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My first time
playing in Mexico. Tony's been there many times, but this
was his first chance to bring his own band and do his own music,
so it was pretty special. We spent 4 days there, doing
interviews, a live TV broadcast, and a show at Salon 21, a club
that is really a dance hall, but often has live shows.
Easily one of the biggest club venues we've played, we had a
crowd somewhere around 1300. The Mexican people are
very passionate and demonstrative. It was all we could do
to match the energy coming from the crowd at Salon 21 that
night.
Our first full day
we did a live TV show - Animal Nocturno, with Ricardo
Rocha. Setup and soundcheck at 4pm.
Hang around in a spartan dressing room. Dinner = veggies &
dip, coffee. Live 3 song set at
12:30am. (We're talkin' some serious downtime here!) Pack up while the show continues around us.
Load the van in a torrential downpour. Sounds pretty
glamorous, right?
The logic of TV production often
escapes me. For instance ...
During the long wait in the dressing
room, Jesse asked if they could bring some beer to go with
"dinner". They said they weren't allowed to do that.
OK. Alcoholic beverages aren't allowed, which of course
makes sense. But wait: 10 minutes later a
waiter came in with a tray of shot glasses, a container of
salt, a bowl of fresh cut limes, and enough tequila to get us
all totally hammered! And THEN they would trust us on live
television! Anybody who sees the logic there,
please let me know.
P.S. The tequila went
unopened. |
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Fog machines on stage. I guess
this looks dramatic on TV, but it's a big drag for us. It smells
awful, you inhale gallons of it while you're singing - and we could hardly see each other across the bandstand |
During the drum solo on Elephant Talk,
Jerry got bored and started grooving on some metal pipe that was part of the
stage set. Since it wasn't miked, I doubt if anyone heard it but us. |
