The Inside Is Live – CRAZY TOUR STORIES

This crazy story from the road was written by the alternative rock band, The Inside Is Live. You can check out the band’s story, after the break.

In June 2014, we toured Poland for the first time, and it was absolutely amazing. The fans out there were unreal, and we loved every minute of our trip. But there was one particular night that will stay with us forever, and probably for the wrong reasons…

So, it’s mid-June, and we’ve been cruising through the most rural deserted countryside since morning. Our van is absolutely packed with hamburger flavoured crisps, because Poland doesn’t have sandwiches. It’s important to point out that, the previous night we genuinely spent over an hour searching for some kind of sandwich shop. I think that’s the point where we realised we’re too English for our own good – we lived off crisps for that entire tour, because we were so scared of trying anything new.

Michael Jackson’s rocking our stereo as we pull up to the venue. The sound of some kind of argument fills the hallway, as we make our way towards the stage. The frontman of the tour headliner is obviously engaged in some heated debate; though our knowledge of Polish isn’t exactly exemplary, he could have been ordering a pizza for all we know.

It’s now been an hour since we arrived, and we’re sat staring at each other looking pretty confused, wondering what the hell is happening. The room’s now filled with angry band members, venue staff and bar girls, and fans have started lining up outside the venue; but nothing’s on stage. Suddenly, a burst of English resounds across the venue from the Polish frontman “No P.A?! Should I have brought your f*cking roof as well?!”. To cut a long story short: the venue had no P.A, no lights, no sound guy, nothing. A couple of phone calls to various managers later and a P.A eventually arrives, as the headliner start setting up the stage.

Here’s where it gets interesting. Suddenly, mid sound-check, the headliner comes screeching to a halt, as the frontman leaps backwards, with a petrified look on his face. He’d been electrocuted by his microphone. Being the sensible, safety-conscious English lads we are, we proceeded to prod the microphone in various different ways. Switching guitars, switching cables, nothing was stopping these microphones from tazering us. And these weren’t just shocks you’d get from one of those joke pens; they’re seriously painful shit – and the solid metal stage wasn’t helping. Frustrated, the band head off stage, declaring the end of their sound-check; we’re up next.

At this point, our manager swoops in, just as we’re about to sacrifice ourselves to the Polish god of lightning that awaited us on stage. She announces that our singer (Michael) didn’t have European health insurance for this tour. So now, we’re faced with a real nightmare. There’s already around 50 fans pressed up against the venue doors down this tiny corridor, and they’ve been stood there for hours. Doors are due to open in 30 minutes, and we’re afraid to step on stage, because we’re afraid to kill our vocalist, or land him in a hospital faced with thousands of dollars of European medical bills. We’re now considering wrapping Michael in foam, putting sponges on his feet for the set, or making him wear a hockey mask (how metal would that be?), but nothing’s stopping this possessed microphone.

10 minutes until doors. A hundred people lined up outside the venue. Playing the whole show ‘unplugged’ seems like the only option available to us. Everybody’s pacing the room. But suddenly, like an angel from above, one of the bargirls suggests swapping the power source from the stage, to behind the bar. As if by magic, problem solved – well, almost. Callum is still getting electrocuted, but that’s because he’s vegetarian. No time for sound-check, no time for warmups; a flood of fans engulf the room (now 30 minutes late). 4 clicks from Tristan (drummer) and we’re off.

And, as we step off stage half an hour later, covered in sweat, we’re left wondering how the hell that turned out to be one of the best shows of tour. It was crazy – in the space of about 60 seconds, we went from nearly cancelling the entire night due to fear for our singer’s life, to a crowd of fans screaming every lyric back at us. Life, man.

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