TALK TUESDAY / Following Tours as a Fan
By Astrid Elstrom
In November, Grayscale announced part 2 of their Nella Vita tour with Hot Mulligan, WSTR, and Lurk, which for me was more than enough to plan ahead on going to the Palatine date. However, it turned into more, up until the weekend of February 14th, I had only ever traveled to singular shows that were in other cities or states, never had it actually crossed my mind that I would ever attend multiple dates of the same. However, for this being my first time going to various dates, I couldn’t have asked for better people to go with or a more stacked lineup to watch for 5 shows.
On February 14th, my parents dropped me off at my friend, Audrey’s, dorm where I met up with my other friend, Olivia. We then set off on our 2 and half hour ride to Iowa City. After jamming out in the car ride, we finally arrived at our Airbnb just outside of the city. The Valentine’s Day show I was actually photographing for the blog I run. Still, I couldn’t help but hop into the pit during Grayscale. I have always been the person to crowd surf during shows, even if I’m photographing them. Audrey had actually made little valentine baskets for the guys in WSTR and their awesome crew, Anthoni, and Mike. After the show, we hit up a McDonald’s for a post-show dinner and brought it back to the place where we were staying. In which I began to edit photos until I passed out, literally.
The next morning I woke up and quickly did my makeup and threw all my belongings into my duffle bag. Today we were heading to Cudahy, Wisconsin, and if you asked me how to pronounce the town’s name, I literally could not tell you. Since we arrived over an hour before VIP check-in and the bone-chilling weather, we decided against lining up early. An employee at the X-Ray Arcade recommended a local burger joint, which really helped us kill time. When we finally got in for VIP, we got our stuff that came with VIP, got doughnuts, and sat down for the Q&A. I got to play doubles in cornhole against Dallas and their guitarist, Nick; however, the guy I was partnered with, and I lost, so, yes, I will be turning in my Midwesterner card now.
On Sunday, my friends and I all collectively decided that we all would be in the pit and crowd surfing for the night. A highlight of the night was during “What’s On Your Mind” when a large group of people, including my friends and I, opened in the middle of the crowd while slow dancing together. As the night was coming to an end, we were all sitting in the car when we started joking around if we should go to the Indianapolis date that was the upcoming Wednesday. However, we realized that the show was sold out. One thing led to another, and suddenly, we were in a McDonald’s parking lot buying tickets to the Grand Rapids date at 1am. Monday was considered a day off since we all went home and why I am now starting to write this blog post at 1:15 in the morning, at the moment.
The next morning was pretty hectic. I woke up late and ended up sprinting through Ogilvie Transportation Center to catch my 8:40am train to Elburn because otherwise, I would have been waiting 2 hours for the next one. When I got to Elburn, Audrey picked me up from the station, and we went back to her dorm to pass the time while we waited for Olivia to get to her place. When Olivia finally got to Audrey’s dorm, we wasted no time hopping in her car and making our way to Michigan. The trip there was accompanied by thoughts and rhetorical questions of “Why are we doing this?” “Is this real?” “Who let us do this?” It finally set in that we were actually in Grand Rapids once we were in line at The Intersection and huddled together in the cold. During the show I found myself brought to tears by the song “Asbury” which was odd saying this was my 4th time hearing it live and I am not one to get super emotional during shows. Luckily I had my friends with me who more than okay with me crying on their shoulder. That’s pretty baller.
Okay, and I know I said Grand Rapids was our last show. Still, in yet another twist of events, we somehow ended up at the Indianapolis show. Before the show, we dropped our stuff off at the Airbnb we would stay the night at. As we were driving to the Hoosier Dome, we confide in each other that there was something about the place that made us uneasy. This resulted in us driving back to Chicago after grabbing our stuff from the place. During the show, I actually ended up getting thrown down while surfing to “BCKYRD” during Hot Mulligan’s set. Despite that little bump in the road, our last show ended on a pretty good note.
In the end, my best advice for anyone looking to “follow” tours is make sure to do it with the right people and be flexible but also plan ahead. Also, if you don’t know the openers, try to give them a listen before going to the show to give them a little hype. Create a road trip playlist for you and the people you are traveling with to jam out to. Like always, look out for your friends and others while in the pit, and if someone falls, pick them up. Also, if you and your friends find your Airbnb/ the place you’re staying, trust your gut and find an alternative place to stay. All in all, have a good time and be prepared to make a ton of unforgettable memories.