Tech... ica... Difficu... ti.. s...

We did a gig in Gresham, Oregon yesterday at the Mt. Hood Jazz Festival. Yet another beautiful outdoor summer gig (with no rain). Because it wasn't our show, we didn't get a soundcheck. We set up all of our gear backstage and then brought it onto the stage right before our set, checked to see if our mics were working (quickly) and then ran on stage. About 2 seconds into the first song, we realized something was horribly horribly wrong with our wireless microphones. Our mics were cutting in and out constantly. If you weren't there (this probably wouldn't have happened if you had shown up, but I'm not going to point fingers), imagine GFT singing the title to this blog. Yeah. It was that bad.

We had 2 sets planned already so after 4 songs (of us looking incredibly stupid trying to find invisible "good" spots around the stage) we took a break. We ran around like chickens with our heads cut off looking for enough wired SM58s and set everything up really quickly and then ran back out to continue with the gig. Fortunately, the audience stuck around through everything.

The rest of the performance was a blast. The audience was great, Nick was smokin', it didn't rain, and the mics were working. What more could we ask for?

Peter
GFT

GFT in Canada

We had the fantastic opportunity to perform at MusicFest Vancouver this past Saturday. Not only did we perform in an incredible venue (the Vogue theater) we also had the privilege to share the stage with the talented Dee Daniels. It was a night of firsts for GFT that I won't soon forget.

It was the first time GFT performed with Randy's sub Amanda (I could make a joke about Randy's sub being a 17 year old girl, but I'll leave that alone. Oops.). Performing with her was truly a blast. She is an amazing musician check her out. For the first time (in what seems like a long time) we performed with a trio. Nick Moore on keys (of course), Dean Schmidt on bass, and Mark Ivester on drums. Unfortunately, we don't get to gig with a trio very often; but it is always a great time when we do and this time was no exception. It was also the first time GFT has performed in Vancouver. We couldn't have asked for a cooler venue or a more receptive audience. What more could we ask for?

Like I said earlier, we shared the bill with the amazing Dee Daniels. She has a voice that is out of this world. At the end of the show she came out and sang "Precious Lord, Take My Hand" and "Revelation" with us. Talk about a fun end to an incredible evening. She even came out with us to do an encore. It was an incredible evening in beautiful Vancouver. Thanks to everyone at MusicFest Vancouver and the Vogue theater.

Peter
GFT

Germany! (July 25, 2009)

We left Utrecht at 7:00 am (some of us had way too much fun hanging with our friends in Utrecht and didn't get back to the hotel until 3:00 am) by train to Germany. After jumping trains once we arrived in Mainz. We then took a van and two cars to our hotel (we kind of take up a lot of room).

We stayed in a lovely hotel that was kind of like a B&B. The hotel was actually closed that day, but they were open for us. No, I'm not making a joke here... seriously. Our gig was a little ways away in the village of Boppard. It was an outdoor venue in the courtyard of a church. It was beautiful, but halfway through our soundcheck the bells of the church started ringing and ringing and ringing and ringing. Fortunately, we all thought it was funny that they were ringing for so long; Unfortunately, the bells were letting everyone know that church was starting. We continued our soundcheck and a (understandably) upset church goer came out and asked us to keep it down during the service... woops.

We started the gig and everything was going pretty well. The audience was enthusiastic and we all were having fun. Then... (this is where you would usually hear a dum dum duuuum sound effect. I'll let you make the sound yourself... I'll wait) during "Walk the Straighter Road" as soon as Randy started his first solo in the tune, the clowds opened up and started poring rain down on the poor audience members. Normally, something like poring down rain would be a gig ender; not in Boppard. They ran for umbrellas and pulled out their ponchos and sat out the rest of the gig. Not only did every single person watch the entire gig, they had us do 3 encores on top of the entire gig. After meeting with some of the audience, we went back to our hotel and ate some amazingly wonderful homemade German food.

The next morning, we left the hotel and drove from Boppard to Rockenhausen (I truly agree that Rockenhausen is the greatest name ever and you can be sure that we made all of the bad puns possible). We got an amazing oportunity to do a bit of sight seeing along the Rhine river. We got to our hotel in Rockenhausen and discovered that the venue for the performance that night was actually at the hotel (we knew a little earlier than that, but its a better story if we found out when we got there). In fact I could see the stage from my hotel room. It was another outdoor venue (if you didn't pick up on that earlier) and fortunately for everyone involved we had a rain free performance. We were fortunate enough to have another incredibly enthusiastic crowd. It was a fantastic end to a wonderful tour and we all thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.

Peter
GFT

Greatest Night Ever (July 24, 2009)

The four groups that we have been working with all week long had their concert tonight. It was great to see how much they have progressed throughout the week and they did a great job at the concert. Everyone we talked to after the concert was very complimentary of all of the groups.

After the concert we all went out to hang and say our goodbyes. Since it was the first time we weren't in a “teacher” kind of roll, we were able to have some fun and really get to know the people we have spent so much time with. It was a great night.

Peter
GFT

2 Gigs, 1 Night (July 21, 2009)

For the first time in GFT history, we performed two full sets in one evening. Even though we were all extremely exhausted, it was a great night. We were fortunate enough to be able to perform for two great crowds. We ended up having to do 2 encores which made the sets even longer, but still a really great feeling.

After the first set, we went out into the hall to meet with the audience and sign CDs. By the time we were talking to the last few people from the first set, a large number of people from the second set were lining up in the hall to get into the venue. So, we had to run back in and get ready for the next set immediately. It was a crazy night indeed.

Jame's wife (Autumn) was at the first set. Talk about devotion. She flew all the way to Utrecht to see a GFT gig. Well that isn't entirely true, but it sounds good. Anyway, during the intro to Take My Hand Precious Lord (when James is improving during the intro of the tune) Autumn yells out “Your so sexy!” Wow.

We performed our newest song How Sweet It Is To Be Loved By You for the first time. It is my feature (not trying to toot my own horn here its just an important part of the story) and James had told me to find a girl in the audience and sing to her (as a joke). During the second set, I decided to do just that. I felt so badly for the poor young girl that I chose to sing to. She was so awkward about the whole situation. She wouldn't even look at me. It was the most awkward thing that has happened on this entire trip so far. Sheesh. Thats what I get for listening to James.

Peter
GFT

Work Work Work (July 20, 2009)

We have been having a blast at Europa Cantat. We performed at the opening ceremony in front of about 4,000 people and have been working with 4 very talented vocal groups in our atelier. We have finally overcome our jet lag and have been able to really enjoy the beautiful city of Utrecht. Brennan and myself, being the intelligent young men that we are, have fully embraced the Dutch culture and have rented bikes for the week. I wasn't really trying to imply anything about the other guys with that little comment, but if thats the conclusion you jumped to...

We were originally schedule to do one performance on Tuesday at 8:45pm, but they have rescheduled us to do two shows due to high demand. So now we have a performance at 8:45pm and 10:45pm on Tuesday night. You are, at this point, probably thinking the same thing we are about now. 10:45 AT NIGHT!? It looks like we are in for a very long night, but we are looking forward to it. The 8:45pm show is already sold out and we heard this morning that the 10:45pm show is close to selling out as well. Looking forward to tomorrow night. We all need to get some good rest tonight. In fact, I should really call it a night.

Peter
GFT

Long Walks and Longer Days (July 17, 2009)

We made it to the Netherlands! Considering our last adventure at the airport, I think that there was more than a little doubt in all of our minds that we would actually make it here. We left Seatac at 1:00pm on Thursday and arrived in Amsterdam at 7:00am on Friday.

Jet lag is a beast! There is a 9 hour time difference between Seattle and Utrecht. Combine that with the 10 hour plane ride and our collective inability to sleep on the flight and you get a group of very tired people. As soon as we arrived in Utrecht, we discovered that the predominant forms of transportation in Holland are bicycles and walking. Much to our dismay, that meant hauling all of our luggage and sound equipment around for about an hour to get to Jaarbeurs (the main hall and area to check into the festival) and our hotel.

Once we were all checked in at our hotel, we had a rehearsal with Dox (a six person dance group). We had to work out a transition between Dox's performance and our performance at the opening ceremony. We have never claimed to be great dancers (publicly), so we were all a bit nervous going into the rehearsal. Fortunately, we weren't asked to dance and the transition (although completely out of our comfort zones) was relatively painless. Judging by Nick and Andrea's faces, they thoroughly enjoyed watching us look horribly awkward.

So, we have had a very very very very very very long 48 hour day. Looking forward to some rest.

Peter
GFT