Fruit Bats European Tour Diary Pt.19 London (1)
By: Eric D. Johnson
London
Woke up after way too little sleep at the crack of dawn. This was somewhat of a stressful and long drive day. Turned out to be about 12 hours in the van, to be exact. Amsterdam traffic, then Rotterdam traffic. Then a bit of spillover from Antwerp traffic. Then the satellite navigation system went haywire and sent us off the freeway into a town. One awkward Sprinter U-turn later we were back careening down the highway, ignoring the speed cameras, trying to make the Calais ferry in time. After a delay at passport control, we made it onto the boat with seconds to spare. I celebrated our knick-of-time landing and passage to the Isles with a breakfast of chicken curry and ale. We made it to the ring road just in time for traffic to be insufferable. I think everyone arrived in Camden ready to weep. But we pulled ourselves together and played a great London debut to a packed house. Ten years ago when we were starting out, we had to play our first shows in places like LA and New York all green and not knowing what we were doing. It was nice to have a first show in a place like London having been on the road for a decade. Someone from the venue said to us (and I’m still not totally sure this is a complement) “You guys sound like a real band!” Yes, we are indeed! Said goodbye to Vetiver today. Don’t know if I’ve really mentioned this enough in this series of diaries, but, man, what a great band, and such a dear bunch of friends. It’s been a long time since we’ve been on a tour like this that was filled with so much warmth, where each arrival to a venue you’d be STOKED to see these guys there. Much, much love to them always.
Artists in this article: Fruit Bats