Austin to Boston

The very first Volkswagen

I ever bought

was from a guy we called

Volkswagen John.

He lived in Seattle.

He said, when I was leaving...

This was

his hippy words of wisdom.

He was like, "What are you gonna

do when you get there?"

I didn't know... I was...

He was like,

"The same thing you're gonna be

doing the whole way there."

So take your time and

enjoy yourself, you know,

and that's the vibe

of this ride.

Alright, I'm rolling,

you rolling?

Here's a clap for all of us.

Oh, one more time.

You're looking at a

backyard in Austin, Texas,

at the end of

SXSW music festival.

These are some of my friends

and now familiar strangers

having one last hoorah.

This is how we say goodbye.

As itinerant musicians we find

ourselves here quite often,

saying farewell

again and again.

After all, the road

is just one long goodbye.

["Over the Hill"

by Ben Howard & Friends]

Starting tomorrow,

25 of us will be traveling

4,000 miles in five Volkswagen

buses to play ten shows

in a zigzag across America. One

journey bleeding into another.

We were set to travel

from Austin to Oklahoma City,

Kansas City, Minneapolis,

Chicago, St Louis, Nashville,

Philadelphia, New York,

Woodstock and Boston.

If you know your US geography,

you'd imagine

that they routed this tour

in a pub back in England

by throwing darts at a

map of America.

What drew me

into this trip

was the ridiculousness of it.

I signed on

as an unpaid driving mechanic.

After all, I'd spent

the better part of ten years

traveling in and living out of

Volkswagen Transporters

across the western states.

Knowing the nature of

these primitive automobiles

and the size of America,

this was either going to be

the most brilliant tour ever

or a miserable train wreck.

This is

a very special gig

that you came to see

tonight.

Don't hold back. Enjoy.

Sing along. Clap along.

And give a very warm welcome

to Ben Howard.

Ben Howard

came onto this tour

straight from massive

success in the UK.

Relativity still unknown

in the US,

it was inspiring to watch him

give his all each night

in such small rooms.

We've been working with

Ben for a couple of years now.

The first time we ever

booked him for a show

was at the club night in London

which we hold every month.

Just completely smashed it.

Had a lot of heads turn

that night.

Such a nice position

to be working with artists

that are so new.

This is lady

India Bourne by the way,

and Mr. Chris Bond

at the back there. Thanks a lot.

When I think of Ben

Lovett I think of time travel.

Old factory dreamer.

He's mostly known for his work

with Mumford & Sons,

but he also co-founded

Communion,

which spearheaded

this whole tour.

I haven't quite worked out

exactly what Communion is yet.

I've been trying

to explain it to people.

But it's, um...

...for the most part just

a bunch of likeminded people.

Not even just musicians.

It gets wider than that.

I guess we just try to

facilitate good relationships.

We do things

that other people don't do

because it's not very sensible.

Tour...

Hello, ladies and gentlemen.

These three sisters

hail from England

and are about to blow your mind

with some beautiful harmonies.

Please welcome on stage

The Staves.