Lawrence, KS (The Bottleneck)

Last night's show was at The Bottleneck in Lawrence, KS. This is the
second time we've played the venue (this year), and the third time we've
played Lawrence (this year).

Before I get into the show details, I want to discuss the newscast the
guys appeared on today in Topeka, KS. They decided to play 'Sit & Sink'
acoustic. It ended up going really well! After the broadcast, they let
us play around on the green screen. We all took turns playing around
with the weather. They turned on a soap opera, and we acted like we
were in it! Ha. Anyways, it was a good time.

The show was decent. The guys played well and got a good response.
There were about 100 people there. The mix was good and all, but I'm
just not too impressed with the sound in this venue.

Corey and I got up on stage and sang on the end of The Forecast's song,
'West Coast.' It was a good time!

This was Ludo's last night on the tour. We're going to miss those guys.
They're a fun band and some of the nicest people I've ever met. They got
a present for every band on the tour. The Forecast got an indian
statue, Spitalfield got a fake saw with a Christmas scene painted on it,
and we got a dolphin statue. .

My cousin, Stephen, and his girlfriend, Alison, came out to the show.
It was great to see them!

After the show, we headed for home. It's currently 5:55am, and we're
about 45 minutes from home....oh yeah, it's now THANKSGIVING!!

The tour is taking a break for six days, and it will resume in Madison,
WI next Wednesday.

We're doing an in-studio performance for JBTV in Chicago on Monday, so
I'll make sure to report in on how that goes!

Omaha, NE (The Roxbury)

Last night's show was at The Roxbury in Omaha, NE. We had never
actually played Omaha. (We'd played Papillion, NE....which is about ten
miles from Omaha.)

Anyways, the show ended up being pretty good. The venue was a big dance
club. The sound and lights were pretty good. The guys tried out a new
set list. I think it went over really well!
We did ok on merch.

After the show, we drove Topeka, KS. We're playing a mid-day television
show at noon today - WIBW-TV (CBS) "Midday in Kansas" (Channel 13).
We'll be doing a short interview and playing one song. The whole
broadcast is live...hopefully it goes well!

After that, we'll drive about thirty miles to Lawrence, KS to play
tonight's show at the Bottleneck.

Denver, CO (Marquis Theatre)

Last night's show was at the Marquis Theatre in Denver, CO. I really
like this venue! We played here in May with The Audition (and about 300
people were there).

The show was decent. There were about 75 people there. The guys played
really well. Everyone in the crowd seemed to enjoy it. We did decent on
merch.

My cousin, Paul, and his wife, Colleen, came out to the show. It was
great to see them! We got some time to hang out and catch up. (*Paul
and Colleen - Thanks for the continued support! It means a lot.)

After the show, we went back to Longmont and stayed with our friend
again. We hit the road at 7am this morning. Tonight's show is in
Omaha, NE. We're about 7 hours into the drive, and we're not too far
away...

Colorado Springs, CO (Black Sheep)

Sunday's show was at the Black Sheep in Colorado Springs, CO. This was
our first time in this city. The venue was decent. The sound was
pretty average. Unfortunately, the crowd was pretty small (40-50). The
guys played well and we did decent on merch.

After the show, we drove to Longmont, CO (not far from Boulder) and
stayed with a friend. We stayed up too late playing Guitar Hero 3. It
was great.

Salt Lake City, UT (Avalon Theatre)

Last night's show was at the Avalon Theatre in Salt Lake City, UT. This
was our second time playing SLC (we played it once this summer).

We'd never played the Avalon Theatre. The venue was pretty cool! It
was pretty big and the sound was solid. There was a decent crowd (~80).
The guys well and got a good crowd response. We did decent on merch.

After the show, we stayed with a new friend. We woke this morning and
started our nine hour drive to Colorado Springs, CO. It should be a
pretty scenic drive.

DAY OFF (Las Vegas, NV)

After the L.A. show, we drove straight to Las Vegas. It was about a
four hour drive. We got to Vegas around 5am. The Forecast has a fan
from Vegas who is really generous....he let us stay at his neighbor's
summer house. We all slept for a few hours and then headed into the
city. The Forecast's friend hooked us up with two hotel rooms at the
Hard Rock Hotel. The place was amazing!

We hung out for a while and then I met up with my cousin, Mark. We went
back to his house and had dinner with his family. It was great to see
my relatives!! Mark and I went back to the strip and met up with the
band at the Treasure Island casino.

I only gambled for about three minutes. I lost $20 and decided to throw
in the towel. Ha. Some of the guys were doing well for a while, but by
the end of the night, Max was the only one to walk away with a profit
(of $20).

After the Casino, some of us walked the strip for a while. The scenery
in Las Vegas was awesome! After of couple hours of walking, we caught a
cab back to the hotel.

We're now driving to our show in Salt Lake City, UT.

Los Angeles, CA (Knitting Factory)

Thursday's show was at the Knitting Factory in Los Angeles. We had
never played this venue before. (We've played Knitting Factory New York
multiple times though.)

The venue was nice! We played in the main room. The sound was solid.
The show was really good! There was a good crowd (~200) and the guys
went over really well. We did pretty well on merch. Overall, good
show!

We walked around the area and saw the stars on the sidewalk. We also saw
the building where Jimmy Kimmel films. The big event of the evening was
the Victoria's Secret fashion show. We didn't go to the show or
anything, but we tried to watch famous people entering the show.
Apparantly this Spice Girls, Seal, Kanye West, and Will.I.Am were all
there.....pretty cool.

Phoenix, AZ (That One Place)

Last night's show was at a venue called 'That One Place' in Phoenix, AZ.
We played this place once before (in January). Fortunately, the venue
was fixed up since we had last been there! The sound and lights were a
lot better than last time.

The show ended up being pretty small. Part of that may be because the
MySpace tour (Say Anything/Hellogoodbye) was in Tempe, AZ last night as
well. Anyways, the guys played well and the intimate crowd seemed to
enjoy it. We didn't sell much merch.

After the show, we stayed with some college friends of Corey's. It's now
about 7:45am on Thursday. Matt and I are going to get the van's A/C
checked out. We got an entire new A/C unit this summer when we were in
Phoenix.....lately, it hasn't been working to well, so we're taking it
back to the place that installed it to get it checked out. Hopefully
they can fix it today!

Our show tonight is at the Knitting Factory in L.A. We've never played
this venue. Pre-sale is around 150, so the show should be good!

Albuquerque, NM (The Launchpad)

We Monday yesterday off. We used it as a driving day. We drove from St.
Louis to Amarillo, TX (about an 11 hour drive). We woke up Tuesday
morning and drove from Amarillo to our show in Albuquerque, NM (about a
four hour drive).

This was the band's first time playing Albuquerque. They were supposed
to play it in June on The Audition tour, but we had to skip the show to
get the air conditioner fixed. Anyways, the venue wasn't bad. The sound
was decent. We got meal tickets to a restaurant down the street called
the 'Black Bird.' It was pretty good!

The show was decent. The crowd was small (around 60). The guys played
pretty well, and the crowd was into it. We did well on merch
(considering the amount of people there). After the show, we drove a few
hours and got a hotel.

We're now on the way to Phoenix. The MySpace Tour (Say
Anything/Hellogoodbye) is in Phoenix tonight too, so our show could be
interesting!

Sauget, IL (Pop's)

We played at Pop's in Sauget, IL last night. This venue is outside of
St. Louis. I've know about the place for a long time, but I've never
been to a show there, and the band had never played there.

The show was good! There were about 240 people there. We had a lot of
friends and family come out. The venue was nice! It's definitely a step
up from the Creepy Crawl (where we normally play in St. Louis). The
sound was solid and the lightboard was good.

The guys played well. Corey had some vocal issues, but with some rest,
he'll be fine. The crowd was real into the guys' set! Merch sales were
good! We always do pretty well in St. Louis, and we really enjoy playing
the area.

After the show, we hung out with some friends for a while. We went to
Steak 'N Shake, and it was great. We then went to our friend's apartment
and stayed the night.

We woke up this morning and started toward Albuquerque, NM (where
tomorrow's show is). We were going to play a morning news show in
Albuquerque tomorrow, but we had to cancel that....Max isn't feeling
well and Corey's voice could use some rest.

We'll drive until 1 or 2am and then get a hotel tonight. We'll do the
rest of the drive tomorrow.

Lafayette, IN (The Venue)

Last night's show was at The Venue in Lafayette, IN. The place was
pretty small, but it was packed (SOLD OUT)! There were about 270 kids
there. It was a blast.

Crown Point was the only town in Indiana that we've played, so it was
nice to play in Lafayette. The guys played well and the crowd was the
most responsive yet on this tour. The sound was decent.

We did pretty well on merch. After the show, we went to a party with
Spitalfield and The Forecast. We stayed for about an hour and then
drove home.
We stayed in Springfield last night.

We're now on our way to our show at Pop's in Sauget, IL (right outside
of St. Louis). It should be a good show! We've wanted to play this
venue for a while, so hopefully it goes well!

Glen Ellyn, IL (College of DuPage - Turner Conference Center)

Tonight's show was in Glen Ellyn, IL. This is Spitalfield's hometown.
The show was awesome! It was in a huge room in the Arts Center at the
College of DuPage. There was a big stage and a great lighting rig.

There were about 500 kids there. The guys played pretty well and got a
decent crowd reponse. We did decent on merch.

We're now driving to Chicago....we'll be staying there tonight.
Hopefully tomorrow night's show is as good as these first few!

Iowa City, IA (The Picador)

The Spitalfield Farewell tour kicked off yesterday in Iowa City. The
show was at The Picador (formerly know as 'Gabe's Oasis'), and it was
really good! The guys played well and got a really good crowd response.
The sound was pretty decent.

The line-up of this tour is pretty sweet. Ludo is opening for the first
half of the tour. They're from St. Louis and they bring a unique style
to the tour. The Grad plays second. Our good buddies in The Forecast
(from Peoria, IL) play third. It's always great to tour with them.
Finally, Spitalfield closes out the evening. They sound great and are
definitely ending their career on a high note (by doing this farewell
tour). I would have to say this is the best kickoff show of any tour
we've been on! P.s. I love that the tour is all midwest bands!

There were about 170 people at the show. We did well on merch, which
was a big relief. After the show, we stayed with some friends in
Davenport, IA. The Forecast stayed with us too. Our friends had a house
party. It was great. We stayed up too late and had too much fun.

We got up today and drove to our show in Glen Ellyn, IL (Chicago
suburb). Glen Ellyn is Spitalfield's hometown, so we knew the show would
be good! The pre-sale was like 350!

We're now at the show, and it's going well. I'll give the full update
in the next blog!

Los Angeles, CA (Guitar Center West Los Angeles GRAND OPENING)

We flew out to Los Angeles this past Wednesday. We left Corey's house around 5:30am to make it to the St. Louis airport in time to catch our flight. We arrived in L.A. around noon. We picked up our luggage and got our rental car. After that, we made our way to the hotel and we met up with Kurt (he's the one who hooked us up with the gig). We made our way to the Guitar Center. Before going in, we stopped by a popular L.A. burger joined called "The Apple Pan." This place was great!

After lunch, we checked out the brand new Guitar Center. This store was amazing! It's the biggest Guitar Center store in the whole country. It was two floors tall and filled with musical equipment. The guitar room was insane. The ceilings were about 30 feet tall and there were a good 200 guitars hanging on the wall. It was awesome.

Anyways, the guys picked out all the guitars, drums, and amps that they wanted to use for the gig on Thursday night. After that, we made our way back to the hotel. We all relaxed for a little bit and then met up with some friends from L.A. It was Halloween, so we knew we had to get out and do something. Most of us went to this huge festival in West Hollywood. We saw Hanson play. I must admit, they sounded pretty good! The festival was crazy. There were thousands of people running around in crazy costumes.....some people wearing next to nothing. We witnessed a big fight between about eight girls. It was entertaining to say the least. After the festival, we went back to the hotel to chill out and go to sleep.

We woke up Thursday and went over to Guitar Center. We spent most of the day getting ready for the show that evening. We met up with our booking agent, Andrew, and went to lunch at The Apple Pan. If you couldn't tell, we became fond of that place real quick. ha.

The show ended up being pretty awesome! We played in an empty building right next to Guitar Center. Kurt tried to get us to play on a rooftop, but it wouldn't work logistically (the city of L.A. wasn't compliant with our needs). The room fit about 400 people. When the guys played, there were somewhere in the area of 300 people. Guitar Center was giving away TV's, stereos, PS2's, etc. all night. All the giveaways were done in the room where we played. The guys got a good crowd response and played pretty well! We didn't sell much merch, but I think that was due to the fact that everyone there was in "free" mode. (They were getting free things all night.)

This event was advertised like crazy! There were 20,000 mailers sent to homes (the mailers had the band's picture and myspace site on them). There were also full-page ad's (with the band's picture and myspace address) in the L.A. Weekly for three weeks in a row!! KROQ (biggest radio station in the country) sponsored the event. They said the band's name in their advertisement as well!

I actually got to meet the owner of KROQ!! She was really nice. I hope to be in touch with her down the road.

We went back to our hotel after the show. We just hung out and went to bed. Our flight was at 12:15pm on Friday. We arrived in St. Louis around 6pm. From there, we drove to Corey's house and then back to Springfield.

Overall, the trip was amazing! We had a blast, got some great exposure, and made some new friends. I hope that this show ends up benefiting us down the road!

*A big thanks to Kurt French and Guitar Center for giving us the opportunity to play this event!*

**The guys' performance on Boston's "Fox 25 Morning News" can be seen here!