AFE Tour Blog Day 1: Controlled Chaos

We arrived at the Des Moines airport at approximately 7:45 a.m., checked in, got all our instruments and equipment on the plane, sang happy birthday to brando’s mom, said our goodbye’s, went through security… (only 3 of us got searched), gave several phone interviews to newspapers and news stations, met some very nice people, dealt with flight changes, and finally departed for Chicago at around 11:15 a.m.

We landed in Chicago and ran down to our connecting flight to Tokyo. When we arrived we were told they had already given our seats away because they overbooked the flight by more than 30 people; we must spend the night in Chicago and catch the same flight tomorrow. However, they did confirm that all of our luggage and equipment was on the plane and would be arriving in Japan on the originally scheduled flight. So…. now we are in Chicago with no clothes, toiletries, or any of our luggage. The airline did give us all hotel rooms, food vouchers, and bumped us up in class.

We grabbed some food and headed to the Wyndham O’Hare Hotel. What does a band do during an overnight layover in Chicago? We call friends!!! And luckily, we have some great ones. Our good friend, A.J., took the train and met us out at the hotel where we had befriended a few more people that had been bumped from the same flight (more about Brittany, Gary, and Chad later). After a cocktail or two at the hotel bar we all headed to A.J. and the infamous Ben-E-Ben’s place in Wrigleyville via the subway. We stayed at their apartment most of the evening; played card games, drank PBR, learned some japanese from Brittany, ate gyros, and discussed philosophy and fine-wine before their landlord decided we were having too much fun around 10pm. We then decided we should retreat back to the hotel and two hours later we arrived safe and sound were we spent the remainder of the night.

Originally, we were scheduled to arrive in Tokyo and then have a day to rest and recuperate from the flight. Now, we will arrive in Tokyo and play our first show 3 hours later.

It is sure to be an interesting day 2.