Despite the night’s adventures, I was awake early enough to order breakfast smoothies, and go to the gym! Whichhhh was too busy for me, so I used a water bottle as a weight and worked out in the room instead. I checked no less than a dozen times to make sure I have my phone. When in the car sharing the story with Kevin and Pax, Kevin goes “that was your phone??”
It turns out when it had been found the night before, a message had gone out in the group chat. Nobody recognized the background – it was, and remains, one of my Dungeons and Dragons characters – and that I would be the one to lose my phone didn’t enter anyone’s realm of consideration. Which, honestly? Appreciate that degree of confidence in me! I am not, in fact, usually the person losing any of my belongings!
At one of the gas station stops I pick up vegan energy balls and some air fried snap peas. The energy balls taste remarkably like blueberry muffins, which is what they’re meant to taste like but I – understandably – wasn’t expecting much! I also learned earlier in the week that having snacks at the merch table is the way to go when you aren’t sure if the next time you’ll be eating a proper meal is that night, or breakfast the next morning. We love snacks over here.
Driving in Philly is an experience I’m glad to be a passenger for, as the one-way streets add a solid extra ten minutes to our drive. Getting into the venue happens down a set of narrow steps – it’s in a church basement which is neat – and I am watching my steps very, very carefully on my way down. My Tower prepping the night before pays off and we’re fully restocked in all sizes for that design, while Sanitizer stores are now fully out of backups – what’s in the rolling bin is what we’ve got.
After soundcheck Pax and Kevin head off to find food – a smart decision – and after some back and forth about whether it’ll be faster to take an Uber or walk, Jonathan and I head off on foot for the AirBnB so that we aren’t trying to figure out check-in at 12am. It’s meant to be a twenty minute walk. We’re competitive people with long enough legs, so challenge ourselves to shave as much time off as we can.
We make it in thirteen to be met by three flights of stairs which, after lugging our respective 25lbs+ bags, feels to me like an added and unnecessary bit of punishment. I, personally, did not account for how much my bag weighed and while I already needed to shower, now I really need to shower and we’ve got about 20 minutes until we need to be on our way back to the venue.
If the shower I was using had hot water capabilities, I did not figure them out! Which, considering it was one knob that could be turned left or right, I think might have meant the hot water just wasn’t working. But hey, you know what helps keep shower length down? Frigid water temperatures.
By this point my long-time friend, Flo, is texting me asking if I’m at the venue yet, and also asking if I’ve eaten dinner – I tell her I have snacks, she informs me she’s getting me sushi and asks what I want. There’s a version of me that would insist she doesn’t need to, that it’s fine, that I’ll eat later – that is not the version of me I’m operating with right now! This version of me is grateful for the care and the help, and is really excited about sushi.
Being that the show tonight is in a church basement, we have plenty of room behind the tables. Getting to sit down and stretch out my legs feels incredible. A fan comes by and gifts us leather bracelets with the band’s name and tiger logo – I tell Moss to come back later to meet the guys, who are usually around at night’s end. (One year later and I still have, and wear, that bracelet.)
Flo takes off earlier in the night as she’s a busy lady, and one of the only people I know whose social calendar makes mine look empty which, to people who know me personally, is terrifying. We agree to meet for breakfast in the morning and the initial plan is to go to iHop because I’ve never been, but we wind up going to Green Eggs Cafe (Pax approves of my not-iHop decision). If you’re in Philly – and especially if you’re vegan or have a dairy allergy like mine – I recommend this place, their pecan pie french toast was astoundingly good. I would go back to Philly just to eat there again, and I’m saying this being from a city known for having good food. They are cash only, which we only discovered on arrival, but there’s an ATM on site with less ridiculous fees than what I’m used to seeing in Canada.
Anyway! After the show a group of us wind up outside the venue trying to decide if we’re going to go out dancing, or head back to our AirBnB and hang out there for a bit. It’s the last night everyone will be able to hang out, as Dancing Plague’s last show this run is tomorrow in NYC, and with the guys having an 8 hour drive to Ohio the morning after that show, there won’t be much opportunity to hang out there. Ultimately, the AirBnB plan wins! Kevin and Pax head over on foot with the group, while Jonathan and I go searching for parking. Philly streets being the way they are, we arrive at the same time and unload the personal bags and drinks from the truck before going to find parking.
It’s during this drive that Jonathan shares he had to go deeper than ever before to give the Philly performance. The lights at the front of the room were still up for half of their set, and being under those brought with it a feeling of vulnerability for him. “I didn’t know I could go that deep,” he tells me while we’re trying to find a one-way that allows us to turn onto it. The walking and car conversations that night are probably my favourite from the tour for their honesty and vulnerability.
Everyone gets back to the AirBnB and then the night begins in earnest because wow, let me tell you, there’s never a dull moment! Great conversation with Bub who I actually met at the last Philly show back in December. I really enjoy his photography and getting the chance to find out more about him was great. We go around and share moments we’ve enjoyed about this tour the most, and while I don’t remember what my answer was at the time, I know my answer now is the chance to get to meet so many people and find out a little bit more about their lives. I really appreciate the conversations and connections shared at the merch table, however brief they might have been. Getting to do that, to be part of all of your nights? It’s really a privilege.
Amy and Connor arrive, bringing with them leftover vegan pizza with them and while I do genuinely ask “are you sure?” when offered a slice I’m only asking once before eating what is, without a doubt, the best vegan pizza I’ve ever had. I’ve been in Philly twice and never had a bad food experience, but this vegan food situation I’m finding myself in between the hours of 12am-10am? Unparalleled. I will also go back to Philly for this damn pizza. We’re all chatting, and at some point I realize Pax, Kevin, and Jonathan are all gone – one of them has been gone for a while, actually.
The culprit? Laundry and the search for quarters! It took well over an hour, but they managed to find some – all was well until the laundry machine started doing ??? We still don’t know what, but Jonathan’s clothes got stuck in there, and he was awake until 4:30am running soaking wet garments through the dryer before spreading them out on every available surface to air dry for a few hours.
Somewhere around 3am when we’re all heading to bed, I discover the pull-out bed in the living room where I’m sleeping doesn’t have bedding. No problem, I’ll get it from one of the bedroom closets. Except there isn’t any in the bedroom closets, or anywhere else for that matter! Bedroom Jonathan is in is freezing -and it’s me saying that so you know its cold, which makes no sense to me until I’m climbing up near the window and it turns out the window is open? It’s open a good 3-4” at the top, with no apparent or evident way to close it. Meanwhile it’s a billion degrees in the living room, I might be exaggerating, but not by much, and I spend well over an hour lying on the top sheet turned sleeping bag going “why this.”
Not enough sleep later and I meet with Flo for breakfast, run some errands at Walgreens – FINALLY pick up masking tape, which I had been trying to get since Washington and just never found the time for – and head back to the AirBnB to make sure I’m ready to go at 11. I’m a person who doesn’t mind waiting for people – we can thank my chronically late friends for this – but having people wait for me? Absolutely not! We leave around 11:20. I pat the pocket with my phone multiple times.
On the drive we talk about Canada, the provinces, and when my country was involved in burning down the White House (the attack was led by an Irish officer who was later buried in Nova Scotia) in 1812 but you know, don’t feel too badly, as we also burned down our own parliament in 1849 which is when it was then moved to Ottawa.
It takes me until we’re leaving to realise it, but the Philly show is also the one year anniversary of my first time seeing Urban Heat perform. How things change in a year, eh?
Want to keep up with Urban Heat? Check them out on TikTok , find them on Instagram, or join the “This is the Place” discord!
That’s all for this week! Until next time, stay cozy, and if you want to join your companions around the cauldron, signup for email updates below!
The Cozy Cauldron 