travels. Back on the Trivium/Sabaton tour, the next destination was the Chance in Poughkeepsie, New York, a highly excellent B-market outing for Huntress, and I also thought Trivium’s set was their best of the entire tour thus far. In this relatively small room, the bands were sounding extra loud and I loved it. If you live anywhere within driving distance of the Chance, make it a point to attend as many shows here as you can. Jill’s mom and dad were at this show and there was a funny moment on stage when she apologized in advance for singing ‘I Want To Fuck You To Death’.
Day 36 (10/14): Throw-N-Go
Next was a festival gig at the prestigious Worcester Palladium. All three bands of our tour featured in the main stage lineup of Day 1 of Rock And Shock Festival 2016, amongst Carach Angren, Demolition Hammer, Kataklysm and Dope. Out of those bands, Dope was the only one that did not bore me, and Carach Angren bored me the most. Sorry guys, as I said before, I’m not one of the cool kids. It was a strange event with Huntress getting only a 20-minute set and going on as early as 5:30 PM, but considering that most attendees didn’t even see the band, I found myself surprisingly busy at merch throughout the long evening.
Day 37 (10/15): No Refunds!
Ending this highly eventful week of shows was a gig at Magic City Music Hall in Binghamton, New York, which is apparently the closest Huntress has ever come to passing through Jill’s actual hometown of Oneonta NY. None of us knew what to expect from this one, but we arrived at this venue which is massive enough to host a sold-out Iron Maiden concert, and even though the hall wasn’t packed by any means, it was still a lot of people for a show in this town, and the response from these metal-starving people was insane. While one person told me that mine was the “coolest merch display” they’d ever seen, another came to return a Huntress shirt to get their money back and buy a Sabaton shirt instead, but to no avail. No refunds, remember?
Before the gig we had to deal with losing one of the trailer tire hubs and after dropping off band, crew, gear and merch at the venue, the driver had to turn in the trailer at a repair shop, and it wouldn’t be fixed until the next morning. With nowhere to put gear and merch after the show, we fit in as much as we could in the bus, in its bays as well as inside the actual bus. Only one of the other bands was willing to help, and it was Trivium. They were nice enough to take some of our stuff in their trailer and will meet us in Charleston, South Carolina at the next show. That’s where we’re headed now, covering the 865-mile distance on a day off, with five shows remaining on this trek. I’ll bring stories from those gigs in the next and final part of the blog, but until then, keep following my social networks for the latest updates, and if you come up to the merch table, remember, do not ask me where the restroom is and do not ask me for a Sabaton shirt.
Shows Played:
09/09/2016 – Flagstaff, AZ @ Orpheum Theater ^
09/10/2016 – Las Vegas, NV @ The Dive Bar ^
09/11/2016 – Grand Junction, CO @ Mesa Theater ^
09/13/2016 – Springfield, MO @ Front Of House Lounge ^
09/14/2016 – St. Louis, MO @ Fubar ^
09/15/2016 – Columbus, OH @ Newport Music Hall $
09/16/2016 – Baltimore, MD @ Baltimore Soundstage $
09/17/2016 – Spartanburg, SC @ Ground Zero ^
09/19/2016 – Atlanta, GA @ The Masquerade $
09/20/2016 – Little Rock, AR @ Metroplex Live $
09/22/2016 – Denver, CO @ Summit Music Hall $
09/23/2016 – Albuquerque, NM @ Sunshine Theater $
09/24/2016 – San Bernardino, CA @ San Manuel Amphitheater (Ozzfest) #
09/27/2016 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex $
09/29/2016 – Omaha, NE @ Sokol Auditorium $
09/30/2016 – Minneapolis, MN @ Mill City Nights $
10/01/2016 – Braidwood, IL @ Top Fuel Saloon ^
10/04/2016 – Peoria, IL @ Limelight Eventplex $
10/06/2016 – Dallas, TX @ Gas Monkey Live $
10/07/2016 – Houston, TX @ Scout Bar $
10/08/2016 – Tulsa, OK @ Cain’s Ballroom $
10/10/2016 – Pittsburgh, PA @ Stage AE $
10/11/2016 – New York, NY @ Irving Plaza $
10/12/2016 – Clifton, NJ @ Dingbats ^
10/13/2016 – Poughkeepsie, NY @ The Chance $
10/14/2016 – Worcester, MA @ The Palladium & DCU Center (Rock & Shock Festival) %
10/15/2016 – Binghamton, NY @ Magic City Music Hall $
Remaining Shows:
10/17/2016 – Charleston, SC @ The Music Farm $
10/18/2016 – Tampa, FL @ State Theater $
10/19/2016 – Ft. Lauderdale, FL @ Revolution Live $
10/20/2016 – Greenacres, FL @ Piper’s Sports Bar ^
10/21/2016 – Orlando, FL @ House of Blues $
10/22/2016 – Birmingham, AL @ TBA ^
10/25/2016 – Los Angeles, CA @ TBA ^
$ = Trivium + Sabaton + Huntress
^ = Huntress headline show
# = Huntress festival appearance
% = Trivium + Sabaton + Huntress festival appearance
