Mary Anne Hobbs graces URB once again with the final entry to her incredible Road Warrior Tour Diary. It’s been a sleepless adventure across the US and beyond, but of course, when you’re playing gigs like Francois K’s Deep Space in New York City, or King Britt and Rucyl’s Saturn Never Sleeps, you tend to keep going no matter how much sleep you’ve lost. Along with those East Coast stops, Mary Anne hits up Canada with some hard-pressed Canadian customs drama. At least she played a great gig with the always-awesome XI. More info about all the highs, lows and in-betweens after the jump.
MARY ANNE HOBBS
ROAD WARRIOR Tour Diary for URB
PART 4
So… to the East Coast mission on the Road Warrior Tour.
Boston’s Together festival has a warm and vital energy, and it’s a rare treat to play with Mike Slott up at the Paradise.
My agent Sara and I eat a lobster, and (oddly) pick up mosquito bites that look as angry as boiled nipples.
3 hours sleep and on to NYC..
We can’t check into our hotel so we change on the floor of a public toilet before heading over to the Dubspot school… (it’s all glamour.) I’m hooking up with one of my great heroes Badawi there for a little storytelling session they want to capture on film. I’m also hosting a Masterclass, in which I tell the students about running away to London at the age of 18 and living on a bus in a carpark with a band called Heretic.
Francois K’s Deep Space at Cielo in NYC later the same night is very special. It’s like playing inside an exquisite old-school jewelry box, the walls are lined with suede and the roof is a glitter bomb of mirror balls.
Mala from DMZ told me Cielo has the finest DJ booth on earth and he’s so right. The Funktion One system design – featuring surround sound on the dancefloor – is immaculate. It’s as much of a joy to play on this rig as it is to sip a little dark rum with my treasured friend Seckle.
Philly is dope.
We hit King Britt’s party Saturn Never Sleeps at Silk City, a tiny pimped out bar with an adjoining diner! The whole place looks like it dropped straight out of a Tarantino movie.
My man Starkey is among the audience tonight, as is one girl who looks like she can’t be more than 14 years old, yet drove 7 hours to be here and pass me her boyfriend’s music on a USB stick.
High drama on the road to Canada.
Miraculously we manage to get Sara’s expired passport renewed within 3 hours. However Immigration at the Canadian border are not at all happy to let us in. The officer explains that am only a DJ and not a live musician, and therefore a much lowlier form of human species than say for example, the drummer from Coldplay. Mercifully his manager disagrees.
Delta loses our bags.
Great…
But I always carry my music with me as hand luggage, it never leaves my side.
And I will play Wrong Bar in Toronto come hell or high water.
In truth, I’d endure the travel-chaos a thousand times over for an experience as profound and phenomenal as Toronto’s show. Hands down one of my favourite nights on the Road Warrior Tour. Big-up XI, My Man Henri, Ryan, Cody and all the BassMentality crew. I wrap up the wildest of nights wringing wet though with sweat, crowd surfing, carried all the way to around the room by a thousand crazy Canadian hands. I’ll cherish that memory forever.
I have no doubt that the final show on The Road Warrior Tour at Club Lambi in Montreal will be equally extraordinary: The Real Queen Of England offers a genuine alternative to the Royal Wedding on 29th April.
I’ll sign off now and say thank you so much for reading and for riding with me on the Road Warrior Tour.
I’m heading home to start work on my new Primetime radio show for Xfm, launching July 9th.
If you’d like to hear more from me, the new show begins July 9th. Listen Live and Listen Again anywhere on earth at www.xfm.co.uk
Special thanks to Mary Anne Hobbs, Sara Ajiri and Ryan Romana.
Meet this beautiful girl at Coachella, lover her to death……Look Foward to seeing her again.