Isle of You – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

In this Crazy Tour Stories segment, the electro pop duo, Isle of You, shares one of their stories from being on the road. You can check out the story, after the break.

When we were 18 we decided we were mature enough to travel the world and somehow we ended up in a maximum high-security prison in Medellín, Colombia. We had tried to get a gig at Hard Rock Café, but the place was closed and so we contacted a foundation that had a rehabilitation program for former members of the Cartel och Paramilitary. They asked us to play for the prisoners and even though we were nervous (read terrified), we just couldn’t say no.

So we went through 5 security controls while watching prisoners walk over the yard in chains, and then we found ourselves face to face with 50 men in a white room with stone walls. They told us about their lives, how they had started doing drugs at the age of 9, seen their friends being shot for walking on the wrong side of the street, or even worse, the feeling of killing someone and all the regrets that come with that. Some of them were sentenced to like 87 years in prison, but everyone was so thankful for the program, and their second chance to do right in life (although it was gonna be life in prison).

It was quite an emotional contrast when it was time for us to sing our catchy flirty songs. Imagine 50 former members of the cartel and paramilitary and two Swedish teenage girls facing each other in a Colombian prison?! But they lost themselves in the music and really appreciated the songs and the performance and so did we!

The whole experience gave us a new perspective of life and also – a realization that our friendship is the reason we always nearly kill ourselves but also help each other grow and push each other beyond our limits.

We wrote that down in a song named Bodyguard. Bodyguard is a love song to your best friend, which focuses on the fact that everything will turn out good as long as you are together. Not only did we love that song, but also SIA did! She added the song to her official playlist on Spotify which opened up a lot of doors for us. The whole story was really hyped by Swedish Radio. So we are forever thankful for the prison experience, SIA’s taste in music, and everything it has brought with it! And that’s the craziest tour moment we’ve ever had.

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