Louisville, Kentucky

Greetings from the parking lot of the Masquerade in Atlanta. Our bus just pulled into the parking lot, and it looks like it's going to be another beautiful day. Yesterday, Louisville was pretty awesome. Spring is definitely in full force--everything was green and flowering (Cleveland--do you hear that? You need to catch up. Like, now). It was actually a really easy show--loaders at the venue carried all of our stuff up the stairs (after Monica very graciously unloaded it as Erica and I were still at lunch so we could say goodbye to Lycia, who was hopping off the tour). Then, our two awesome street teamers (who are also in a band and may end up in our AP&R section--if Tim allows it--just because they were so helpful. Oh, and they recorded with Paul Levitt and played with Hit The Lights and All Time Low) carried all of our stuff down the steps--merch world was up on a balcony last night--and to our trailer. Score!

The show itself last night was really awesome. I know I always say that, but seriously, there was a great energy in the air. It might have been the 72-degree, no-cloud-in-they-sky weather, the "burritos as big as your head" everyone had for dinner, or the weird crashed Cessna(?) that is propped up, propeller-first, into the side of the hill next to the club. Whatever it was, though, all the bands seemed pretty jazzed to be playing.

And the crowd was in to it, too. During ATL's set, kids kept surfing to the stage (there's no barricade at Headliner's, so you can get right up there. Before you knew it, there was a constant stream of kids landing on the stage them jumping off, back into the crowd. Jack even joined in with his own stage dive. Things started to get a little weird when a few dudes landed on the stage in just their skivvies, though. These dudes may or may not have been from a new Epitaph band Sing It Loud. Good thing I got it all (well, most) on tape. Also, during the Matches set, Justin's mic accidentally hit a girl in the head. She was slightly injured but OK. Justin felt awful about it, and then the girl who got hit felt bad that he felt so bad, so she made him chocolate-covered pretzels and brought them to the bus after the show. How cool is that?

After the show, we had a pretty early bus call, so most of us stuck close by, ordered pizza and watched Road To Perdition on the flat screen in the bus (I love how the bus has nicer A/V equipment than my apartment). Tonight's show in Atlanta should be pretty interesting. According to our bus driver, the Masquerade is an old Confederate prison, and you can see bullet holes in the ceiling beams. Apparently it's also haunted, and we are sharing the multi-stage venue with an '80s female metal singer. If anyone from Atlanta wants to elaborate/confirm any of the venue lore, please do so. I love a good ghost story.