Minneapolis exceeded my guarded expectations by miles. We played the 7th Street Entry which is part of the 1st Avenue club that Prince made famous in the film “Purple Rain”, so it was a special honor to get to wash my hair in the ladies' room sink. The room in which we played was extremely small at only 200 person capacity and it was also sold out so people were packed in very tightly. This was actually an ideal scenario for us as we enjoy playing in intimate settings and connecting head-on with the audience. We had a great set and the response was fantastic. This show, along with New York and Poughkeepsie, was probably the best of the tour so far and it was a badly needed recovery from the disappointments of the previous two. Our friends Neil and Tanner came out and I enjoyed watching Immolation and going crazy with them up front. All the bands had a good night, and if every show was like this one I would never want to leave the road. Afterwards we went to an Irish pub across the street and had some drinks and a very delicious shepherd's pie.
We did ourselves a favor and got three separate hotel rooms for the night and this morning is the first time I've felt like something other than a homeless person in about a week. We have the two day drive to Seattle ahead of us and it is something of a relief to know that my morning shower will not be summarily undone within a handful of hours. Bob suggested that we rendezvous somewhere along the road and all have a meal together. We'll see if we can meet the pacing demands but I would indeed like more chances to socialize with the other bands.
The guys in Rotting Christ and Belphegor are cool people and they have been very accommodating and supportive of us, but as they are on the bus and we are in the van we have not had as much time to bond with them as we did with the bands on our previous tour. We still have almost two and a half weeks to go so there is still more time, but the sad thing is that it is usually the last third of the tour where everyone gets to be proper friends and then it is all over too soon.
