Well this is it! the last week of tour. Let me just say this… it was the longest week of my young adult life. And you will soon learn why.
It all started in Phoenix Arizona on Sunday. We played the show, which was at an outdoor venue, in the smoldering heat of the Arizona desert. I would like to note that our stage clothes were not designed for Arizona weather conditions. The boys in their tweed and wool coats and I in my black dress and tights were, for lack of a better word.. HOT. But we did enjoy our time and continually reminded ourselves of how we were freezing our tushes off in Pittsburg a few weeks ago, and would have given anything to feel that Arizona sun. So, there you have it. Monday morning Matt dropped me off at the airport to fly to Colorado, and the rest of the crew headed out to in the van. I had a lovely time visiting my friend in Fort Collins! (Melissa if you are reading this, I love you!) And the band stopped in Albuquerque for a day and then we all meet up at the Denver airport on Tuesday night. We had a show at a Catholic University. So we hopped on the last plane out of Nashville, already exhausted from the week, and it was only Tuesday! SO we arrived in Fort Lauderdale Florida at around 12:30 am. We drove out to the college and when we got in, we crashed into dorm rooms, much like a group of students during a grueling finals week. Wednesday morning we work up after some much needed sleep, and toured the campus of Ave Maria Catholic University. It was beautiful.. beautiful and hot and Catholic. I would like to comment on the fact that we were all very interested to see how this show was going to work out. We were apprehensive, were we the right fit? They know we aren’t Catholic right? Anyway, we had a nice day walking around and getting fried in the sun till we looked like lobsters.
We played our show that night, outdoors at what looked like a wedding reception. All of the people were sitting around tables eating and talking, and far removed from all the festivities, illuminated by the florescent glow of a zillion watt floodlights, was I Am The-Lobster. Yes, it was becoming very clear to us that we were not cut out for this gig. We were starting to realize that a worship band from Carson City Nevada did not belong out here in Ave Maria. The moment it became blazingly obvious was when a slightly drunk man waltzed up to the stage and asked us to play either Free Bird, or Wagon Wheel! We knew it was over. And so dear reader, we painstakingly played through our worship set, filled with heartfelt songs that no one knew, or cared about… but we knew and we cared, and we still made the best of it and worshiped nonetheless. The crowed began to dwindle, unimpressed by our yammering on and on about our story and where we came from, till at the end of the night, we closed out our set in front of 15 people, all still waiting to hear Free Bird. We were sorry to disappoint them.. but then again, not really. Sorry folks. And so the night came to a close, I am proud to report that we sold all of one CD. Haha, oh dear reader, we must learn to laugh at these things, because they are bound to happen. I must say that it was the most awkward show we have had in a very long time. But, no one threw tomatoes, or shot marshmallows at us. So, there is that. I must say though, we were very thankful for how accommodating and kind our hosts were. They spared no expense to make us feel comfortable and at home. There is community in that and we were truly grateful for the opportunity. But we will live and learn, I hope we can return to Ave Maria someday, perhaps under different circumstances. We packed up all our gear and drove out to the hotel which was about two hours from the college. Our flight left early the next morning. Running on 3 hours of sleep we headed to the airport to make our way back to Colorado. We landed and headed straight to Colorado Springs for the show. With spicy eyes and disheveled hair we tumbled into the venue, trying hard not to lie down and fall asleep on any flat slightly soft surface we saw. The Colorado show was full to the brim! It was especially great for me because my best friend was able to come out and see the show. It meant so much for her to be able to see what I do, to see me doing what I love.
So the next day we were off to Lubbock Texas. Let me note my friends, that at this point in the week, we had already been in 4 states. This was yet another show that we played on 2-3 hours of sleep. I was so surprised that none of us had said anything deliriously embarrassing from the microphone! I guess we have coffee and redbull to thank for that. The show on Saturday was also in Texas, but we had to drive across the entire state, seeing as it was in Huston. Y’all… Texas is big. It took us all day to drive the width of the state. But we made it.. again, exhausted and smelling of taco bell and gasoline. Are you noticing a patter here my dears? Can you see the bags under our eyes yet?
This brings us to the very last show of our ver first tour. Bossier City Louisiana. This show was so fantastically bittersweet. My friends, I know that I have spent a lot of this blog complaining and telling you how grueling it is to be out on the road, but I do want to be sure that I communicate to you how much we absolutely LOVE what we are doing, and the capacity that we get to do it in. It is fun to joke about the hardships of the road and how sucky it can be sometimes, but I am here to tell you that it is all worth it. It is so worth it to be able to get up on that stage every night and play our songs and hope to God that people listen and that people are affected and changed. I would not trade it for anything in the world.
The last show of the tour is usually full of fun loving pranks and silly things, I’m sad to say that no one pranked poor old I Am They, seeing as we had gotten robbed and all, I think people felt sorry for us and were trying to be sensitive or whatever… which is a shame, for I very much wanted David Crowder to coming up in a tutu ad dance to From the Day. Ahh well, maybe next year.
My dear friends. I am writing to you from thousands of feet up in the air. We are on a plane to Las Vegas, which will then take us to Reno… we are thrilled to be going home.
The next time I write to you will be to account for the Spring tour with Matt Maher. It has been such a pleasure annoying, offending and informing you of our many adventures.
I am happy to report that we are all very well, and that we are all very tired. Our bellies are full of fried chicken and creamed corn, and our hearts are full of memories, ones we will never dream to forget.
We are I Am They. We are a little band from Carson City Nevada. We just toured the country, traveling over 20,000 miles over the corse of 6 weeks.
We are in love with the Lord and in love with our band and our music.
and life? Life my dearest heart, is WONDERFUL.
I love you all.
Till next time,
your honestly blunt,
curiously crass bloggist,
Stephanie Liana Kulla
