June 2022 - The SLZ European Tour
Recapping 2022, the wildest year yet for Rare Americans, through the eyes of Jamesy Boy himself
It’s 2023 already? Wild. It’s fun to look back on a year and see everything you did. That’s what’s so great about iPhones, the notes and photos apps where you can re-live your year. I took a ride down the last 12 months for my own reflection and figured I would let you guys into it as well. Sometimes I give myself no credit for anything, I’m very much a “whats up next?” type of person, but that’s something I’m working on. Having gratitude for myself, being proud of what I’ve accomplished, and celebrating the little wins. So here’s a look back at 2022.
READ THE FULL SERIES
July/August 2022 (Childish Gambino, New Balance, and Jessie Reyez)
November/December 2022 (Finding Myself Deep in the Costa Rican Jungle)
JUNE
No rest for the wicked, man! During the recording session in Edmonton we were also rehearsing for the Europe tour as well. We had just 2 or 3 days off after recording then flew to Europe. Here’s a picture after we landed, still totally jet legged in a German town called Freising. The architecture and vibe in Europe is so energizing, it doesn’t matter if you’re jet legged, its exciting to be there.
We didn’t know what to expect when we put the Europe tour on sale. It was largely a risk to be honest, travelling to Europe with a crew of 8 is really expensive. But as always, the RA fans pulled through and sold out a ton of shows. The fact that we are a band with a global following, and able to sell 250+ tickets in several countries around the world is a monstrous “win” in and of itself. In my new quest of growth and celebrating accomplishments, this is definitely one of them. This is from night 1 in Vienna.
One interesting fact about Europe vs North America is the gender breakdown. In America, we have a lot more male fans. In Europe it was much more even. I have no idea why, but it was an interesting observation for us.
Budapest! One of my favourite cities in the world. A mixture of stunning architecture, and a subtle seediness to it that I really love. My heritage is Hungarian so it was extra special for me. Here’s Ginger rockin da bass!
Our first radio performance as a band. This was in Warsaw, Poland at Muzo FM. You can watch the performance here:
Europe was a different travel style. Instead of a bus, we stayed in hotels and took planes, trains, and automobiles to get to shows. That gave us a ton of time during the day to explore as tourists and we ended up taking these scooters a lot. It was super fun, until one night I accidentally bailed, got a bad cut on my hand and fucked up my ankle. Gotta be careful on these bad boys.
The aftermath
So cool to see people singing the lyrics to our songs all the way in Warsaw, Poland. Again, moments to celebrate!
From Warsaw
Our first festival. Guess where? None other than Bratislava, Slovakia, the hometown of Mr Jongo Bongo. As you all know, Lubo is also from Slovakia so the fact we were playing in a soccer stadium in their home country for our festival was pretty damn incredible. We had the early day time slot (they gave the headline spot to Dup Lipa, personally I thought she should have opened for us, but for some reason they didn’t agree!?), so it wasn’t packed yet.
The stage was HUGE. It had a full 100 foot runway and I was like 15-20 feet from the guys. I probably looked like I had no idea what I was doing (because I didn’t) but I had fun anyways.
Warming up back stage.
We played Berlin for the first time live, in none other than Berlin!!
One of the best meals I had in Europe was late at night after the show in Berlin. I always like to eat after the show because I don’t like to eat dinner before we play. I like to feel light on stage. Mediterranean food is my favourite cuisine, a little fun fact for you.
Duran got flattened by a virus in Cologne. He literally couldn’t get out of bed so we had no choice but to play the show without him. This was the first time anything like this had ever happened to us. He said he could battle his way through the gig but when you’re travelling as a group of 8 its too risky that everyone will catch it and we’d have to cancel shows. We decided to play it safe, quarantine’d him in his own hotel room, and we played the show with a pre-recorded drum backing track. It wasn’t ideal, but we had to rock it anyways. I think we still did a great job and I’m proud of us for battling through adversity in a strong way.
You know I’m a foodie, so Europe is a dream come true for me. Markets are my favourite part of any city. This is Viktualienmarkt in Munich. Pictured is Goulash and pork hock.
A platter feast of roast duck, pork, and sausage.
The next festival was in Czechia, just outside of Prague. This one was damn cool because it was packed, unlike our first festival experience in Bratislava where it felt dead empty. We nailed this performance.
This guy was a beauty, I had to take a picture. He started the day with a full pig and by the end every scrap had been sold. He was just manning the grill without a shirt all day. Europe is dope.
I took a trip down memory lane in Amsterdam. When I was 20 I went on a huge back packing trip and Amsterdam was one of my favourite cities. I stayed at this hostel called Flying Pig. My cousin and I liked it so much we ended up cancelling the last week of our trip and flying back to Amsterdam to stay there again. I walked past, 10 years later, and took a picture. One thing I recommend to all young adults is to travel. You learn so much about the world (and yourself) by experiencing different cultures, cuisines, and people. It’s the best money you’ll ever spend, a Jamesy Boy personal guarantee.
We may have partaken in a little extra curricular activity on our day off as well ;)
The final festival, Pinkpop in the Netherlands. Another great one. There was a bit of drama here though, because 30 minutes before our performance when we were getting set up backstage, Jongo couldn’t find his gear. We looked everywhere and it was nowhere to be found. Turns out the delivery driver missed his stuff in the truck, so we had to run back to where they were parked and rush it to the stage. Stress levels were high, and we barely made it in time.
Paris! My favourite show of the 2022 Europe tour. When it went on sale, ticket sales were really slow. We were worried only 50 people would show up to a 400 cap room. Sure enough, as always, the RA fans came through and sold it out. One of my favourite shows of the whole year.
A fully sold out UK tour! Can’t ask for anything more than that. The first shows we ever played as a band were in the UK in 2019. We went there on a whim because we had a small collection of fans after RA1 came out. Unfortunately we weren’t ready to tour at that time, and we sold very few tickets. To think just a couple years later we’d come back and completely sell it out, it goes to show that a little hard work can go a real long way.
Sunday roast in East London!
Nothing like wrapping up a great tour in Dublin with a few pints of fresh Guinness and a real wild show. I even chugged a beer on stage for the first time 😁 I don’t drink before shows. I am an athlete, and I view concerts in the same vain as games. I like to be clear headed and in my body.
Join us on the next post as we go over what happened in July and August!
Looks epic bro
Ahh manchester good times & first time seeing u live and it was a blast but holy hell it was sweaty af 😵💫😂