By Andrew Bansal
Huntress’ Fall 2016 US tour with Trivium and Sabaton drew to its conclusion with shows in South Carolina and Florida, and the fourth and concluding part of my ‘In The Lair Of The Huntress’ tour blog brings you tales from our adventures through this time. Before you proceed, read Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 if you haven’t yet.
The long drive from Binghamton NY finally ended in Charleston SC, and all I remember from the show at the Music Farm on the 17th is feeling weak to the extent of passing out due to the heat, drinking six bottles of water, eating the best chicken wrap I’ve ever had, at a place called Fire, and happily realizing that after this show I’d have only three more Sabaton sets to suffer through. Moving onto the last round of shows in Trivium’s home state of Florida, we first arrived in St. Petersburg on the 18th for a show at the State Theatre. The next morning we visited Delray Beach, where I had an epic breakfast burger at a fast food joint called Burger-Fi, and then proceeded to the show at Revolution Live in Fort Lauderdale. These seemed like new markets for Huntress as not many of the attendees were fans of or even familiar with the band beforehand, and both shows were packed during the set, so, mission accomplished. Next up was a headline show at Piper’s Sports Bar in Greenacres (West Palm Beach area), a place that allowed indoor smoking, and sure enough, my entire merch smelled like cigarettes the day after. But, as was the case with the other off-date headline shows in Spartanburg SC, Braidwood IL and Clifton NJ, the show at Piper’s was a nice departure from the daily routine of the Trivium gigs, and a chance for the band to play a longer set. It would have certainly been greatly beneficial, financially and otherwise, if some of the other off/driving days we had were filled with more such headline gigs along the route. This Greenacres show was a very strange one, though, as the floor space between the stage and the bar was filled with tables and chairs, so the band didn’t have a standing crowd anywhere near the stage, and played to a mostly seated audience. Perhaps the best outcome of this excursion was one of the opening bands Meka Nism promising us a copious amount of weed in exchange for guest list spots for our show with Trivium in Orlando, an amount that would be sufficient to keep us stoned for the remainder of the tour, all the way back to Los Angeles.
The final show with Trivium and Sabaton was at the House Of Blues in Orlando on October 21st, and having slept really late the night before, I woke up just in time for the 2 PM load-in, and for a second wasn’t sure whether I was in Orlando FL or Anaheim CA, as this House Of Blues is also located inside Disney-owned premises. As a result, Huntress were not allowed to play ‘I Want To Fuck You To Death’ and had to cover the pot leaf artwork on their speaker cabinets with black gaffers tape. Before the show, I heard Sabaton play Metallica’s ‘Seek & Destroy’, but in major key, and it sounded so wrong, it’s hard to describe in words. I was already excited about the prospect of this possibly being the last time I’d ever see Sabaton, and their soundcheck left me imagining the promised land wherein I would never hear any Sabaton songs. But aside from all that, the Orlando gig was a great experience at a top-class establishment, and this being the first ever House Of Blues show I’d worked, I hope it’s not the last. Matt Heafy personally came to the Huntress dressing room to thank the band for doing this tour, which was a nice touch. It has undoubtedly been a pleasure touring with Trivium, and to any bands reading this, I would say if a tour offer with Trivium comes to you, you should accept it without hesitation, because they still have a large fan-base and their fans are open-minded enough to give support bands a chance. One thing I forgot to mention in the previous installment is that Jill found an L-size Trivium tour shirt for me on the street outside Irving Plaza in New York, and once I lose all this tour weight and am able to fit into that shirt, I’ll proudly sport it everywhere around Los Angeles.
The phase between the last Trivium show of the tour and arrival at home didn’t turn out to be anything like we’d imagined, expected or hoped for, as we were left with absolutely no headline dates on the route back, shows that were promised in writing several months ago, and it eventually just turned into a long, strenuous, boring coast-to-coast drive from, wait for it …. Orlando, Florida to Hollywood, California, via Bowling Green, Indiana, where we had to return the bus. This was a major blunder and oversight on the part of the band’s booking agent. It was almost as ridiculous as the Sabaton singer insulting American audiences for supposedly not being able to pronounce his name right and then him going on to butcher the pronunciation of ‘billboard’ every night. Word on the street is that Huntress’ agent has already been fired.
We started out from Orlando straight after the show on the 21st, firstly to get the airport in Atlanta to drop off the driver for his flight back to Ohio, and then to the BandWagon dropoff in Bowling Green, and once we hopped back into the Huntress van, what followed was a mostly uneventful 2000-mile drive, except for a surprising encounter with an extremely friendly waitress at an iHop in Tulsa. What did I tell you about Tulsa? Yes, it rules. Traversing this long path, we passed cities that we were going through for the third of fourth time on this tour alone, and more than anything, that was a telling sign that it was time to stop going around the country in circles and go home. On the night of the 24th, we decided to get an overnight hotel room at Harrah’s in Laughlin, Nevada, before finishing off the final part of the journey into California on the 25th. Thankfully, we had a homecoming show on that date at Loaded Hollywood, which would also be my birthday party, and it was relieving and refreshing to end the longest drive I’ve ever been on, on such a great note. Local bands Art Of Shock and Diamond Lane opened the show. Many people asked me whether it was my actual birthday on this date, and yes, it sure was, because I wouldn’t have called it my birthday party if it wasn’t and that’s the way I roll. People celebrate ‘birthday week’, ‘birthday weekend’ and ‘birthday month’, but those things do not exist in my world, as the word ‘day’ is already embedded in ‘birthday’, and it’s only one day, and before and after your special day, you are the same insignificant human being you are on a daily basis. The revamped Loaded live music room takes some getting used to for the old regulars, but it made for a really fun show for all involved, and the room was completely packed with locals giving Huntress a warm welcome home from tour.
October 26: End of tour. I woke up in Jill and Blake’s apartment at some point in the afternoon, hungover from the multiple liquor shots and beer pints I was bought the night before, but once that subsided, that familiar post-tour feeling took over. It’s always strange, specially after a long tour. Waking up in our hometown on the first day after tour, it’s almost like we never left and the tour never happened, as if we just woke up from a dream. I asked myself: Did I really see Sabaton 22 times in a span of five weeks, or was that just a nightmare I’ve awoken from?
But accepting the reality and reflecting back on this seven-week run, overall it was a successful and enjoyable tour for the band, and I feel fortunate to have been a small part of it. It was undeniably a strong comeback for Jill after everything she went through in 2015, and as I’ve mentioned earlier, she set quite the example in how to take care of the singing voice and be a consistently great singer on tour. Not only that, she took equally good care of the boys, and singlehandedly kept the bus clean. The entire band’s performance was boosted by being able to rest sufficiently in the comfort of a tour bus, not having to drive a van around for thousands of miles. But whether you’re in a van or a bus, touring in America is easy and convenient in many ways, specially the ease with which you find a Walmart superstore or a fast food joint. Hate corporate capitalist America all you want, but I can’t imagine any band touring without the convenience that these establishments offer at such low prices. And last but not the least, meeting and interacting with Huntress fans all over the country has been an experience and an education, and I have no doubt in my mind that all these people, longtime fans as well as first-timers from the Trivium shows, would return to see the band again. I can also state with certainty that I will see you folks again on the next Huntress tour. As of now, I’m happy to be back home and will gleefully accept every chance to go see some real live shows where bands don’t use backing tracks for every instrument. Until the next time, stay metal and keep following Metal Assault!
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 $
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 $
10/25/2016 – Los Angeles, CA @ Loaded ^
^ = Huntress headline show
$ = Trivium, Sabaton & Huntress
# = Huntress festival appearance
% = Trivium, Sabaton & Huntress festival appearance