We departed San Francisco around noon for our first show of the tour in the Lake Tahoe area. The band was split up into three vehicles (Melvin and Chris in Melvin’s van and trailer; Brian, Steve, and Johnny in a rented van; and Charlie, me, and “The Girls” in a rented SUV). My group, which we eventually dubbed “Charlie’s Angels,” (i.e. Charlie plus 3 hot chicks!) had the luxury of leaving for the venue at least an hour after the rest of the group, since we had no involvement in load-in, gear set-up, etc, and just had to be there by soundcheck time. The trade-off for this extra hour of sleep each night was that my car was full of bathroom sissies, who couldn’t seem to go more than hour without a bathroom stop. Accustomed to FGC’s super-efficient 3-4+ hour driving stints, I quickly became comically frustrated with the amount of stops required on trips that should be nonstop. C’mon people!! :)
The drive to Tahoe was beautiful. Lots of mountains and cool views, thankfully with no snow on the winding roads, but the real highlight was petting a cute dog at a rest stop. We arrived at the venue on time for soundcheck as listed in the itinerary, which I would soon learn almost always occurred at least 30-60 minutes after the scheduled time. Luckily, our hotel rooms were located literally underneath the venue, so we had a comfy place to chill while we awaited soundcheck.
The venue was located inside a casino, so it was kind of an interesting scene there, but the music room was nice and had a great dry sound, which I like. While cruising the casino and looking for some dinner, I ran into Kerry from setlist.com, and Jon “Dooey”, a Kimock fan who found me on facebook a few weeks prior. Both brought me some sweet gifts, including a setlist.com jacket and a SKB batik shirt. I crossed my fingers that the fan gift-giving trend would continue throughout the tour! 
Upon being shown the green room, which was unstrategically nowhere near the stage, I found that there was no Gatorade, which was the only item I requested on the hospitality rider. I informed the road manager, and the venue staff had to rush out to 7-11 to buy some Gatorade for me. It was so rock star – I loved it!The show itself went great. The room got absolutely packed, and the sound was spot on. I felt basically comfortable with the music, but quickly learned that there is a great amount of unpredictability with this band. Lots of improvisation and ever-morphing arrangements. A few shows later, I decided to try not to make any sense of it and just go with the flow!
Thanks to Kerry Barbato for the live photos!
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