I attended the 9/9 show at Irving Plaza in NYC the other night. It was a great show. I know Chris expressed some frustrations due to a lack of rehearsal time at the start of the tour. One could not detect that from where I stood.

The band sounds great, particularly impressive were the vocal harmonies, they were really sounding lush and tight!

The drums sounded great as well, I loved the snare sound, the melodic toms sounded really cool and prefectly fit the band's sound. The bass drum was a cannon, and I'm afraid the house had it mixed a little to hot, but that was the mixer's fault, not the band's. But, Irving plaza is not known for having  great sound, and this was one of the better sounding shows I've seen there.

Chris really played a solid gig, very tasty playing and enjoyable to watch. He brings an awesome groove to those songs which is so important  One of my friend who who attended the show with me is not a musician, but is one who listens to a lot of music, remarked that "the drummer makes these tunes FEEL good."  I would take that as a pretty good endorsment because people like that are the ones we try to reach.

I noticed that on a couple of tunes the bass player was playing kind of high up on the neck, leaving it to Chris to hang in there and anchor the low end which he did.

I did manage to speak with him a for a few seconds but things being as they are, he was pretty rushed for time.

I was happy to see that the show was well attended, and the crowd was certainly into it, people were having a very good time. It was a Fun show, and an enjoyable evening for sure.

Thanks Chris!

Great review, Kevin! Sounds like another awesome World Party show! Chris, I bet you'll get in some well-deserved sleep when you get home--I can't imagine being away from home and family for 1 1/2 months+...but we're all sure glad you came!

robyn

What an amazing thread.  9 pages long and the views just keep counting.

You're going to roll around  in all that money you made.

Really sorry to hear a bug's got you. It's tough enough when you can rest at home, and maybe even have someone taking care of you if you're lucky, but with the rigors of the road, it's brutal!

I've been in a van caravan driving all night through a snow storm for hundreds of miles to the next gig, all the while suffering with flu, then having to play that night. I imagine everyone who has been on the road has had similar (or worse) experiences. It ain't for sissies!

I hope you're able to rest/sleep with that bad cough. Feel better soon!

Regarding that shard: Can you see it with a magnifying glass and coax it out with a needle or something? I'd think it's got to come out one way or another... you can't leave it in, and it's not going to dissolve.

Alright, wise guy. 

I got the shard out - with the end of some nail scissors.
But I'm really suffering with a constant cough and a bit of a temperature.
Unfortunately, we're not in a hotel tonight and driving to Raleigh.
We have a day off tomorrow, so as soon as I get there I'll try and go to bed.
Penultimate show tonight. What a way to end the tour.
Still, I'm glad I wasn't ill from the start, or halfway through.

Awesome thread, Chrisso!  Good stuff here, for sure!  I love that kit, too!

I hate to hear about your health issues.  I know it's tough while on tour.  I just got back from a tour in Germany myself.  Got stung by a bee the first day of the tour, smashed a finger between sound gear a couple of days later, and picked up a cold during the second week of the tour!

Anyway, sounds like overall, the tour went well.  Let us know what's next for you when you get back to Aussie land.   

Not to wish any other ailments on you, sir, but. . .

break a leg!

And have a safe, uneventful trip home.

Places.............
I've been lucky enough to travel across America once again. The first time in 15 years (Dire Straits tour of 1991).
To my mind, nothing much has changed, even since 9/11.
America is a consumers paradise. You can almost always find what you want/need. Stores are open late and many restaurants are open 24 hours.
This is all fine and peachy for the travelling musician.
Prices are low too.
You can buy a smart t-shirt at J Crew for $25, a chart CD for $10 and breakfast for $5.
Of course, it's probably not helping the environment or global trade, but that's political stuff we don't talk about here. 
It's enough to say, America is a comfortable and easy place to tour IMO.
The vast majority of the people in America and Canada are friendly, enthusiastic and helpful.
Give yourselves a round of applause. 
I'm a left minded, liberal thinker to be quite frank with you. It shouldn't matter, but it seems some people like to characterise The States as an alien environment. You don't make tea (properly)  and you don't understand the British way of doing things. Isn't that our problem, not yours? I have to say, I've repeated my order at the take-out counter enough times now that I can confirm, we are two english speaking countries, seperated by the same language.
America is a melting pot of many cultures. In reality, Los Angeles is as different from Des Moines as Paris is from London.
One thing you do care about is live music. It's lucky for bands like World Party that you do. You also recognise and support good musicianship. Another round of self congratulatory applause. 
I've enjoyed my 5 weeks on the American continent and would return in a heartbeat.

Eddie Izzard says England and America are two countries seperated by the Atlantic Ocean.

I'm quite sure that's true.


Are you comparing Des Moines to London? I'm quite sure there are no soccer hooligans in Des Moines, and you really have to travel to San Francisco to find decent tea. However, there's an inside joke among linguists that Des Moines was actually a joke among Algonquian tribes to visiting Frenchmen Marquette and Jolliet. Apparently, Moines originates in a native term meaning "excrement faces."

Needless to say, the Algonquins were well ahead of their North American time (late 17th Century, in fact) in yanking the French chain, so perhaps the comparison is suitable.


And we welcome you back, but only if you can find your way to Arizona. We'll spice up those crumpets for you!