The last time we were able to discuss anything, the Tears for Fears UK team had just arrived and were making their way through California including Concord while taking in sight seeing and fun iconic spots like The Golden Gate bridge. Other travel fans were on their way to Los Angeles for The Kia Forum and Chula Vista shows taking place in Southern California. In tow, was John Baker from Graduate and The Korgis, Julian Orzabal aka The Captain along with our New Orleans and Texas travel fan team members Dawn and Tania. Along with them, Bobby Bblaze, Roland the sequel and Andye the admin of whom they brought in from Atlanta. Let’s just say, incredible memories were made along the way and for the next 16+ days, Tears for Fears, The Graduate and Libre Stone fan teams came together to experience what one can only call The Great Bond. It was like Vegas all over again but with much cooler temps and lots of and family members and friends. To top that off, the teams together managed to get to Tampa, Florida where the festivities continued for another 4 days and from there to Atlanta and Charlotte.
These have been our seats every night, up close, 1st, 2nd and 3rd row, mostly first. Just enjoying this team and all their amazing energy.
To say we have some behind the scenes stories filled with fantastic fun and cool moments with the band and the newest member, Lauren Evans, would be an understatement. These men and women made our year! Photo of Curt is courtesy of BunnyLou Lady Tam who was by our side the whole time getting great photos and videos in a gentle non invasive way. We are so thankful!
We are also super overwhelmed, verklempt and steeped in joy that a few of us are undergoing medical attention. It was THAT much fun and very hard to pause abruptly. We were to continue on to Boston and the Lytham festival but for health reasons, we need to pause. We’re sitting on several VIP tickets right now and not sure what to do with them because we’ve already given out tickets to those who needed them. This has been a life changing experience and there’s no way we can “go back” to who we were before. Looking forward to sharing the fun highlights as soon as we literally stop shaking from this miraculous time together. Please…give us a minute. This is a musical high that has proven almost impossible to come down from any time soon… Imagine being on a cloud 10,000 feet in the air and there’s no ladder… We’re just in absolute awe. Big thanks to Curt for his attentiveness, Shirley Manson of Garbage and Lauren Evans for their incredible interactions. We owe John Baker and The Captain a follow up night on the town! So much appreciation! Big hugs to Danny, his spouse, The Curry Family, Steve Framption and Kim! Let’s do this again!
We have a ton of VIP bags from soundchecks! We love you Brit! Thank you for being so kind at every city!
Lauren Evans has joined the royal court of Tears for Fears as an additional Queen among angels. We adore her! Photo credit: erikaorzco
Woman In Chains – thanks to long time fan and Tears for Fears Convert attendee, Krisiti Wooten, now of NPR. Lauren has received nightly standing ovations. The crowd loves and adores her! Petitions have begun as well to keep a recording of her singing Suffer the Children. More to come…
…plus snapshots from Concord and Mountainview California
Since the last synopsis, Tears for Fears have had 4 more amazing concerts. Many are saying these ones are even better than the first of the tour. Each night gets better and better and everyone remains in awe of that. The band performed in Phoenix, Denver and 2 areas in Northern California. You can revisit the tour schedule that was posted back in November for exact details on where they were. Loyal fans like, Joe Galluzzo who resides in Toronto attended. He flew in for the Phoenix show. His travel fan story is a heartwarming one. He writes:
My best friend and I since grade 2 share a lot of common interests and one of them is Tears for Fears. Both of us being 42 got into TFF at a young age because we had siblings who introduced us to the band. We both got hooked on Tears for Fears after hearing Head Over Heels. Our fandom for the band continued on through the years with Seeds of Love and Elemental. Break It Down Again was our song in 8th grade. And Raoul and The Kings of Spain stayed on loop while we studied for highschool exams.
We have been friends for 35 years and had never taken a vacation together. So…we decided to travel all the way to Phoenix from Toronto for the show. On our way there we were totally hyped up and excited about the show. After we got our merch, we got to watch the opening band Garbage. They were amazing! Then Tears for Fears came to the stage. They were fantastic from start to finish. Both Roland and Curt sounded great and Carina Round awed the crowd. I had to travel to Vegas after the show but I’m still buzzing from that concert. My friend Gene and I will cherish this moment and wait patiently for the band to return to Toronto so we can do this again!
We’re so happy Joe got to go to the show with his lifelong friend Gene. These two deserve the best. Joe has been to many shows and used to travel extensively during the early ELAHE years. He keeps in close touch and incorporates Tears for Fears into his daily life, proudly wears his tshirts and posts pictures of himself and the band from back in the day. He is the kind of friend everyone wishes they had. We love him dearly and we appreciate him being a member of the fan family.
The next day in Denver, our Lady Tamara travelled back to be with the fan family. Everyone was there including a lot of new people and some members of the band’s family. Roland noted during the show that he and Lady Emily finally had their family wedding ceremony. We learned, from his dear wife, that it took place at one of the former concert venues, Blenheim Palace in the UK. Just gonna go ahead and brag and say we did get to see more of the photos, not just the ones she posted…that wedding was nuuuhhhiiiiccce! They looked Ahhhhhmazing! We hope she shares some of what we saw. Everyone looked incredible! But we digress… Roland got a little verklempt during the show when he spoke about the wedding. He is very much in love with Emily and we are stanning for it in full support wishing them the happiest of days of ahead…and that he and his mother-in-law will agree that he does have a real job (concert joke).
They say when it rains at a wedding that the love will last forever. We are witnesses to that as some fans did have weddings where it poured and they are the tightest of couples with 20years together. Well, the love flowed at this show and so did the rain. Fan family members spent some quality time with each other at this event. They snuggled and sang along the whole time. However, in the back of the show, the reserved seats provided were pleasant but the crowd was very mixed in who knew the new album and who didn’t. Let us say right now, some of the experiences from that part of the venue proved that if you are a loyal fan who comes online and spends part of your day interacting with fellow fans…heed our advice. Do what you can to get VIP and other opportunities that will put you closer to other passionate fans that like to sing along. Drop the whole “I’ll just stay out of the way and enjoy the show from a far.” No. Throw yourself into the fray. Allow yourself to be loved and hugged. Get in there! Go ahead and take advantage of those seats in front of the band. Huge thanks to those who provided information about the different sections of the crowd and what it was like for them. The insight is very helpful.
We love that the teams that flew in also took time to go sightseeing and enjoy the city of Denver. Stephen and Lady Tamara shared a lot of great photos and experiences. We’re so grateful that we have such a beautifully connected team of fan family. These two concerts really brought a lot of people together.
The shows in Concord and Mountainview California areas brought in our dear friends from the Tears for Fears UK group and fan forum. Darren and Gwen were reunited with Stephen. The photos they shared are so perfect! Get in the forum and have a look at everything when you get a chance. The team enjoyed the VIP soundcheck and attended both shows before a fun car trip down to Los Angeles for this weekend’s events.
The thing that stood out at these shows was the grand consensus that the band sounds so incredible. The show is incredibly energetic and well done. The reviews and comments of praise are overflowing. Seems that VIP is going well also. Fans that do not have it are noting they wish they had as they love the unique merch. One fan noted that she wasn’t that pleased with the H&O/Tears combo VIP merch deal from 2017 so she skipped out on this one. However, she’s eager to get a hold of this tour’s so we’ve contacted some others to see if they can get her a package. She’s not the only one. Several are asking. We hope the VIP team can be of assistance in helping make this possible.
Meanwhile, other longtime fans are driving in for the shows. It’s been an epic road trip for several as they go from city to city to enjoy the concerts. Many special guests will be at the California shows and we expect that there will be tons of family and celebs present. We look forward to discussing it. Enjoy the photos from the fans travelling from all over to be together and support Tears for Fears.
Hope to have more photos and videos next week. We’re taking some days off to catch up on some sleep. We have not slept since last Friday and it’s beginning to hurt. Lol.
Cheers and thanks for reading, writing and reaching out along the way!
-Tears for Fears’ Travel Fan Team
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Tears for Fears Travel Fans 