Ancient Astronauts - Tour spring 2010 Part III

Greetings friends of quality music,

this is the third and final part about our last USA spring tour. And this time we mix the last 2 weeks of our tour together which means we have much more photos to look at than usually.

After we left beautiful Playa Del Carmen in Mexico we went directly to Austin/Texas to stay a full week to enjoy the SXSW Festival. Oh my god, what a dope festival is that? The whole city is on fire during these days and so much talent from all over the world is there and plays gigs. It is impossible to see every artist you plan to, sometimes it´s just better to go with the flow. or just stick to those gigs you are part of. And that´s mostly what we did.

The first gig we had was one of those invitations that you take as a big honor, it was at the Wax Poetics Party at Momo´s. The line-up was incredible and so was the crowd. Those of you who know about Wax Poetics Magazine are aware of their cultural examination of Rare Funk, Jazz, Soul, Hip Hop, Reggae and their appreciation and admiration of the black gold called vinyl. This was not just your typical groovy party, it was a gathering of likeminded people that appreciate original Grooves. As I said before it was a big honor for us to perform on such a night and we were really stoked how much respect and love we got for our dj set.

The next days were packed with meeting a lot of people, enjoying the incredible nature of Austin, lots of tacos and 2 other gigs. We had a great party with a killer crowd at the ESL Music night at Red Fez, dancing and celebrating real Funk at the Wax Poetics & Dubspot Funk Aid For Africa And Haiti event, another cool gig at the C3 Free House, an amazing short trip to the Green Belt of Austin, a delicious texan barbecue at the famous Salt Lick B.B.Q. and even a chilled sunday afternoon with champagne and waffles. All of you who didn´t make it yet to SXSW Festival in Austin should go there and check it out. This festival makes so much sense. Music is living in this town and it´s such a great chance to check out new or established talent from all over the globe.

From Austin we went back to our US home base Washington DC to play more gigs at U-Street Music Hall and the Eighteenth Street Lounge plus doing some studio recordings and meetings with the ESL Music crew. It´s always a pleasure to be back in DC and have time to hang with the ESL family and friends.

From DC we flew over to Charleston in South Carolina where we had one of the hottest gigs (at Chai´s Lounge & Tapas) on our tour. Wow, so much love in that city! The next day we left Charleston and had a 4 hours drive through a beautiful countryside. The whole area is called The Bible Belt and you can definitely see a lot of churches and crosses on the road. Our next stop then was Athens/Georgia where we played at the New Earth Music Hall. There we had a really funny night with the first time experiencing this phenomena called “Silent Disco”. Guys if you never experienced that type of party you should definitely check it out cause you will never forget that fun. It´s hilarious. of course the music should be good though. After that night in Athens we drove over to our last gig and day in the USA in Atlanta/Georgia. The venue we played at was the King Plow Art Centre, an impressing art and event centre. Such a pleasure to spin our music there and get the people grooving and shaking on the dancefloor. And also, what a nice city Atlanta is. Those big and beautiful trees don´t leave my head. Really amazing!

And that was it. Atlanta was our last gig and the next day we flew back to Europe. On the one side 1 full month on tour in the USA can be very hard and you need to find your rest and relaxation to stay fresh and powerful. But on the other side this tour was the most successful and nicest tour we had so far in the US. This country is so huge and each state is really different. So many different things to see and experience and wonderful people everywhere. And what unites them all is the love for quality music far away from the pop shit that hits you every day. The life music culture in America is much more established than in Germany and it feels good to see and hear that. Coming back to Europe is always a nice thing but touring in the US always creates bigger hunger to come back. We can´t wait to be back on tour in America by the end of july and the beginning of August to play at festivals like Lollapalooza in Chicago, Mustock in Lignum, Global Sol in Richmond and more.

Much love & respect goes out to the following people that we had the pleasure to meet or perform with (in no particular order):

ESL Music Family, J-Boogie, DJ Manny, Dubspot, Dave Geller & Kamal (C3), Nappy Riddem, Ocote Soul Sounds, Claire Hart & Fant Jones, Ursula 1000, Adrian Young, Wax Poetics Magazine, Kalani Tifford, DJ Motion Potion & Silent Disco Crew, Gianma, Shane & Art Whino Crew, W Ellington Felton, El John, Rich Medina, Chico Mann, Senor Oz & DJ Pleasuremaker, Fort Knox Five, Rykarda Parasol, Hannah Thiem, Will Ras, Felix Pacheco, Jerry Busher, DJ Chorizo Funk, DJ DRM, , Vonnegutt, LEBO, Quantic, Sub Swara, Thomas Blondet (Rhythm & Culture), Paul Jonas & Rob Luis (Tru Thoughts), DJ Obah, Alejandro & Tato (La Santanera), Brian Liu, Chris Nicholson & Mike Zarin (South City), Rachel & In Churl Yo, Henna Kim, Jeff Strange & Papa Chop (Bembe Soul Tribe).

Respect and support quality music!!!

Dogu / Ancient Astronauts