FUTURE 86 Southern East Coast Tour Journal Day 1, December 2nd, 2005 -Armand Our tour down the East Coast was a much bigger success than we imagined, due in part to the hard working and supportive promoters and amazing fans we encountered on our way which Courtney already mentioned. She gave you the overview of the tour, and now it's time for me to unleash all the gritty details; the sights, sounds, and smells of our tour in my very own day-by-day, play-by-play, Tour Journal. You'll witness first-hand, the stresses & strains, pleasures & amusements, touring can place on three individuals. When you're done reading this, you'll feel like you were in the back of the Van (sleeping like Larry) traveling with us the whole time. Before you read on, take a moment to get in the right mindset. Pop open an ice cold Corona & Lime, and get ready to leave behind the sub-zero temperatures and snow of the North, for the first stop on our journey, Virginia Beach... The Half Shell at Virginia Beach For those of you that thought it was gonna be warm and sunny in Virginia Beach, and got out the Corona, you were misled, and don't feel bad, so was Courtney. She stepped out of the van in a tank top and flip flops at Virginia Beach expecting some warmth, only to find out it was also 30 degrees with 35mph wind gusts. (Keep drinking that Corona though, the warmth arrives shortly.) Tonight's show was at The Half Shell and we shared the bill with two other bands- Red Building and Ridley who both greeted us with some extremely warm Southern style hospitality. We kicked the party off with ample servings of frozen margaritas and 190 Octane at a mexican restaurant next to the club with a one hour waiting list. This place was definitely THE place to be on a Friday night. Larry and I passed the time and got ourselves into our "touring mindset" by mimicking all the nonsense we've heard certain touring "national acts" that we've been so lucky to encounter in New York demand from club owners and opening bands. Things like pointing to a half empty club and blaming the local bands, "You guys are from around here right? Didn't you guys promote?" or "We're on tour, so we're gonna take 30 minutes off your set time, and take the better time slot". Joking like that was fun because we never need to say things like that. I was amazed by and completely admire the amount of camaraderie the Virginia bands we played with tonight had, and that sense of camaraderie seemed to exist between pretty much all the bands throughout the tour. Since we were out of town, Red Building and Ridley gave us the middle slot, and knowing we were representing New York and all our fans back home, we took the stage loud and proud like we normally do. By the curious and slightly bewildered looks on people's faces, they were pleasantly surprised and almost couldn't believe how much energy and rock can pour out of the stage with only three people. The crowd moved closer and closer to the stage with each song, as if to be asking for more, louder, and harder, and that's what we gave them, New York City style. The crowd was certainly equally as loud in response, and very receptive tonight. Having every face in a crowd who has never seen us be completely fixated on the stage for the entire duration of the show, gives me a blissful feeling I can't find the words to describe. But next time you see me on stage with my band, with a huge smile that lasts 55 minutes, that's the feeling I'm experiencing. By the amount of CDs and shirts we sold once we got offstage, we began to think we didn't bring enough for the whole tour and would be calling home to have replenishments sent our way. I couldn't have thought of a better way to kick off the tour, and we owe it all to the support of the new fans we made that night, Chris who would be our Virginia "tour manager" for lack of a better phrase, and of course the two great bands we played with. Keep those Coronas on ice, and to move on to day number 2, click here!