Hello friends. Yes it's been a while since the last NFLD blog... probably sometime in the middle of the tour actually. The truth is, I didn't keep up on the blogging everyday and fell a little behind. I am sorry. Therefore I don't have the details about each remaining day of the tour, BUT, the final summary of the tour is this - it was amazing. The folks in NFLD are so hospitable. They really know how to feed people. I think we each gained about 10 pounds on this trip. All of the shows were fun... although I think Victoria was the main NFLD favorite. It was also great to be back in Hare Bay to see our friends from down there. (Hollers to Robert, Henry, and Randall family.)
Other random memories: break dancing at the back of the church and making Chelsey laugh during her set, bowling at the Hare Bay church, watching Buddy Wassisname and the Other fellers with Bice and May, driving back and forth across the province 4 times, talking to Quintin in Deer Lake, and Chelsey's spontaneous "Ferry ride Concert" - yes she did a random concert on the ferry ride home.
For more on the NFLD tour, be sure to check out podcast #12, which teaches you how to "Newfie Nod" (no Chris' were hurt) and also features an important message from a group of rockers that we are very excited to have in a podcast... you may have heard of them. They are kind of huge. Who? Go watch the podcast and find out!
More to come... from Ecuador.
Blessings,
-Jordan
ROAR TOUR: Closing Words
ROAR TOUR: Victoria, NFLD June 10 2008
Before I start this one, I must mention our first stop in NFLD, which was actually our good friend Wally's pizza shop. Wally is always so generous and blessed us once again with some tasty pizza and garlic fingers to prep us for our 10 hour drive across the island. Now on to Victoria...
Oh boy. I don't think any of us have been to Victoria NFLD before, and we didn't know exactly what to expect, but this had to be one of the best, if not the best stop in NFLD. As soon as we got there people from the church were welcoming us and helping carry and set up all of the gear. Then we were brought over to a house where 10-15 people from the church were waiting with the biggest spread of sea food I've ever seen. This was a true Newfoundland experience if I've ever seen one.
When we got to the gig the love increased even more. Everybody there was really excited for both us and Chelsea and even gave her a standing ovation. The whole thing was so much fun. The church members were hilarious. I even got a picture of one woman trying to put lip stick on one of the guys. Funny, funny people.
Tonight was also a bit different for Chris and I because we were trying something totally new to us - running the lights while we were playing! Oh man, this was quite the challenge but really fun too. We tried to nail all the big hits, which may have resulted in a few flat notes, but at least the lights were good!
The church folk all helped us pack up afterwards and then took us home to each of our billets for the night before getting up at 5:30am to leave for the next town. Thank God for Tim Horton's... and thanks to everyone in Victoria for taking care of us so well and giving us one of the most enjoyable experiences of the whole tour. We will definitely be back in the future!
-Jordan
ROAR TOUR: Sydney, NS June 7-8 2008
This morning we drove from Truro to Sydney and set up in the gym of a beautiful United church building. Everything went pretty smooth. We found a set of old school colored lights that ran across the front of the entire stage, which we considered turning on, but voted against it since it's awesomeness might be too distracting. Chelsea sounded great and we had a lot of fun. I think we played 6 or 7 off of the new album tonight. And thanks to Emily for more choice pictures.
While in Cape Breton we also got to play at an event called Prayer of Hope the following night held at the Membertou Trade and Convention Center. A lot of people came out to get together and pray for Cape Breton. It went very well. When we played Deanna go to share about Compassion Canada and I think we saw the most kids sponsored on this night than any other - 19 kids in one night! Chooooice.
After the event was done we packed up and made our way over to the NFLD ferry... which we missed. Apparently we were about 15 minutes late and now it was too full. Thankfully we didn't have a gig booked the next day, so we caught it the next morning, drove all day and half the night, got a hotel, and then drove some more until we reached Victoria. Oh and we saw one moose, which was far away. More on Victoria soon!
-Jordan
ROAR TOUR: Truro, NS June 6 2008
Ok. I'm going to be honest. When we were setting up for this gig, I really wasn't expecting a whole lot of people to show up. I think we were all kind of anticipating a bit of a weak night - that it would be more like a practice than an amazing gig. BUT - it was exactly the opposite. Oh man. I would even say that this was my favorite gig so far, and I think the rest of the guys would agree. Even though the numbers were a bit low at the start, it got a bit more lively when another group of young guns showed up during Chelsea's set (thanks to Jason and Drew). Chelsea shared her testimony tonight during her set, which is very powerful to listen to, and Al and Dee both spoke very well. Before we went on some of us prayed for freedom in worship. I think this had a huge impact on the music. It honestly seemed like on of the funnest times we ever played. Every once in a while during the music, Chris would come over to me and say, I think that was the funnest time we've ever played that song! We also tried something new tonight by getting Chelsea to come up on stage and join us in playing Hosanna. I think this was my favorite part... that song is so amazing. And to have everyone up on the stage together was such a great feeling. Hopefully we'll do it every night from now on. A big thanks to Emily part time Life Support photographer Hunter, Russel spider-man Wile, Holly merch girl Medeiros, MC April, and Roy banner stand expert/admission man Medeiros. Oh and thanks to Jason Leil for his rich podcast footage (coming soon...) Blessings, -Jordan
ROAR TOUR: Halifax, NS June 5 2008
Today was such a nice day. Perfect weather outside, we were in downtown Halifax at the Salvation Army Church on Barrington Street. Set up is going a little faster now that we've done it a few times and we're getting the routine down. Rolls of duct tape are going like hot cakes. I think that Red Green would be proud.
Chelsea had a guest harmonizer with her tonight that only added to her usual angelic sounds. I'm not even sure of her name, but she did awesome - great job mystery guest! We pulled out "Hallelujah" tonight for the first time since we kind of re-wrote it in the studio, and it went very well. It might even be one of the funnest songs to play. We've been working on the harmony parts too, so we are trying to start this one with some acapella harmonies. Very choice.
It was nice to have Finlay back at the sound board tonight, as well as fellow Halifax musician Cory Chaisson who came out and helped us with tare-down. He also made us laugh a lot. Thanks to those guys along with tonight's wonderful merch girls Andrea and Divya.
Oh and Rob said the best nachos he ever tasted were from the Economy Shoe Shop in downtown Halifax. Thus concludes our night in Halifax. See you next time.
-Jordan
ROAR TOUR: Kentville, NS June 4 2008
Tonight is in Kentville. Very nice church, and awesome people to go along with it. This time it was my (Jordan's) turn to see one of my previous pastors - Pastor Terry Penney, who used to be at my church in Antigonish. It was good seeing him again and chatting about the band and ministry and whatnot.
ROAR TOUR: Fredericton and Moncton, NB May 31-April 1 2008
Well we started the tour this week with Fredericton, NB on Saturday and Moncton, NB on Sunday night. Both went very well. Fredericton was the first night of the tour which meant taking a little longer to set up... like all day. But it's good. We figured out how to keep our fancy new back drop and lights from falling over during the night, and even got a few banners with the album cover printed on them to hang behind us, not to mention new merch with sweet new t-shirt deigns. In the words of our temporary merch girl Natalie, it's looking very "profesh."
That reminds me, for these two gigs we had our very own super amazing road crew! These guys helped out so much. Mad props go out to Nat - lights/powerpoints, Natalie - merch girl/pipe-fitter, Tim - guitar-tech/lights/spare battery guy, and Ryan - admission doorman/roadie/superman. These guys helped so much. Anytime we needed anything fixed or plugged in or figured out they were there and ready to help out with much enthusiasm. I think they're even going to featured in the next podcast for a little comedy moment...so watch out.
Overall both gigs went well. I think did around 5 or 6 songs off the album in Fredericton, and around 7 in Moncton. It feels so good to finally play them. And they'll only get better as the tour goes on. Oh, and before I forget, our opening act - Chelsea Nisbett, is killing it! She is sounding so good. As Rob likes to say, she's got some pipes on her. It's just her and her guitar up there on a little stool, and she lets it rip every night with all she's got. If you haven't heard her yet, now is your chance!
We've got two days off now for some practicing and then we're off to Kentville for some more touring. More to come soon...
-Jordan