Hey friends, happy Monday! Today I write you from a bottom bunk on the bus of Denver friends Air Dubai. I've known (and occasionally worked for) this band over the past 7 years, so having them out on warped as well has been a true joy. Today is our second to last off-day of tour, and the IFD crew has chosen to head back to Chicago to enjoy a bit more downtime at home. Since I wouldn't have the same luxury of going home or spending time with friends and family like they all do, I chose to jump ship for the day to spend some time with these guys in Indianapolis, IN instead. Another chunk of the tour party is at The AP Awards tonight in Cleveland, OH since some acts are performing or presenting. Usually most of the tour lands in the same city on a day off, but today was truly a free-for-all. Come tomorrow morning we will all meet back up to begin our final stretch of shows in Columbia, MD.

This past week in the Midwest has been tons of fun! After our adventurous attempt at dodgeball, we headed to Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Cleveland, Detroit, Chicago, and Shakopee, MN. Cincinnati's venue is directly on the Ohio River, the divider between Ohio and Kentucky. While the venue looks out directly into Kentucky, there's a water park on the Ohio side of things that all tour staff were allowed into - quickly making the day more fun. Cleveland's venue is a beautiful wooded area with an all wood amphitheater nestled at the bottom of a grassy hill, and Detroit takes place in the parking lot of The Palace at Auburn Hills, the basketball and hockey venue for the Detroit Red Wings and Pistons. All crazy different, huh? That's what makes me love Warped Tour: we bring the same bands and the same vendors to each show, yet the venue and the kids are so drastically different that no day is the same, making day-to-day monotony a non-issue.

The beautiful amphitheater at the Blossom Music Center in Cleveland, OH.

Since I Fight Dragons is from Chicago, this stretch of Midwest dates are some of our busiest of tour. Their fan base is much more dense in this part of the US, and the fans here tend to have been following the band for longer, which I think makes shows more fun. Detroit, Chicago, and Shakopee were by far the biggest shows of the entire tour, and how fun they were! Family, friends, and diehard fans made the sets spectacular for everyone. More fans knew words, had customized shirts, and we easily had more kids looking to be flag or shield bearer this past week compared to any other dates. It is so much more fun for me (and [i’d hopefully assume]) the band as well to have these much more excited crowds. Fans are fun every show, but when the majority of the audience is full of die-hards? It just makes things that much better. Chicago’s venue is out at Tinley Park, about an hour south of Chicago, but it’s HUGE. The venue is sprawling and we had about 20,000 kids there that day - it was sold out to the extreme. Our stage was in a place with great walkthrough traffic, and luckily the band’s set time didn’t conflict with the set of Warped surprise guest #2 - A Day To Remember. I'd always heard their Warped crowds were legendary, but I couldn't imagine the whole place shutting down like it did for Linkin Park on a daily basis. But sure enough, the venue got strangely quiet about 10minutes before they played, and stayed that way until they were done. They are certainly a great band live, but it was amazing to see that nearly every kid at the show enjoyed their music and were willing to watch. Fun how music can be so different, yet so connecting all at the same time.

post-show jam session time with Jon from Air Dubai, and the lovely Camila from Wax/Watsky

Overall it was a fantastic day at home complete with traditional Chicago Deep Dish pizza, former Dragon-fighter Bill joining the band on stage, and the delivery of the test pressings of the album! THAT’S RIGHT, YA HEARD ME! We finally got our hands on some glorious neon, fluorescent green vinyl pressings of "The Near Future", and they look amazing...I got all giddy watching Brian unpackage the first one. It's been very surreal watching Project ATMA come to life this summer right before my eyes. This has been a long process for both the band and fans, but how worthwhile it is! I cannot wait to see fans react in September. Brian and Packy are listening to them on their home systems today to check and make sure there are no issues with the pressings, and as long as it's good, then they'll continue on with the rest of the orders. This adventure is finally nearing the end. I’m excited, and overwhelmingly proud of the band for seeing this through.

Tomorrow we head into our last week of tour: a 10-day run down the east coast, back up the midwest, ending in our last day off before the grand finale shows in Salt Lake City, and Denver.

I’ll update again soon, but for now, adios!

- Maddie