April 29, 2010 - Hey this is Mike writing...somewhere between Chicago and Indianapolis. This is Del Mar's first BIG tour opening for the Dirty Heads and Sublime With Rome. Our first show of the tour was appropriately on 420 in Hollywood. Matt, me, and the Babymaker drive down to LA on the 19th to hang out with some friends & family and got to the venue mid next day.
Since were the openers, we helped roll in the amps & guitars and then met up with Bud & Nicole, drank some beers (not Bud), and went over some new songs we have been working on. The Palladium kickoff shows were BOOMING! Great sound - great crowd at this show. Backstage was nuts too. Hopefully we'll get some pics up soon so you can check 'em out.In Oakland, Del mar did not get to play the Fox Theater. but we still came along for the ride to party and kick back with the crowd. Matt, me & the Babymaker rolled through the streets of Oakland on skateboards with one thing on our mind - beer! Finally found a store that's has booze-got a 12 each. The crazy ride back was someone asking for a beer every block. We made it back in one piece. Got in the car, picked up Big Red from the bus station, got back to the show, drank with the bands, drank with the crowd, and enjoyed a great show. A really fucking great show! After the show we had fans asking why we didn't play but told them to join us in Reno.
Speaking of Reno, gotta love playing in the home town, the fans are great and a lot of them are close friends and family. It was a great show and amazingly we had some great energy even after all that partying. Needless to say, the crowd was nuts. Love playing in front of our friends and in Reno we have friends at every corner. Thanks Churchill for the drink hookup. Thanks to everyone for the awesome after party.
When we played Denver, it was by far the most energetic crowd we have seen yet. All stoked to see us -conversations with a lot of great fans, all very friendly people. Made us feel right at home, like a house party where you know everyone. The crowd was freaking amazing.
After some much needed sleep, it was onto Chicago. Chicago was awesome, went walking for about 4 hrs to find a good hot dog, check out the stadium, and walk around the lake, and finally getting back to the venue in time for sound check. We went on at 7:30, and the energy from the crowd was awesome. Great to see all the fans out there supporting the tour. Talking to people after the show hearing they came from 2 - 6 hours away to come out and see us. Wow! Some saw us in Reno. Some were checking us out for the 1st time and went out of their way to stop us in the crowd to say "great show, where's the next one?" After hanging with the crowd, we get back to the bus to find Bud had ordered pizza from Lou Malnatis Pizzeria. Awesome! Can't wait for some New York pizza though. Heard it's the bomb. For now though, it's off to Indianapolis and then Columbus. Middle America. Cool.
