Portland
Today we’re in the my favorite city on Earth. Okay, so maybe not Earth, but it’s at least top 2 or so.
Now here’s the problem with being in your favorite city on a tour though. I most likely will spend my day underground at the Rose Garden (Rose Quarter… whatever you call it), unless I can talk someone into taking me on a run to the bank and maybe a cup of coffee.
Anyway… Kristin and the boys are still pretty sick at home. 3 cases of strep throat and Kristin with a sinus infection. I hate that I’m not home to be able to help out with that, but hopefully all the medications kick in quickly and knock this stuff out. If you’re a praying person, if you could keep them in your prayers, that would be awesome.
I’m off to change my socks and see about that bank runner. Have a great Saturday.
‘The Brody Bunch’
So, The Roadshow is long over, but I have been meaning to show you guys this for a while. Most of you here will remember “Mr.D”, but for those of you that don’t Mr.D is Mike from Tenth Avenue North’s dad and watched the show nearly every night chatting with other folks watching. Mr.D quickly became a ‘regular’ on the broadcasts, answered questions, encouraged people, and I’m sure most importantly to him, was able to watch his son play every night all over the country.
Now since then, Mr.D and I have officially met in person at the Dove Awards and he even brought me a little gift bag that was almost heisted by the Opry House cleaning crew. And here it is folks. The one and only ‘Rock And Worship Roadshow – Brody Bunch T-Shirt and hat’, in Roadshow red no less. I think it’s pretty cool and I think it’s unbelievably kind for someone to go out of their way to make me something like this and I appreciate all who were involved.
Although I haven’t really had much time to think about it, I’m really looking forward to next year. I know there is already talk of who will be on it, so keep checking The Roadshow Website for details. Thanks again Mr.D and everyone who was involved.
Over 500
The numbers are misleading really. See, while you saw the number 500 under the screen of The Rock And Worship Live Broadcast, the actual amount of people watching for the last night of the tour was quite a bit more. There’s a weird delay when logging the ‘total’ number of viewers any specific night and the actual number was 15,103 people watching the show! What? 15,000 people?? That’s almost enough to get Bart to shave his head too.
So, anyway. Right after the show we all went back to MercyMe’s dressing room and they started in. Bart and Mike with clippers, Nathan with scissors and Barry with (literally) a pocket knife hacking away. About an hour later and here we are.
Now, originally the plan was to wait until after The Dove Awards, but Bart wouldn’t allow it. So now, walking around GMA Week yesterday no one recognized me, even if I had just gotten off the bus with them that morning.
Yes, we do have video of the whole ordeal and it will be posted at some point over on the MercyMe blog, but for now here’s a quick picture. Thanks to everyone who showed up to make the last night of the tour the biggest night online. You people are amazing.
The Last Day
So, today is the last day. This was the shortest tour I have been on but was able to make some great friends and have an amazing time out on the road again. We’re in Springfield, IL today and, while I’m more than ready to be home, I will be sad to not be on the road with these guys anymore.
Here’s the funny thing. Aside from Audio Adrenaline I have never been on the road with bands that live in Nashville. It’s awesome to be on the road with Tenth Avenue North and Hawk Nelson and know that we all live around each other and can hang out beyond the tour.
So as this year’s Roadshow comes to a close, I hope that it’s been an experience like no other tour on the web. My goal was to ‘step up’ the web interaction on an entire tour and give everyone watching a better view into what it’s like being on the road. I hope I’ve done that to some level. Kyle was a great help keeping things going, and without him I think I would have run out of steam a long time ago.
And speaking of tonight being the last night, we have (finally) gotten clearance for everyone to be broadcast on the stream tonight. That’s right. The show from beginning to end will have no breaks. Make sure you’re watching and tell your friends.
Here’s to a great tour. Now it’s time to start planning for next year. And it’s only going to get better.
Dang Dallas
Dallas blew me away last night. Easily one of the loudest most ‘in to it’ crowds we have seen on the tour. I took this picture just a few minutes before I got the call that were going to be able to broadcast Jeremy. See, typically when I’m not running the broadcast I am running around taking pictures, and doing other things. Multi-tasking is awesome. But last night I was literally at the back top of the arena and I get a text message. ’Where are you. We are going to broadcast Jeremy’. Hmmm…. Well, give me a sec. I’m about a mile away.
Anyway, I think everything went well. We had the biggest night ever online, the biggest crowd of the tour and there were even several hundred people outside watching on screens on the side of the building. Dang, Dallas. I guess everything is bigger in Texas.
Today we are in Oklahoma City, and I woke up with a sore throat. Lovely. I think it’s finally caught up with me and now I have a few days on the road with this cold, or whatever it is.
We’ve got some special guest visiting the tour tonight and I think the stream will be… let’s say…. continuous. Make sure your watching tonight, as it will be completely different than the rest of the tour. I’m off to find some orange juice.
Baton Rouge Visitors
So, I’m not entirely sure what they were protesting, but we had several protestors show up tonight and say we were going to hell. So I did what any normal blogging idiot would do and went out and stood with them for about an hour. I never talked to anyone, except to invite them in when the doors opened, but mostly just observed and took some video. Most of the protestors were nice, but there were two that got pretty fired up. The ‘main’ pastor or whatever and another guy.
I think the part that weirded me out the most was them all dressing the same and how sad they all looked. No joy in Jesus I suppose.
Donny, Marie And The Bellagio
So, last night after the show we ran over to the Flamingo Hotel and Casino, to meet Donny & Marie Osmond. Apparently Marie is a big fan of MercyMe, and wanted to meet the guys. And really, who are we to say no?
Now, to be honest with you, I don’t know much about these two, but I do know they are a pretty big deal to my mom, and the MercyMe guys were pretty nervous to meet them. We ended up hanging out for about twenty minutes or so, but they seemed super nice and were willing to let us take about a hundred pictures.
After that we walked over to the Bellagio and watched the fountains do their thing, which happened to be my favorite part of the night. I could watch that over and over. 
Today we are in Fresno, where I’m hoping to grab some lunch with some BlogNation members then headed home in the morning. I’m super excited to get home, but this has been a pretty cool run of shows. I’m thrilled with the way the tour’s ‘online life’ is going and I think it’s really shaking some things up. For now, I’ve got to go find a shower to get this Vegas off of me before lunch.
The Mobile Roadshow
So, some of you might not care about this, but tonight was the first night that The Roadshow was not only broadcast online, but was also broadcast as a Feature on the Ustream iPhone App. What’s that mean for you? Well, nothing if you are watching it online, but for those of you tech nerds out there like me, this is pretty awesome. See, now, for the rest of the tour, not only will the show be online, but it can also be found on the iPhone. For nerds like me, this is awesome.
Tonight’s show was pretty amazing. Twelve thousand five hundred people or so, singing as loud as they possibly can. I’m continually blown away by the turn outs at these shows and the amazing crowds that bring it. I love being a part of this.
Tomorrow is Vegas. See you tomorrow night.
Chairs
So, I don’t think anyone who has been on tour with a camera hasn’t taken this picture, but tonight I was walking around getting pictures for something that we wanted to try out on The Roadshow Blog, that turns out, only works with a PC. Seriously? Who makes things ‘only’ for a PC??! But if you’re running Windows or something check out this cool little thing we have going over there. All us Mac people are out of luck.
Today we were in Ontario, CA. I’m really, really not a fan of Southern California and anyone who knows me knows that I have never been. Something about it, just rubs me the wrong way and I don’t love being here. Now, before you all freak out and say that I’m a jerk, let me say this. I do happen to know some pretty amazing people that live here, but I just wish they would come live next to me. Throw your stones, or whatever. I just have a hard time with the ‘culture’ here. Sorry for the mini-rant, but I’m tired and ready to see my family.
We had a great show tonight though. Another sold out crowd, right at 9,000 people. There’s still something about that many people singing in a room that blows me away. My favorite part of the night and easily makes all of this work worth it. Anyway, I’m pretty tired tonight and headed to the bus. Tomorrow is Phoenix, which I can never spell right the first time.
iPod Night
So, last night we were told to be out of the venue last night at midnight but the busses weren’t leaving until three in the morning. What to do? I suppose the sensible thing to do would be to go to bed and get some rest starting out our couple days off, but this was the first chunk of ‘downtime’ the crew guys have had all week so it was time for some hanging out. So, you want to know what a bunch of music crew nerds do when there’s downtime in the middle of the night? Well, I’ll tell you what we do.
Last night six or seven of us gathered around the front lounge of our bus. Each with our laptops or iPods in hand and a chord to the bus sound system was passed around the circle. Each guy gets a turn to play one song that he likes and wants to share with the group. At any point the song could be vetoed, and if it’s vetoed by two or more people, the guy playing would lose his turn and the chord would be passed to the next guy. Three veto’s and your ‘out’, you don’t get to play any more. Pretty basic, but an amazing way to share, and learn about new amazing music.
We got on the bus at midnight and the last song was played at about four-thirty this morning as the bus was cruising down central Oregon. Needless to say we all slept in pretty well this morning, but all with a list of new music to go out and buy.
Today we’re in Ashland, OR for the day off and we haven’t done much. Brent and Tam and their two cool kids came down in from Medford for lunch and just left. Now it’s almost time for dinner, and maybe getting back on the bus for another iPod night. A little different than most Monday’s, but it’s good to have a much needed rest.
