2010.10.29 - Unknown source - Bumblefoot shares his thoughts on tour endings

On Friday 29th October 2010, @bumblefoot said:

Something happens at the end of a tour. I start feeling the end closing in, along with that upcoming time to shift mental gears and morph back into 'non-touring-normal-life-guy'. It's a difficult transition when you're actually back home, 'normal life' is like a stranger and it can takes weeks of awkwardly getting re-acquainted with everything - driving past the places you're going and making U-turns, getting lost in a day that doesn't have a schedule sheet slipped under your door the night before... But before getting on the plane and getting to that, the change starts while on the road. Within the last few days, someone says something, does something, something happens, doesn't happen, you see something, read something, hear something, do something, don't do something, whatever it is, it's the 'light-switch'. It switches to the other setting, it's like someone just took your spirit and hit 'Send', and it's gone, already home.

Tonight was my last free night of the tour, last night in Moscow. Got to see wonderful friends, hopped around a bit from pubs to clubs, food, drinks, friend Gabriella (Brazilian house music singer) gave a great concert, another bar, a late-night soundcheck for our last show tomorrow, then back to the hotel at 3am. I *needed* the night to keep going, to sustain me, this was the end - and when it stops, it'll be over. Had plans to meet friends at a club - soundcheck ran late, got back, thought we'd head right out but had to wait on others who might be joining, waiting, took too long and friends at the club left, still waiting to go, people I was heading out with started fading, spent an hour sitting in the lobby waiting, ready to jump out of my fucking skin, knowing what would happen if I didn't get out. And then that was it. The switch was flicked, a violent flash, and it's over. My thoughts are on taking down the window treatments for the new window installation, checking on progress of the new concrete foundation at the studio, taking care of the car, making sense of a 3-foot pile of mail, paying the f**king property taxes, meeting with the Bald Freak folks and signing cds & photos that were ordered, getting boxes of CDs to the UK distributor, meeting with DiMarzio, TC Electronic, taking care of my injured neck (thank you Jagermeister, my 'Liquid Smile', for getting me through the pain), remembering to take out the trash Monday & Thursday nights, saying goodbye to my eldest cat, and making a plan for my parents' future, and how I can take care of them as their lives are changing faster than I can prepare for it. Ya miss weddings and funerals while on tour, graduations, accidents - sometimes the worst is kept from you because people in your life know the show must go on, and know you'll feel helpless and conflicted thousands of miles away. It can really tear you up. Thank God for Skype, for families to see faces and hear voices.

So that's it. I'm still here, will give it all I got at tomorrow's show, but as of tonight for me the tour is over. My body will be on a plane in 28 hours, on its way home to meet the rest of me that already left. THANK YOU ALL SO MUCH for a wonderful past few months (years!) It's been unforgettable - the high's and low's, the banners and bottles, sing-alongs, messages, photos, gifts, chats, and hugs... you all have truly been a blessing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56ZvllbJBnU

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sIl76Aok0oU

If I could do it all again, I wouldn't change a thing. And now, a month of racing against the clock, squeezing months of life into the next few weeks, then off to AUSTRALIA, where we flick the switch back...! SEE YOU THERE!!!

Te amo, ik hou van jou, je t'aime, lu`bim ta, volim te, te iubesc, ich lieb di, ti amo, ya tebya liubliu! Love ya!!

Ron