...continued
19. 2023.3.18 New Orleans (Orpheum Theater) The previous year's Unity Tour of the U.S. was not kind to the south and southwest. To make amends (and the most of their stateside visit for the SXSW Festival appearance), a short, satellite tour of cities in Texas (plus New Orleans in Louisiana) were scheduled. Unusually, no cities on the coasts were booked. Fun fact: The tour didn't really have a name. So I started calling it TexNOLA*23 on Setlist.fm and it stuck. If I wanted to see them this time around, I would actually have to travel out of California and see them on "foreign soil" in another state for the first time. I had already been through Texas a couple of times. And the political climate has made that state less appealing (If you believe the media, many Texans would be happy to split from the U.S., with the liberal views like those of Californians being a major reason). Although Austin differs from that mindset, and
is a city I'd like to visit, I wasn't really up for seeing the group at a festival that didn't feature much else that appealed to me. I did fancy New Orleans. Despite living in South Carolina for a year, I'd never made it down there so the NOLA gig was the focus. I tried to work out the logistics of also seeing them in Houston, Texas a couple of nights before it, but it was not to be. Yes, these places are in the same country, but being over 2,000 miles and a couple of time zones away from home meant travel time would be a factor. I opted to spend more time in New Orleans instead. My local airport in Monterey didn't have any direct flights, so a layover in San Francisco would be slowing things down. Upon arriving in New Orleans the first night, I was greeted with total chaos at the airport. Unbeknownst to me, this week was also their Spring Break in the region. There were legions of college kids, all vying for taxis and ride shares. I eventually got a ride nearly two hours later. Having left home Thursday morning, it was the early hours of Friday before I'd made it to where I would be staying.
After a full Friday of dining and sightseeing (I'd gotten tips from a friend who'd once lived there), I can heartily recommend New Orleans as a destination. And though it's not really my scene, the nighttime trip down Bourbon Street lived up to its reputation: Excessive street drinking, nudity, a dominatrix whipping college kids...fun for the whole family. Once Saturday arrived, there were some whispers on social media of who would be in town. But despite my efforts this time, I wasn't able to find or organize a pre-gig meetup with anyone. The Orpheum being such a small venue (fewer than 2,000 capacity!) meant I knew to arrive early to get in line, and fortunately had the opportunity to meet some other great fans. I also was able meet a few people I'd only spoke to online previously (hello NüOrdrMan and Sandroid77). Once in the venue, the first priority was to snap up a couple of the black on black
Substance New Orleans shirts that were exclusive to this gig (limited to 500). I didn't mean to be greedy but I wanted an extra so I wouldn't be reluctant to it occasionally. Mission accomplished, I headed towards the stage and was able to secure a spot near the center quite close to, but not quite on the barrier with a couple of friends. The support was from ZAS and Bernard joined Zachery onstage to sing "No Texting on the Dancefloor". While New Order's setlist offered few surprises, I'd not heard "The Perfect Kiss" for a while and it sounded magnificent. Overall, the expense and everything I went through on my travels were worth it to see the band up close in such an intimate venue. And after the gig, Viking Colin kindly gave me a badge for my efforts, despite my never actually travelling abroad for a gig. Fortunately, I was able to repay him with one of my
Substance shirts, as he'd missed out before the gig.
After the gig, I said goodbye to some of my friends, and headed to an unofficial afterparty across town. One of the people I had met in the line (DJ Rice Cube) had booked a bar and was DJing. Fortunately, another one of the New Order fans I'd met was a local who knew the ins and outs of the area. He not only was aware of the bits to avoid, he showed the way to a late night market that served up the most amazing Muffalettta sandwich that I will ever eat. I mentioned that I said goodbye to
some of my friends at the gig. Several of them had invites to the
official afterparty in the exclusive club under the venue. No fake Vikings allowed. In the words of Stephen Morris "I'm not a bitter man". On the bright side, despite Sandroid77 heading north to Canada as I was heading west to go back home, we both had the same flight to a layover in Texas (unexpected Rom-Com situation alert). It was fantastic to see her again, and she told me about the afterparty and her discussions with Gillian, etc. Even though I wasn't at the official shindig, I was able to say hello to Tom Chapman in the New Orleans airport. We were both waiting in an enormous zig-zagging line, and as it circled around and I was nearby, I called out to him and held up my phone to show him its screen background image of the tour poster. He replied with a weary thumbs up. I opted not to trouble him further.
tbc...
Edited by user 18 September 2024 22:59:04(UTC)
| Reason: typo
