Shimmer and Shine: Backstage with R7 in Paris

I tried to sleep. Really, I gave it a good effort, but my excitement was just too much to be contained by the dimensions of a single bed. I gave up, got up, had a shower and finished packing my bag. Julie was awake at this point and we pinched each other just to make sure that this wasn't a dream. Then I picked up my rucksack, grabbed my hockey stick and headed for Victoria Coach Station (Julie was taking a later, speedier train to Paris).

I managed to get some sleep aboard the 8-hour bus ride and before I knew it I was in Paris! Julie met me at the coach station and we took the metro over to the hotel. We had just enough time to drop off our things and get a little cleaned up then it was time to head to the venue for concert #2. It was an absolutely beautiful day, so rather than spend 10 minutes on the underground, we opted for the 45-minute walk to La Cigale and enjoyed the streets of Paris. It was everything I had hoped for; beautiful, full of life and full of French people!

When we reached La Cigale there was already a couple hundred people waiting in line. I dusted off my old French-speaking skills and told the head security guard that we had tickets and backstage passes waiting for us. He took our names and ducked inside for a minute then returned and told us that we were on Ben's guest list. I could hardly believe this was all really happening. We got to enter the building before the hundreds of fans that had been waiting for so long. I've never felt so VIP in my life.

We walked through the historic theatre and reached the backstage door. An enormous man greeted us with his right arm fully extended in our direction. A quick flash of our R7 VIP passes and he immediately lowered his arm and raised the corners of his mouth to a smile. He stepped aside and opened the door for us- we were in! Our only instruction was that we couldn't go all the way back to the dressing room area because the theatre was too small. So, we went through a set of doors and onto the side of the stage, just out of view of the audience, to watch Piers Faccini open up the show.

A few minutes later, the stage door opened slightly and I was stunned to see Ben Harper sneak in quietly. He saw me right away, shook my hand and said it was good to see me again and he was glad I made it. Then we stood there, rocking out to Piers Faccini together. I saw Piers open for Ben back in 2007 in Toronto. He's a gifted musician with a unique and haunting voice. Ben is a big fan and once said that Piers pays attention to lyrical detail like very few people that will ever come along and write a song. The Paris crowd definitely agreed and gave Piers a huge ovation when his set was over. Piers left the stage and joined us at the side but the crowd didn't give up- they wanted more.

Ben told Piers he had to go back out but opening acts don't usually get encores so the roadies had already started tearing things down to stay on schedule. Piers thanked Ben for his support but said it was okay. The crowd continued to chant and Ben tried to convince Piers that the stage was his. I suggested Piers go out and do my favourite song of his, "Each Wave That Breaks," and Ben backed me up emphatically. But by now it was too late and most of the equipment had been removed from the stage. Ben was totally disappointed and said, "That ain't right, man." It was so cool to see what a true fan of music Ben is. He didn't care that it would have cut into his own set. Piers deserved an encore and Ben wanted him to have it.

Once everything was reset Relentless7 took to the stage and rocked La Cigale to it's knees. Julie and I watched from the side of the stage again. It was a total dream. There I was, watching my favourite musician of all-time... in concert... from backstage... in Paris.

After the show the band came out to chat with us. I was having a really good talk with guitarist Jason Mozersky when someone came by and told him they had to go mingle in a private room. I thanked Jason for everything and told him we'd see him the next night, but he said, "You guys should come next door and hang out". So we did! Jason took us over to the private room complete with a buffet of fancy-looking French food and an open bar. I enjoyed a glass of red wine with bassist Jesse Ingalls and had a couple of good conversations with Jason, Jesse and Ben. Ben asked us if we had a good time and I basically told him it was one of the greatest nights of my life. His response was, "Tonight was nothing. I'm really sorry you guys couldn't come back to the dressing rooms, but there just isn't any space back there. Tomorrow night in Bourges will be better. It's a big venue, lots of room. You guys will get to come back and hang out with us. Tomorrow is the party."

I didn't think it could get any better than this, but apparently it was about to.