Kevin Bronson on November 20th, 2008

0

[Keyboardist-singer Morgan Kibby resumes her tour diary as M83 embarks on the U.S. leg of its tour. Previous diaries here.]

Chapter 17: The U.S tour is already over a week old, and weirdly enough I wish that I hadn’t gotten out of the rhythm of touring by going home. It’s sooooo hard to get back into the swing of things, and even at home, it is impossible to feel … at home. For this leg of the adventure we are touring with a band called School of Seven Bells, a truly wonderful trio from Brooklyn (Benjamin, Ally and Claudia).”  We’ve got a new crazy racist bus driver who packs, a wonderful super-sized American bus and 16 dates to #$% shit up.

Charlotte, N.C., our second city of the tour, was absolutely beautiful.”  The leaves were still changing, the air was crisp but delightful, and I got to hang out with a very dear friend who just had a baby boy (!), over a bottle of red wine amidst rustling trees.”  Yes, it was as sentimental as it sounds and I gobbled up every moment of it.

The highlight of this week, however, was New York City and Philly.”  We all slept well and woke to incredible Brooklyn brunches and abnormally warm weather. I knew the day was going to be a good one when I didn’t have to lift a finger to load in our equipment.”  Sweet rock gods, thank you! I took a long lost girlfriend and her new man out for some sake and got back to the venue in time to settle in and watch a fantastic set by Seven Bells, not to mention the incredible variety of colorful people in attendance.”  There was seriously something in the air that night, and as our set progressed, I can honestly say I’ve never felt so amazingly elated onstage.

Not to judge big cities (but here’s my judgment), but crowds tend to be stiff, easily bored and downright impossible to please. NYC, you surprised and amazed me on Friday. It was a fantastic night and we all came off stage high on music and high on life, feeling like all the miles, all the moments of gut-wrenching loneliness, all the black circles under tired eyes, every moment of it was worth it. It was a night of celebration, re-connecting with dear old friends and making sweet new ones. As I straggled back to the bus at 5:30 in the morning after a bar with an air-lifted taco truck in the back, glistening green and gold mattresses of leaves blanketing Brooklyn streets and askew glasses covered by rain soaked hair and running mascara, I realized just how effing lucky I was. What a night.

The morning we arrived in Philly was rough. I won’t lie.”  Claudia passed the Emergen-C packets out, I curled into a ball in the back lounge and snuggled with whoever joined me and somehow we made it through a satisfying set that night. Patrick and Lotje met with the tour manager of the Kings of Leon (as they were playing Philly as well that night), and in the midst of discussing our tour with them that starts next week, he invited us to meet the Kings at their after show celebration.”  Woo-hoo!

Well, unfortunately, that didn’t pan out.”  They disappeared on us, but it was probably for the best, we were falling asleep in our beers.”  So. Recap of the first week: Crazy NYC adventure? Check. Copious amounts of naughty behavior crammed into five cities? Check again.”  Feeling on top of the world if only for a moment?”  Hell, yeah.”  Even a second is worth everything I have if it feels like the stage of the Big Apple.

Photos by Anouck Bertin