American Tour 2024 [Cambridge]
The road between New York City and Cambridge was absolutely stunning, a wonderful display of automnal colors and soft air carried by benevolent winds. It was sunny and shiny. I couldn’t have asked for a better day to complete the tour. While we are all completely exhausted, it was quite moving to share the incredible journey that our first short American tour has been, a voyage defined by how close we became with Felix, Kerim and Marcus, by the innombrable new friends we have made after every single concert, the countless anecdotes from the road we collected, the strange van-made sandwiches we ate every day, the highly suspicious breakfasts we had every morning at the even more suspicious places we slept at every night, the non-stop burst of laughter associated with the made-up stories we would create, our puzzling reactions to Sef’s cryptic comments on all sorts of weird topics nobody understood, as much as the generous conversations we had about music, art, community and life we had every day.
It was a truly rich human experience for every one of us, which is why we were all deeply saddened that our family road trip was slowly coming to an end; grieving sentiments magnified by the general feeling that we were only getting started, exacerbating sensations empowering us to make our last concert a joyful celebration that could feed the exalting meaning of that moment and turn it into an uplifting motion that would elevate us way beyond the music itself, that would incarnate the heartfelt relational jubilee we have nurtured, a delicate yet strong connection transcending the gloomy nature of our imminent separation. Therefore, if there was a possibility to encapsulate our profound desire to prolong the love and affection we’ve been communing over the last two weeks, to discover what had yet to be bonded together, we knew it would happen in Cambridge tonight.
Nobody in the group had been to this city before, so it added to the excitement of the gathering, especially as the venue was awesomely located and had a vibrant vibe of its own. The crew was super nice and helpful, which allowed Jeff, Miss Isabel, Stephanie, and I to go for a short walk around. “Good Will Hunting” being one of my favorite movies, it was special to see the Harvard Square, where most of the scenes have been shot. So many details looked movingly familiar somehow. It brought me back to the first occasion I watched Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s masterpiece, as well as the late Robin Williams’ masterful performance. It still resonates within me. We decided to stop a minute at Grendel’s Den, where we had a non-alcoholic Guinness. I mean, it’s New England; I had to get myself a Guinness after all! It was really nice to suspend time for an hour or so, to be able to appreciate, if only a little, of what we are living. It’s capital to do so once in a while, and we tend to miss out on that highly important matter. Touring in America was a major investment for us, both financially and physically, but I’m happy I decided to positively answer Temples’ invitation and join them on that short stint of concerts. It was a unique opportunity for me and the band to meet people like we so much love to, and this decision will become one that will prove very decisive for our future in America.
It was a truly rich human experience for every one of us, which is why we were all deeply saddened that our family road trip was slowly coming to an end; grieving sentiments magnified by the general feeling that we were only getting started, exacerbating sensations empowering us to make our last concert a joyful celebration that could feed the exalting meaning of that moment and turn it into an uplifting motion that would elevate us way beyond the music itself, that would incarnate the heartfelt relational jubilee we have nurtured, a delicate yet strong connection transcending the gloomy nature of our imminent separation. Therefore, if there was a possibility to encapsulate our profound desire to prolong the love and affection we’ve been communing over the last two weeks, to discover what had yet to be bonded together, we knew it would happen in Cambridge tonight.
Nobody in the group had been to this city before, so it added to the excitement of the gathering, especially as the venue was awesomely located and had a vibrant vibe of its own. The crew was super nice and helpful, which allowed Jeff, Miss Isabel, Stephanie, and I to go for a short walk around. “Good Will Hunting” being one of my favorite movies, it was special to see the Harvard Square, where most of the scenes have been shot. So many details looked movingly familiar somehow. It brought me back to the first occasion I watched Matt Damon and Ben Affleck’s masterpiece, as well as the late Robin Williams’ masterful performance. It still resonates within me. We decided to stop a minute at Grendel’s Den, where we had a non-alcoholic Guinness. I mean, it’s New England; I had to get myself a Guinness after all! It was really nice to suspend time for an hour or so, to be able to appreciate, if only a little, of what we are living. It’s capital to do so once in a while, and we tend to miss out on that highly important matter. Touring in America was a major investment for us, both financially and physically, but I’m happy I decided to positively answer Temples’ invitation and join them on that short stint of concerts. It was a unique opportunity for me and the band to meet people like we so much love to, and this decision will become one that will prove very decisive for our future in America.
We got back to the venue for our soundcheck. Everyone was full on, but all the faces were saying something like “it would be great to have a short eight-hour nap before the concert.” No luck; show time was in less than 2 hours at that point. Maybe today’s coffee #100 will help. Not! No doubt everything seemed particularly slow and off, as if it were our first soundcheck of the tour. It sounded too loud, too quiet, too high, too boomy… A situation that was obviously linked to our collective tiredness. The sound level was fairly the same from a show to another, and if I usually like to benefit from the entirety of our allowed soundcheck time to keep feeling the vibe and identifying the soul of the concert’s invisible outline, I elected to cut the soundcheck short for everyone to get into an energy-saving mode and be able to channel the sensations we felt like connecting with the audience a little later.
Showtime came by faster than we would have liked to, but we were nonetheless enthusiastically ready to go. The room was already electric when we walked on stage, and I was determined to dive as deep as necessary to embody the distinctive spirit of the evening through the abandonment necessary to do so. I was resolute to let the music flow, to let the band wrap the whole venue with their fabulous sonorities. It was so rewarding for me to hear them out while conducting them. Their passion was palpable. The songs’ dynamics were cohesive, fluid, and outstanding. I only had to delicately deposit the singular colors of my emotions on the multi-layered essence of the music. I was floating through the motion, and I could easily perceive how greatly responsive the crowd was towards the streaming flow that elevated every single one of them, which prepared us all for the particularly high rising tide that would become the Cambridge version of “The Hunter”, prompting the song to clock in as a 20-minute collective let go. It was magnificent, mightily liberating for everyone present, and just like that, the concert concluded its roaring intensity in an ocean of smiles, screams, and loud clapping, while brightly lit eyes illuminated the entire venue all at once. It was probably our most affective and dazzling concert of the tour.
Showtime came by faster than we would have liked to, but we were nonetheless enthusiastically ready to go. The room was already electric when we walked on stage, and I was determined to dive as deep as necessary to embody the distinctive spirit of the evening through the abandonment necessary to do so. I was resolute to let the music flow, to let the band wrap the whole venue with their fabulous sonorities. It was so rewarding for me to hear them out while conducting them. Their passion was palpable. The songs’ dynamics were cohesive, fluid, and outstanding. I only had to delicately deposit the singular colors of my emotions on the multi-layered essence of the music. I was floating through the motion, and I could easily perceive how greatly responsive the crowd was towards the streaming flow that elevated every single one of them, which prepared us all for the particularly high rising tide that would become the Cambridge version of “The Hunter”, prompting the song to clock in as a 20-minute collective let go. It was magnificent, mightily liberating for everyone present, and just like that, the concert concluded its roaring intensity in an ocean of smiles, screams, and loud clapping, while brightly lit eyes illuminated the entire venue all at once. It was probably our most affective and dazzling concert of the tour.
I sat exhausted in the green room for a few minutes, trying to catch my breath before my mother, her boyfriend Michel, Momoka, Julie, and Max came to join me to spend a bit more time together before they would head back to Montreal the next morning. I had an immensely moving rendezvous with a dear friend and brother who discovered us through the soundtrack of the video game Final Fantasy: Dissidia Edition that I wrote alongside my precious creative partner Ben (The Long Shadow’s guitar player) in 2008 via Your Favorite Enemies. We had a very touching conversation, and it was wonderful to meet his super sweet and welcoming partner as well. A 14-year long-distance friendship that felt like we had seen each other yesterday, a perfect reflection of the main reason I do music and art designed to be shared with people. It was spiritually refreshing to talk about community values with new friends as they were comparing our creative immersion to Yayoi Kusama’s infinity mirror rooms installation, which was quite a humbling statement to hear, considering how inspiring I find Kusama’s work.
We took a tour-ending picture with our friends from Temples and their crew members and quickly headed to our “luxurious” Red Roof Plus+ hotel while spending the whole 45-minute ride laughing at Sef’s previous tour stories, reiterating the love and affection we have for each other. We talked about the incredible tour de force we had accomplished together through this crazy American road trip and the impatience we now have to find ourselves together in order to continue and build this fabulous adventure that is ours, to unleash the empowering nature of our hearts now filled with even more colors than we had before the beginning of that tour.
Tomorrow morning’s last goodbyes to Felix, Kerim, and Marcus will be extremely emotional and difficult.
We took a tour-ending picture with our friends from Temples and their crew members and quickly headed to our “luxurious” Red Roof Plus+ hotel while spending the whole 45-minute ride laughing at Sef’s previous tour stories, reiterating the love and affection we have for each other. We talked about the incredible tour de force we had accomplished together through this crazy American road trip and the impatience we now have to find ourselves together in order to continue and build this fabulous adventure that is ours, to unleash the empowering nature of our hearts now filled with even more colors than we had before the beginning of that tour.
Tomorrow morning’s last goodbyes to Felix, Kerim, and Marcus will be extremely emotional and difficult.
Funny anecdote: YB was extremely tired when we arrived at the venue this afternoon. He parked the band’s van on the wrong side of the street after driving on the reserved parking cones to the great stupefaction of the assistant production manager, who was waving her arms in the air trying to communicate something in the likes of “ARE YOU CRAZY?! STOP! STOP! STOP!!!” When she approached the van, YB put the driver’s window down and asked, “Can you remove the cone? We’re ready to unload.” No greetings, no “Hi, how are you? I’m with Alex Henry Foster, happy to be here” or anything. She replied, “Hello, I hope you did good travels. You’ll have to turn the van around to unload, as you can’t be parked on the wrong side of the street.” Without answering, YB drove backwards, allowing the crushed cones to pop up in their original shape, drove to the corner of the street, and did one of the most unbelievable (not in a positive way) U-turns you can do on a corner that was super busy with bikes, cars, and pedestrians.
YB was in zoned-out beast driving mode. We were screaming at him to be careful of the cars, bikes, cars again. The assistant production manager came running with her hands in the air, screaming, “No, no, no! Not like that! Just turn on the next street!!!” But YB had already turned the van and trailer around, driving back to the front of the venue to kill the cones one more time before parking, getting out, and telling the assistant production manager, trying to catch her breath in the distance. “Good afternoon, my name is YB, and I’m with…” Jeff, Ben, and I laughingly said “TEMPLES!” almost at the same time! “No, we’re not Temples. I’m Alex, sorry our introduction was so… erratic!” She answered it was alright and that we had made quite an interesting first impression. Hopefully, our overall kindness and hard-working, well-oiled machine won her over by the end of the evening. She even washed the hoody of one of our team members who got vomited all over while helping a person that was losing consciousness due to severe alcohol intoxication. Karma kind of balanced things up somehow!
YB was in zoned-out beast driving mode. We were screaming at him to be careful of the cars, bikes, cars again. The assistant production manager came running with her hands in the air, screaming, “No, no, no! Not like that! Just turn on the next street!!!” But YB had already turned the van and trailer around, driving back to the front of the venue to kill the cones one more time before parking, getting out, and telling the assistant production manager, trying to catch her breath in the distance. “Good afternoon, my name is YB, and I’m with…” Jeff, Ben, and I laughingly said “TEMPLES!” almost at the same time! “No, we’re not Temples. I’m Alex, sorry our introduction was so… erratic!” She answered it was alright and that we had made quite an interesting first impression. Hopefully, our overall kindness and hard-working, well-oiled machine won her over by the end of the evening. She even washed the hoody of one of our team members who got vomited all over while helping a person that was losing consciousness due to severe alcohol intoxication. Karma kind of balanced things up somehow!
