Southern Hospitality Tour Blog
Southern Hospitality – Blog #8
What's up guys? Michael from HFS checking in one last time. The Southern Hospitality Tour was a blast and the last two shows in Pennsylvania were amazing (possibly the best of the whole tour). But let's skip right to the last show of the tour, commonly known among bands to be "prank night" – when all the bands play pranks on each other during their sets.
High Flight Society has only been part of three tours so far, but I don't see how the pranks could get any better than this. The best prank occurred during Spoken's set. The Spoken guys had the idea to wear their own merch on stage and then auction it off to the crowd to be funny. This gave Kevin from Disciple the idea to actually bring Spoken's whole merch setup on stage. They set up the massive banner and table right in front of the Oliver the drummer. All the guys thought this was hilarious and took advantage of it and actually began selling the merch from the stage. Matt, the singer, jumped up on the table and rocked out. Total insanity ensued.
The prank pulled on us wasn't as good (how can you top that?) but funny nonetheless. Tons of fake potted plants were brought on stage and set up everywhere in our way. I wanted to yell out "You know where you are, you're in the jungle baby!" in my best Axl Rose voice but thought better of it haha.
The night ended with lots of man hugs and goodbyes in the snow and with me getting accidentally knocked in the face with a football kicked by Oliver. It's like I told him, though, I consider in an honor to have been technically kicked in the face by a half-Japanese guy.
Thanks for the memories and to all the people that came out to support the bands!
-Michael
Southern Hospitality Tour – Blog #7
Turns out I was right about the weather. Wow, it is cold here in Jersey. Tuesday's show in Maryland was fun. My favorite part was when me, John, Kevin from Disciple and Brandon from Spoken won a game of basketball against some other band and sound guys. Yeah, we schooled them. Defense wins ball games, right Kevin? Dave and Seth from Wavorly filled in for Brad Noah of Disciple for the first time and did a good job. Learning 14 songs is no small task for sure.
We spent a day off on Wednesday in Washington D.C. with a few of the Wavorly guys and the Wedding. Lots of big monuments and good times. The theatre where Lincoln was shot was closed, though. Bummer. Is it weird to anyone else that they sell souvenirs on the street right next to where one of our greatest presidents was assassinated?
Tonight's show in New Jersey was great despite the weather. The tour is called Southern Hospitality but there was a lot of Northern hospitality to be found as well. There are some nice people in Jersey and they took good care of us. HFS loves New Jersey!
We tried out opening our set by playing the intro to the Foo Fighters song "My Hero." It was pretty cool if I may say so myself. Three shows to go! WWWWWOOOOOOooooooooooooo!!!!
-Michael
Southern Hospitality Tour – Blog #6
Question: what are the two of the worst things that could happen on a tour? Answer: getting sick and not having the internet for a few days. Sure there could be a lot worse things happen, like the van breaking down or a big show getting cancelled but to me at least, the first two I mentioned are pretty bad.
Jason got sick first, then I followed suit a few days later. Sore throats, runny noses, coughing and body aches for two of the High Flight Society guys. Jason is better now, and somehow sang great with a sore throat and I am almost better (I think). High Flight now officially endorses Emergen-C, Airbourne and Zicam! Then, since I wrote the last blog, we haven't had a good internet connection (hence the delay for all you guys keeping up with this). Being without the internet on the road is very frustrating to say the least.
So now that I am done crying, there have been three shows since the last blog, which have been good except for one, which was plagued by technical difficulties for us at least. Maybe I'm not done crying afterall haha.
The show last night in Montgomery, Alabama was cool. It was a small room but packed with rock-n-roll fans. We stayed overnight at a venue with the guys in Spoken a few nights ago after a show and I now have a new appreciation for those guys. They could possibly be the hardest working band in Christian rock (if I may use that term). They rocked it hard and Disciple brought it home with a set filled with exceptionally good (and long) guitar solos by Mr. Brad Noah.
We are heading up the east coast next. Better pack some long-johns, it's getting coooooooollllllllld!!!
-Michael
Southern Hospitality Tour – Blog #5
Who would have thought that a show at a coffee shop could go so well? The Southern Hospitality Tour rolled through Lafayette, Louisiana to a little place called "Café Chi Alpha." Basically, a glorified coffee shop with a nice size stage and room for shows. The crowd was the best yet – really energetic and into the bands that were performing.
My band, High Flight Society, did our usual set, but threw in a cover of the Sting song, "If I Ever Lose My Faith in You," which seemed to go over pretty well.
During lunch we got to hear "the greatest tour story ever told" by members of the Wedding. I won't spoil it because I'm sure they want all the glory of telling this most coveted story for themselves. Let's just say the guys in Spoken were blown away and they've been doing this for a long time.
I am starting to realize how cool all the other guys on the tour are. Really nice and unique personalities all around. Matt from Spoken is especially entertaining (Rise up, Matt!).
Kevin from Disciple promised to wear a High Flight Society shirt at the next show while giving his World Vision speech. Maybe he feels bad about his band stealing our camera? We have a day off and the guys in HFS are thinking about heading over to New Orleans on our way to Jacksonville, Florida. Should be fun!
Southern Hospitality Tour – Blog #4
Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. With a city name as cool as that you would expect any show held there to be good – and ours was. We played a show at Broken Arrow First Assembly of God and it was awesome. Like I've said, the shows have gotten better and better with bigger and bigger crowds. This was the first church show on the tour. The atmosphere and people at churches always makes everything seem better.
Even the food catered in was better – Arby's, Chik-fil-a and homemade chili. Good stuff. Its pretty tough to top the hamburgers and hotdogs that were grilled for us at the Foundry, though.
We did get stuck paying a lot of tolls on the drive in, almost $6 at one (are you kidding me?!), but things got a lot better from there.
Not much in the way of craziness at this show. Just good solid performances all around. Per request of the Wedding, Disciple played a couple of older songs that seemed to please them and the fans.
The show went so well tonight that I've decided that Oklahoma is officially cool. So all you Oklanhominans should be proud of yourselves!
Our good friends Wavorly join the tour in a few days and that should be fun. My band, High Flight Society, spent some time tonight getting footage for some video tour blogs that will be available for viewing at hearitfirst.com. That should be fun as well. We still get comments every few shows about our infamous "wood chopping" video blog. I think we topped it with #8 though. Check them out at our myspace page and see what you think.
We have a ten hour drive to Louisiana ahead of us. Ugh.
-Michael
Southern Hospitality Tour – Blog #3
Ah, Foundry, why can't there be more venues like you? You have an amazing stage and room with great atmosphere, not to mention a bar that serves incredible non-alcoholic mixed drinks. I had one called "Karate High School," which was Pepsi with two shots of vanilla and blackberry flavoring. Wow, it was good. A lot of guys in the other bands got a drink that had cheesecake flavoring in it. Yes, it was surprisingly great too.
The Foundry show in Joplin, Missouri has been the best so far, by far. The shows just seem to be getting better on the Southern Hospitality Tour. Maybe tomorrow night will top it. We shall see.
A big crowd came out to support all the bands. I felt like our set tonight could have been the best we have ever played. Something about the energy from a big crowd just makes you play better.
All the other bands put on a great show as well. I heard Jeff from Spoken say that the Wedding owned the stage and I might have to agree with that.
A near catastrophe was averted when we thought that Jason's (HFS) digital camcorder had been stolen. Turns out someone from the Disciple camp picked it up thinking it was theirs. Disciple – what a bunch of thieves haha.
So, like I said, tonight's show was amazing. My only regret is that I didn't do any of cool stuff in the inside area right next to the venue. They had a basketball court, arcade, a line of X-Box 360s running Halo 3 and a rock climbing wall of all things. Did I mention that the Foundry is amazing?
-Michael
Southern Hospitality Tour – Blog #2 (bookmark this now so you can keep up with it after more articles move this link below the four listed on the main page here).
Night two of the Southern Hospitality Tour in Fayetteville, Arkansas was a blast (aka it was held indoors and no technical difficulties). The show was held at The Music Hall, and the fans showed up to support hometown heroes Spoken and the Wedding. At least that is what we told them. We all know they were there to see HFS right?
Our set went well. We played "I Will Follow You," "Up Above," "Loss for Words," and "Sweet Redeemer," for any High Flight Society fans out there that might care. There was some discussion amongst us HFS boys tonight about possibly covering a Foo Fighters song at one of the next few shows. We shall see.
The Wedding played great and seem to be transitioning well with the recent line-up changes. The fans sure didn't seem to mind. Polarity is a great album and one of my favorites in a while – so go check it out.
Spoken opted to rock out in their Halloween costumes again. The bass player was dressed as Marty McFly from "Back to the Future" so I would say he wins for coolest costume, even though there was no contest.
Disciple owned the stage for sure. The highlight for me had to be when Brad busted out the solo to "Home Sweet Home" by Motley Crue at the end of "Things Left Unsaid." That was a You Tube moment. Anybody out there get it on video?
Us and the Wedding went and got some Waffle House after the show. Well done hash browns with salsa are the way to go. The service was a tad slow and it is now 3:23 a.m. Maybe the service was extremely slow now that I think about it. I need sleep…ZZZZZZZZZZZzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz.
-Michael
We've asked the members of High Flight Society to blog their thoughts and actions (not deeds, though, we can't ask for property rights, that just wouldn't be write). So, here we go...
Southern Hospitality Tour - Blog #1
The first show of the Southern Hospitality Tour, which was held in Highland, IL., was a battle that pitted five rock bands against the forces of nature and technology. Sound interesting? Truly, it was a night to remember.
Me and my band, High Flight Society, took to the stage that had been set up outdoors at around 7 p .m. Being from Hotlanta, Ga., four us were not ready for the cold night air of the north. The wind was blowing pretty much non-stop and despite having a hoodie and jacket on, I was still freezing. Who knows how cold it really was, but I'm guessing -748 degrees.
While battling the weather, we also got stopped cold (no pun intended) during our second song because the power went out. I'm not really sure about the reason for the technical difficulties, but the fine fellows in the Wedding dealt with them as well. We were able to finish out or set, though, which was cool (wow, again with the pun).
Spoken played flawlessly and rocked out in some killer Halloween costumes. "Prison inmate" and "ninja" were just a few of the characters they were portraying. Curiously, the power did not go out on them. Maybe Spoken sabotaged the rest of us. Yep that's right, Disciple had some technical problems as well and finally had to finish out their set acoustically but did a great job winging it.
Major props to the all the fans that came out and braved the cold with us! Despite the problems, it was a fun Halloween show. After all, that is what touring is all about to me - making memories.
-Michael
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