We had great showers and coffee with Paride and decided to take the mountain “short-cut” to Nice instead of the motorway along the coast. It turned out to be hours longer, but really a fantastic drive. Tunnels and swtichbacks up and down for four or five hours. The van’s brakes were so taxed and heated that they squealed for an hour after we got out of the mountains. We met up with Sylvain and Stephanie of Stella Peel and hung out in their apartment for a while before we headed to the venue in the old town. The streets were so narrow and closed off that we had to unload in a big square 100 meters around the corner from the club, Tapas Movida. We changed strings and hung out at tables in the alley until show time.
Stella Peel are a cool sort of pop rock band with a drum machine. Musically, they were nothing like our bands and A LOT quieter. We were all convinced that everyone would leave by the time Joe 4 were done with their second song. Not only were we wrong, people stuck around and by the time we went on, the small room was pretty well packed. Not only did people stick around they were really into it. Because the stage was so small, Bill had to set up on the floor and the crowd swarmed around him while I spazzed on stage. Some garage-rock proto-punkers from Paris, Fuzz Vox, played after us and rounded out the night nicely.
Because the drive to Paris was so long and Josip and I were worried about trying to round everyone up and get them going early in the morning, we decided to start driving right away. Josip drove until about 4:30 a.m. We all grabbed a couple of hours of sleep in a rest area and then I started driving at about 6:30. Josip took over again after a few hours when I started to get sleepy. We finally arrived in Paris at around 3:00 p.m.
Hi guys!
It was great to have you in Nice. I’m glad to read you enjoyed the show. Thank you for your generosity!
Have a great tour!