The intenseness of touring, Get Physical style

The intenseness of touring, Get Physical style

8 May, 2008 | 5.16PM

• Section: Music News Topics: Get Physical Tour
• Written by: Industry Boy

Last night in Toronto it kicked off on the Get Physical tour bus at around 4am.

Patrick from M.A.N.D.Y. wanted to stay in Toronto for an afterparty, but the bus driver had been told it would be a 4am bus call so he wanted to leave.

Everybody threw in their two cents with the crew falling on both sides, and Anthony from Audiofly came bounding up to Industry Boy (I was a little drunk) and said: “If anyone can rescue this situation it’s you, the tour manager.”

I was about to tell him to bugger off, but realised he was probably right so I negotiated with both camps, apologised to the driver and finally we all calmed down.

Eventually the bus started on its way down the dark, forest-lined roads of Canada towards Montreal.

If the Get Physical tour bus had been a reality TV show, the in-house psychologist would have had a field day.

It’s not that the crew don’t get on - we’re like one big family, and everybody on the bus is on the same level.

We’re all friends, we all get on; we’re all in this together after all, through the lows and the highs.

We have no choice but to undress, eat, sleep and shit in front of each other (check out Luca from Audiofly’s lovely green underwear) - for Heidi it must be particularly hard, being the only girl.

But the intenseness of being on the bus with eight people, the lack of sleep, the drunkenness: it all simply gets too much, and we as individuals have different ways of dealing with it.

The tiredness reared its weird head yesterday in Toronto, with hilarious results.

We were all cramped up in one hotel room on laptops when the phone started ringing.

Heidi, who was closest to the phone, picked it up and greeted the caller with “Hello, Phonica,” before realising that she was not in fact at the famous London record store.

She hanged up immediately, burst into laughter and said: “I stopped working there like a year ago, but the ring on the phone was the same ring as Phonica.”

We were all laughing hysterically, and then Patrick from M.A.N.D.Y. stood up and said: “What time is Audioplay flying tonight?,” instead of saying “What time is Audiofly playing?”

Again hilarious, but it showed how screwed up our brains were getting.

We could all easily pass for being homeless, so disheveled do we all look (as demonstrated by Patrick on the right).

Patrick from M.A.N.D.Y. provided a little insight this morning in a hotel room in Montreal, as Industry Boy was close to a panic attack.

I had hardly slept during the drive, and the thought of going to another club, getting back on the bus and then driving across the border to meet our lovely friends at the border police made me want to run away - I was desperately searching for flights online to New York.

Blogging was getting impossible - I could barely speak let alone write, and the responsibility of being tour manager was getting too much.

I hoped I could miss the Montreal show, and meet back up with the Get Physical crew in NYC. I needed to get out.

“The tour bus is great, but it’s very hard because you can’t escape,” he said whilst puffing on a cigarette.

“I would get a flight too, if I wasn’t playing tonight.

“When I tour normally with just Philipp we get late flights, have separate hotel rooms and have a lot of free time by ourselves.

“It’s important to have that free time, as when we’re in the clubs it’s full on party mode.

“But on the bus, we can’t have free time, or invite a lady with us to help us relax. It’s hard.”

Industry Boy eventually calmed down and sucked it up, but it showed the underlying feelings of anxiety and claustrophobia that all of us have.

It also shows why so many rock stars are alcoholics or drug addicts - all I want right now is a big glass of whiskey.

But the beat goes on, and so must the show.

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