Leave Cleveland as fast as you can

Our drive from Ann Arbor to Cleveland was less than 3 hours, but it felt like the longest drive of our trip. We were all feeling the imminent end of the tour, and we weren't sure how we felt about it. We pulled into Cleveland and went straight to the venue, Tower 2012.














As we were pulling into the parking lot, we saw Nick (the guy who booked this show for us) biking onto the property. Nick quickly welcomed us, as did some friendly people hanging out on the rooftop.

Tower 2012 is a DIY art-performance space. It's really a house that happens to have a very large open room on the ground floor. Nick and a few roommates live upstairs, and another two guys sleep in the basement.

Four bands were slated to play the show. During the first band, Dom's family -- who'd driven an hour and a half from Brookfield, OH to see us -- arrived at the club. It was good to chat with the lot of them, which included Dom's little sister, his parents, his aunt and his "cumad," which is an Italian word that basically means "good friend of the family."

We went on second, and started our set off really strong. We had a great crowd and they liked us right off the bat. However, after the first song, SMV's keyboard batteries died. The song "2012" is usually saved to close the set, and we had especially wanted to end with it at Tower 2012 (!), but because it is solely a guitar and drums song, we decided to revamp the set and play it second. This allowed SMV to attend to her keyboard.

Unfortunately, in the repair process, which was taking place in a darkened room, SMV knelt down in a pile of puke, and covered herself and part of her keyboard in it! She was a trooper, though, and made no mention of it upon her return. She miraculously got her keyboard working by the end of "2012," and all three of us resumed playing the set.

We put on a strong show, but it definitely felt bittersweet. Last shows of a tour usually do. We played our hearts out and the crowd was eating it up, and yet it felt like we were in a state of suspended animation, watching it all happen from above, from outside of our bodies. It was an eerie experience of disassociation.

There happened to be a bench inside the venue that had the words "Leave Cleveland as fast as you can" spray-painted onto it.














It felt very synchronistic to see that at our last show of the tour. It reminded us of how touring is a constant process of change and movement. It also spoke to the ambivalence we were feeling: partly, it was clear we were all ready to get back to home, that it was the right time for this whole thing to be over. But it was also a reminder of how important it is to enjoy each moment as it comes, because nothing ever lasts, no matter how much you might want it to.

We spent the ride back to Dom's house that night mostly in silence.