Fillmore Miami Beach at the Jackie Gleason Theater, Miami, FL

I woke up at 8:00am today as Jim, Teddy & myself planned to leave Clearwater at around 8:30am. It was hard waking up. I went to sleep late last night, as my mind was racing with so many thoughts. I was trying to digest the fact that in about 24 hours this entire tour will be over. Not an easy thing to do, considering the fact that this tour was a huge part of my life for more than a month now.

But I did manage to wake up on time. Quickly packed my belongings and left the motel. Jim & Teddy were already there. Loaded my backpack, went inside quickly to drop the key‐card and within a minute we were on our way.

The first stop was this coffee / breakfast place. I can’t recall the name of the place, however it was rather impressive—only formally opened last week. Had a turkey sandwich which was good, as well as a latte. We knew that there was a long day of driving in front of us (well, in front of Jim; I was half asleep during the most of it) so we didn’t take our time.

The next stop before leaving Clearwater was to drop some stuff in a restaurant where Jim & Teddy’s son is working. Took us some time to find the place; dropped the stuff there and left within 3 minutes, this time heading directly to Miami Beach.

The way from Clearwater to Miami Beach is very pretty and interesting at the beginning of the drive. You get to see a lot of ocean, lots of green, lots of blue and, sometimes, you even get to see little islands close to the shore, something like the Thousands Islands Parkway in Ontario but with much less than 1,800 islands in them. Still a very pretty sight.

You also get to see and drive through the Sunshine Skyway, which is, according to Wikipedia, “the world’s longest bridge with a cable‐stayed main span”.

The closer you get to the interior, the prettiness disappears and you get to see those boring highway views, which really don’t amount to much. I was half asleep during this part.

We stopped for lunch in the small town of Labelle, in a place called Flora & Ella’s. This restaurant turned out to be a Labelle landmark, offering a very simple menu, very good value for what you pay. I had some beans on rice, a serving of friend apples and a pecan pie for desert.

Just outside of Miami, we felt a little thirsty so we pulled over by Burger King to buy a drink. Teddy has prepared me to the forthcoming—that I will probably be approached in Spanish rather than English, due to my middle‐eastern appearance. She was right. I got a diet coke, couldn’t find a lid for the small cup. One of the workers there insisted to help me in Spanish, even though I told her (in English) that I can neither understand nor speak Spanish.

Traffic into Miami Beach wasn’t that bad. It was about 3:30pm, and there seemed to be lots of traffic at the other direction—getting out of Miami. We quickly found the National Hotel, my target.

I bid Jim & Teddy farewell, and thanked them for the ride. It was great getting to know them. We agreed to chat more at the venue.

National Hotel was my target for the mere fact that it was also Jeroen’s target. This is Jeroen’s last stop before he ends his USA trip and goes back to The Netherlands on Saturday. Jeroen invited me to stay as a guest in his hotel room.

Jeroen was out, but he was responsible enough to add my name as a guest for the hotel room so I quickly got my key from the front desk and went upstairs.

So this hotel is a 4‐star hotel, offering excellent service and fantastic rooms. Jeroen, being himself, simply had to go for a room with perfect ocean view. The view from the hotel room is amazing:

Checked some emails, and then Jeroen showed up. Was great seeing him again. We decided to go for an early dinner before we hit the show.

So we went to 1700 James Avenue, where the Casa Tua, recommended by Richard, is located. After about 5 minutes of wandering around the place it turned out to be closed. We went to Lincoln Road, which appears to be “the” place to be in while in Miami Beach, and walked towards a restaurant called “Sibille”, serving Italian food. Jeroen had dinner there before and recommended it.

Walking through Lincoln Road you see the same Miami Beach you see on the movies. Shirts are optional here, for both men and women; girls competing between themselves on who walks with the least amount of clothes on without being arrested; this is “fun town” here.

The restaurant offers a “happy hour” that actually lasts three hours—4:00pm to 7:00pm—during which you can choose to either pay half price for the food, or get two drinks for the price of one. We chose the former.

The menu was very interesting. It took us some time to decide what we want. The waiter appeared to have completely forgotten about us. We waited for about 20 minutes until the guy acknowledged our existence and came by. We quickly placed an order and continued chatting, filling each other in with what’s been going on since we last saw each other on Sunday morning.

The food, I have to say, was delicious. I had a Caesar Salad for a start, then veal‐filled Ravioli with mushroom sauce. Not a huge plate, but a great value for the money you pay (during happy hour, of course). We shared a Dulce de Leche crepe—I had to explain to Jeroen what Dulce de Leche means. Apparently this wonderful thing is not very common in the Netherlands.

After dinner we went back to the hotel, changed and off we went to the venue, a sheer distance of one block away, for the last show in the tour.

Doors were supposed to open at 7:00pm. They let us in on 7:10pm, and we had to kill some more time until they opened the hall’s doors.

My seat was in the pit, front row, one seat to the right of the absolute center. Great way to finish the tour.

Slightly before Jesca’s show, John McCusker approached me as I was sitting, and we had a little chat. I thanked him for the tour, he thanked me for being there. I told him that it blows my mind how he constantly finds new ways to expand his Marbletown work which I absolutely love.

Realizing that I will not have the chance to bid the band farewell, I asked John to say goodbye to everyone for me, which he promised to do.

Great guy.

Jesca’s show started at 8:00pm. Her show today was very good—her best show in the entire tour, in my opinion. Jesca and I agreed before to meet for a short chat before the tour ends; at the end of her show, I called her name but apparently she couldn’t hear me. I looked for her in the lobby, she wasn’t there.

Too bad.

Paul showed up on the stage a few minutes before the show started. Danny showed up as well, behind the drum kit. Paul read his usual announcement from paper, and as he said “however”, Danny rolled the drums, much to Paul’s amusement. Danny then stroke the cymbal as Paul said “personally removed from the venue”.

Funny.

Countdown continues. It’s not easy to explain what went through my head in those seconds. It may appear as complete nonsense to you guys, but put yourselves in my shoes for a second. Imagine that you’re following the band for 37 days, watching 31 shows. The tour is a huge part of your life during those 37 days. What do you feel like when you realize that it is soon going to be over?

The countdown ended as the band captured the stage on 9:00pm and gave one of its best shows so far, if not the best one of them. The band appeared very eager to play this last concert, and they did it very well. It was the shining moment (well, two hours) of each and every one of them. Everything in this concert went smooth, and the sound was great. We got great guitar solos, especially the one in Song for Sonny Liston. Marbletown was great as usual, with John going even further with his great violin work.

The band played the usual set list. As the tour is over, here is the set list for the entire North American tour:

1. Cannibals
2. Why Aye Man
3. What It Is
4. Sailing to Philadelphia
5. True Love Will Never Fade
6. The Fish and the Bird
7. Hill Farmer’s Blues
8. Romeo and Juliet
9. Sultans of Swing
10. Song for Sonny Liston
11. Done with Bonaparte (only performed during the first concert, in Red Rocks Amphitheater)
12. Marbletown
13. Speedway in Nazareth
14. Telegraph Road

Encore:

1. Brothers in Arms
2. Shangri La (only performed in very few concerts)
3. So Far Away
4. Going Home (theme from Local Hero)

The crowd cheered a lot today. The atmosphere was very similar to the Las Vegas shows—not surprising, considering that both Miami Beach and Las Vegas are resort‐type places that people go to in order to have fun and let everything go, rather than restrain themselves. So we had the customary drunk fellow sitting two seats to my right, who, together with his wife, talked quite a bit during the show and made all kind of noises, until being threatened by a rather threatening‐looking Italian guy who was sitting right beside them.

At the end of the show, we all gave great cheers to what I would consider the best musicians’ make‐up in the world. I have to admit that it was a very hard moment for me.

Then I suddenly realized that Guy and Danny are marching towards me, reaching their hands. For a moment I was under the impression they were going to pull me onto the stage (it really looked like it; Jeroen thought so as well), which freaked me out to an incomprehensible end, however it turned out that they came to shake my hand and bid me farewell. That was very sweet. I thanked them dearly for everything. Then came Richard; I shook his hand and thanked him as well.

Then they all disappeared from the stage, leaving a huge crowd very happy. All except one guy, 30 years old, born some 10,000km away and lives 2,500km away from Miami Beach, who was very sad to see this end.

The tour is over, and so is my blog. Well, almost. There is one more post to be published. I need to get my thoughts together first; the last post will be published soon, perhaps even today.

Isaac