Fred on arrival
The bright lights of Toronto beckoned for Leeside electro-poppers Fred as they kicked off their North American tour with a turn at the prestigious North by Northeast festival.
The Hot Press Newsdesk, 29 Jul 2008
THURSDAY, JUNE 12
On the day we’re due to fly to Toronto we also squeeze in a quick live session on Ryan Tubridy’s morning radio show. This means leaving Cork at 4am to be at RTÉ for 8am. From there we have to go straight to the airport to fly to Toronto. Throw in a two-hour stopover in London and you get the picture: we’re all fairly frazzled by the time we arrive in Toronto on Thursday night. While most of us go straight to the hotel to get some sleep, Joe goes straight to the pub to meet the natives.
FRIDAY, JUNE 13
We descend on North By Northeast (NXNE) headquarters to register and get our welcome packs. Now we’ve received quite a few welcome packs in our time, but these are something special – fliers, stickers, biros and best of all, a little key-ring with a blue light.
But we don’t have much time to enjoy our newfound bounty, as we have to head to our first gig of the weekend – an outdoors lunchtime show to promote NXNE.
The organisers told us that the set-up for this gig was pretty small. However, when we arrive we’re greeted by a massive marquee with a giant PA system. There’s also a separate green room tent with full catering and a team of masseuses. I guess there’s a difference between Canadian and Irish ideas of ‘pretty small’.
It isn’t until we’re halfway through a tray of sandwiches and a couple of muffins that we learn there’s been a mix-up at City Hall: they’ve issued permits for two different events at the same time – our one, and the Sears Kids Cancer Bike Ride. Lance Armstrong is leading hundreds of cyclists on a ride across Canada to raise funds for cancer charities.
Far from being sent packing for eating Lance’s sambos, it’s decided that the only way to sort this out is for us to open the Kids Cancer Bike Ride Show. And so we do. A crowd of a couple of hundred shoppers and office workers stop and listen, clapping in all the right places.
Our evening showcase is in a bar called Cameron House. It’s a tidy venue, with a capacity of about 100. Luckily when we go on the place is full so we lash through the set with gusto, pausing only long enough to allow Joe a moment to exercise some Irish charm on the masses.
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