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Music Blog

The Tour Diaries: Part Two

Lauren Shera's second installment of the Communion Tour.

Closing out our second week of the tour, I'm fighting some sniffles and may not be as caught up on sleep as I should be, but all is well in the land of Communion as we prepare to roll out of the Midwest and head Southeast.

It was bittersweet leaving my beloved West Coast last week after two fun shows in Seattle and Portland. The drive up was breathtaking with perfect fall foliage and crisp, cold air. It was fun for all of us to stretch our legs in such great cities; the shows were well received and a great close to our first week on tour together. After a grueling drive from Portland to Denver, we arrived in a beautifully snowy setting and a packed house at the Soiled Dove, one of our best shows so far! Another long trek and we made it to Ames, Iowa where we played a historic venue called the Maintenance Shop, then to The 7th Street Entry in Minneapolis, MN where some backstage silliness resulted in an a cappella rendition of the children's song "Baby Beluga", performed by the ladies of Communion

By far, my favorite part of this leg of the tour were the last two days in Illinois: Halloween found us just outside of Chicago, at S.P.A.C.E. in Evanston- by far one of my favorite venues we've played and another fantastic crowd that included some very special family members of mine. Although we collectively decided that playing in costume would be too silly when trying to sing our more down-tempo/serious songs, we did spy some pretty fantastic costumes in the audience!

After Evanston came Rock Island, IL which I am pretty sure most people have never heard of. However, I was beyond pleasantly surprised to find the venue that we played at, Rozz Tox, completely unique and full of character and charm. The turnout was fantastic and you could tell that the people who came out were there for the sole purpose of supporting and enjoying live music in a town with, I am guessing, pretty limited entertainment options. The hidden gem of Rock Island, however, was the unassuming door past a pizzeria off of the main street, with a small mailbox that says "Daytrotter Studios- 3rd floor," one of the most infamous online music outlets (noted for its beautifully recorded live studio sessions and unique paintings/drawings of the musicians that pass through). It was a blast to get to do a live Communion collaboration there today in addition to a solo set of my own. Many thanks to the good folks of Daytrotter for having us. Now we are enjoying a night off in St. Louis, partaking in a little group yoga and gobbling up the veggie chili and free wireless internet at the house we're being put up at. Tomorrow we'll play here in the city at Blueberry Hill, and then it's off to Nashville. Tell your southern friends we're coming their way: all aboard the Communion train (or in our case- van)!