PORKO DIO!!!

            The fact that I woke up without a hangover is a full blown miracle.  We checked out of the hotel and went to find some food.  We got some sandwiches and went over the previous night’s events and how much fun we had.  We then hit the road to Bilbao.  I still haven’t gotten tired of hearing Marco’s cursing while driving.  I think I’ve decided on my favorite.  “Porko Dio.”  Its literal translation is “pig god.”  It makes me laugh every time.  I’ve adopted it and will be bringing it back to the states with me.

            Our accommodations for the night in Bilbao was a four star hotel right next to a beautiful cathedral.  I was very excited to find out the hotel even had a fitness center.  It’s the first one I’ve found in Europe.  I celebrate with a run on the treadmill before sound check.  The city itself seems to be lively with a cool vibe to it, and the same could be said for the club which is probably one of the largest places we have played here so far.  We finished sound check and walked around trying to find gyros (in Spain they put a tomato sauce they call “ketchup” on them and it’s delicious) for dinner.  Everywhere we walked people were hanging out in the streets eating and drinking.  Everyone seems so relaxed here in Spain. 

            We got back to the club around ten and there is no one there.  Seriously, it was us and the bartenders so we just went backstage to drink before having to play our first show to no one in Europe.  The club gave us a bottle of Jack and a few cases of Heineken which was nice of them.  By the time we went on at ten thirty people had actually shown up.  Not many, maybe only twenty, but I’m still amazed twenty people have heard of us this far from home.  We sounded really good even though Ryan broke a string early on and realized he didn’t have a replacement.  Whit picked up his slack on some of the solos and it honestly wasn’t that bad.  A group of English guys were hell bent on hearing us play Hurricane which was one song Ryan really couldn’t play with only five strings so we invited them backstage, gave them a few of our beers, and Bj played it acoustic for them.  They were ecstatic about the whole scene and really seemed to appreciate the gesture.  It was a really fun evening.  The night was not a financial success though.  Even with the high ticket prices over here we didn’t meet production costs, but thankfully we sold some merchandise to offset the loss.  You win some, you lose some.  I’m honestly surprised that we haven’t had more money losing nights.  Whit and I walked back to our hotel leaving the other guys to drink and socialize at the bar.  Whit wants to get up and walk around to explore the city the next morning while I have to get up early for a date with the hotel’s gym.