March 1st 2015. I had just finished DJ’n in Charlotte, NC for CIAA Weekend that Saturday, and had to catch a flight to London at 6 pm that Sunday. The flight wasn’t too bad, it actually went by pretty quick. Once we touched down, however, it finally hit me that we were going to be touring this continent for the next 3 weeks.
We had an extended stay in London after the first show because the next show wasn’t until March 7th in Katowice, Poland. Over those days, a really cool group of people called “Black Seven Entertainment” low-key adopted us and showed us all around London. We were able to see several different landmarks that included Big Ben, London Bridge, the Queen’s castle, etc… We were also able to hit the studio and work with some really dope producers who were well-known around the country. I even picked up a guest DJ set at a club called “Raffles” that had incredible energy!
After our stay was up, it was time to hit the road. I was really excited about heading to Poland because I had never been there before. Surprisingly, the food there was amazing! Some of the best food I had on the whole tour. I was shocked to learn that the country was still under Communist rule until 1990, so they were still developing and adapting to new culture.
After our show in Katowice, we took a 8 hour train ride to Gdansk, Poland for the third show of the tour. On that train ride, you could see how under-developed the country really was, but that did not stop the people from giving us great energy at both shows!
Holland was the next stop on our tour. Again, my excitement was increased because I had never visited Amsterdam before, and it was on my bucket-list of things to do before I die. We landed there 3 days before the actual show so that gave us time to sight-see and explore the city. One of the first places I had to visit was the Anne Frank museum and church. As a high-school student, I did a couple projects on the “Holocaust” and, of course, read “The Diary Of Anne Frank”, and I found it so fascinating then that being able to visit her place in person was just unreal. I also got the chance to visit the infamous, “Red Light District”, which was exactly as I imagined. Even though I’m not a smoker, I had to step inside a couple of the “coffee shops” just to see if they hype was real. It was! Lol. To top things, the show was just about sold-out and Stalley left them with something to talk about forever.
March 13th, we headed to Helsinki, Finland. We didn’t get much time there because we had the show on the same day and had to fly out early the next morning to Marseille, France. Crazy story about Marseille real quick. So, our tour manager was a French guy from Paris. We knew him from previous encounters while in Paris a few other times and he was a super cool guy who knows a lot about the industry. So we brought him on board for this tour and this man loses his passport in Marseille. Now, if you know anything about passports, they are not easily and quickly handed out, therefore, Stalley and I were forced to run the rest of the tour by ourselves!
March 15th, Stalley and I are heading to the airport to catch our flights to Berlin, Germany for a show that night. Upon arrival, I realize I don’t have my passport! Imagine what is going through our heads at this point. The only difference is that I knew I left mine in the hotel room, but our flight was leaving in less than 90 minutes. To make a long story short, we called the hotel to grab my passport and put it in a taxi and send it to us at the airport. Just in the knick of time, I made the flight.
While in Berlin, the only bucket-list site I really wanted to see was the “Berlin Wall”. In my head, I pictured some massive structure like 50 feet tall and super long, but it wasn’t. It was like 10 feet tall, but it did stretch for miles, even though they “tore it down.” After the show that night, we jumped on another flight to Prague in the Czech Republic. After Prague, it was off to Paris, France!
March 17th, we landed in Paris. Paris is one of my favorite cities in Europe. I think, now, I’ve been there 6 or 7 times. I love the culture there, the food, the architecture, the people, and the nightlife. The show was completely sold-out, we met up back with the tour manager, Black Seven came to film, and we two extra days to do whatever we wanted before heading to Italy.
Once we arrived in Italy on the 19th, due to some last minute mishaps, the show got cancelled. Though we were kind of bummed, we were able to get out on the town and see the city of Rome! We visited the Vatican, the Colosseum, and some different food spots. I hate to be the one burst your bubble, but the pizza and the pasta over there was blaaahhh! I hear you have to visit Sicily to really get your italian fix on food.
The last stop on the “Souvenirs Tour” was Geneva, Switzerland on March 20th. Unfortunately, I was unable to make it because I was on the bill at SXSW in Austin, TX on that same night. Imagine what that travel was like…
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