Post Tour Reflections

osborne16

Its been almost a month since the Vancouver show ended my run of 12 straight PJ shows. Recently, i've been thinking a lot about what happened over those glorious 24 days in September. I think after the Vancouver show I was so gutted that the experience was over that I shoved all the memories into the back of my brain. It was a little too early to start replaying everything, it was still too raw.

The tour for me started with Alpine Valley and PJ20. Four complete strangers (all 10C members), connected simply by their love of PJ, met in Kitchener, Ontario and we squeezed ourselves into a VW Golf and drove overnight to Wisconsin. It took us all of 5 minutes to start talking about favourite shows, favourite moments, favourite boots, it was like I had known these guys for years. I'll never forget the energy at Alpine Valley over that weekend. People can say what they want about the setlists, TOTD, guests/guests who should have been there etc but nobody can deny the energy that was on display that whole weekend. I'll never forget that weekend or the amazing time I spent with 4 complete strangers (not strangers anymore!)

The Quebec/Ontario leg of the tour was unbelievable. The cheer enthusiasm of the Montreal crowd was special. The band was in fine form that night, what a great way to start the Canadian Leg of the tour. Starting the tour routine with my buddy Paul was also great. Work in the morning (we both live in the Toronto area) bust our ass to the pre-party, get killed by PJ for 2.5 hours, grab a few hours sleep and then do it all over again. If we were lucky, there was a day off in between. I'll never forget losing my shit when Neil came out to play RITFW. Those two Toronto shows combined were a real treat for any PJ fan. Great energy, great setlists, great rarities (Chloe/Crown!). I scored 7th row floors for night 2 thanks to a generous 10C member. Another amazing memory of the Toronto weekend was standing in the rush line for the PJ20 Doc at TIFF. As they started letting ticket holders into the venue a complete stranger walked up to me and handed me and the guy I was chatting with (in from Germany for the eastern leg of the tour) 2 tickets to the premiere. He didn't ask for money or anything in return, he could tell we were huge fans and just needed to get inside the building. Getting a ride up to Ottawa from two complete strangers made that show special as well. I ran into an old friend of mine at the venue - its amazing how PJ brings us together. Hearing Breath was awesome as well - they killed it that night. Hamilton was a blur, reconnecting with Paul for our last show together, sitting with Rory from Dublin who was so stoked just to be there. Great show, great energy again. Great memories.

I hopped on a plane to Winnipeg to meet another complete stranger. We were going to be spending the next week together. People told me I was crazy. I told them they didn't know about the 10C community. Todd picked me up at the airport in Winnipeg with a cardboard sign that read OSBORNE (my last name) hanging out of the front window. Turned out to be one of the best guys i've ever met. Same situation as meeting the boys for PJ20, I felt like I had know this guy for years after chatting with him for 20 minutes. Todd was from Calgary and drove 15 hours west, only to drive another 20+ hours back east to catch the final 5 PJ shows of the Canadian Tour. In Saskatoon we hooked up with Aussie Chris. Chris had flown from Sydney to Saskatoon because he needed his "PJ fix". Insane. 26 hours on a plane to see 4 PJ shows, back to Sydney the day after the Vancouver show. Thats dedication.
In Calgary Todd and I won the lottery. First row right in front of Jeff. I still cannot believe it happened. It was the most incredible afternoon/night of my life. I must have checked my pocket 50 times to make sure I still had the ticket all through the afternoon and at the pre-party. We both made signs and during Fuckin' Up, Ed looked at my sign, gave me a nod and the thumbs up before passing me a tambourine. This, combined with drinking his wine during Crazy Mary and scoring multiple Mike picks made it one unbelievable night. I truly hope that everyone gets to experience winning the lottery one time in their lives, in my opinion the experience should be shared by as many fans as possible.

I'm writing this long post for 2 reasons. First off, I want to thank all the people I met along the way for helping me enjoy one of the most incredible months of my life. So many strangers became good friends. There is no other band in the world that inspires this type of community and positive energy. Secondly, I constantly read other posts that make me smile or make me jealous or make me appreciate PJ in a new ways. Reading those posts were part of the reason I decided to make the necessary sacrifices to see 12 consecutive shows (and believe me, there were plenty). Maybe somebody will read this post and decide to go to their first pre-party or first back to back shows or first whole tour experience or whatever. Believe me, it will change your life and you will be better off for it.

Thanks everyone, you know who you are. Can't wait to see you all again.

Halifax2TheMax

Congrats! Awesome post and I wish I had followed along after Hamilton and was able to make Montreal. As it was, I made PJ20, 2 nights in Toronto and Ottawa and Hamilton. And like you, I relied on the kindness of strangers and had an incredible time as well as met some really cool people. There really is something to be said for the PJ community and I'm glad I'm a part of it and "get it." Sometimes its too difficult to explain to those not in the know.

Anyway, thanks for taking the time to post and saying it better than I ever could. Hope to meet you at a show or pre-party or both on the next US/European/Canadian/Icelandic tour.

Peace!

tremors

Great post. Well worth reading.

Great sentiments, and..... Way to go!!