Editor’s note: Boston pop-punkers Lansdowne recently toured overseas military bases, entertaining U.S. troops. They’re back now, and still sharing their journey via photos, video and blogs right here on You R Here.
Back in the good ol’ USA, and it sure is good to be home with that dirty water (you know what I am talking about, Boston). We are about to kick off phase two of Operation: Lansdowne Loves the Troops (clever, huh?) with an East Coast base tour, and I am very excited to announce that we are the official and exclusive entertainment partner of USO NYC. What this means is that their amazing staff forgives us for being Red Sox fans, and we allow them to believe that 26 rings still means something. Nothing like living in the past ;o)
Seriously, though, we are stoked and you will be seeing quite a bit from both Lansdowne and USO NYC in the very near future (get ready for Fleet Week!)
I hope that I do not minimize the importance of this next military term by way of its application to our experiences, however I thought it to be appropriate and actually used in association with Lansdowne’s efforts as we ran into some technical difficulties the other day at our very first base show home — Newport Naval Base in Newport, Rhode Island.
Adapt and overcome.
It is primarily a Marines thing, and seeing as I was THIS close to participating in OCS for the Marines myself, it is a phrase near and dear to my heart. If you cannot adapt and overcome, you cannot succeed in this world, plain and simple. As a band we have had our fair share of issues: broken things mainly — buses, vans, gear, bones, hearts (aww, cue the emo kids), and any variety of promises made to our families to be home for a holiday or five.
In this case, we showed up at Newport expecting to give the troops and cadets on site an awesome live show on a huge stage, with great sound. This would be our third show in less than 24 hours and we were pumping ourselves up for one helluva finale. But upon arrival we learned that our liaison recently parted ways with the USO, leaving many details undiscussed and requirements unfulfilled.
There was no sound system. Tough to have a rock show when there are no speakers.
So there we were, exhausted and losing motivation as the day was quickly falling apart (apparently one of the details overlooked until earlier that day was that we were even coming to play a show), but my man the Chaplain made it impossible for us to give up, as he said, “Great to see that you boys are working it out! That’s what we call ‘adapt and overcome’ in the Marines. I’m proud of you.”
Now, how the hell are you supposed to give up after that? I don’t know who I fear more, God or the Marines, but Chappy had both in his pocket so I turned that frown upside down and started looking for a contingency plan.
If anyone has seen us live, you know that the show is very energetic and so far from acoustic, however when push came to shove, an acoustic show was the only option left. I could not remember the last time we played an acoustic show, but we would do it on that day and like it. And we did. It was pretty amazing.
The DJs that would be spinning later that night were kind enough to loan us their PA for our set, and Shaun and I sat down onstage and started adapting (no pun intended) our music for one guitar and one voice. In the end, the crowd was singing and the show was a success. The stripped-down renditions of our songs were smooth and focused and I am proud to say that we stopped the football team dead in their tracks, causing them to stop their workouts at the back of the recreation center and focus all eyes on us. Hell yeah.
Next up: Groton Naval Base in Groton, Connecticut on April 5. Complete with sound system. Excellent.
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