Flam Chen in Mesa and Tucson

This past weekend saw a visit into Tucson. I wanted to get to know the city a bit—I really haven't seen the majority of cities out here in Arizona, and this was one in particular I wanted to see. But the added bonus was that Flam Chen was doing two shows in the area—first in Mesa on Friday, and then again in Tucson on Saturday. It was good to see some familiar faces I hadn't seen since July 21st.

Of course, I came back with pictures.

First, from their performance in Mesa at the Mesa Arts Center.

















Ruben spinning Poi with flares on stilts.











Then, Saturday show in the evening on "Bat Night"—a celebratory evening where Tucson residents watch 40,000 bats fly out from under the Cambridge Avenue Bridge. Sponsored by the Rillito River project, the night was organized to raise awareness about water usage. Flam Chen flew balloons at the different heights where the water table had receded from in depth over the course of 200 years of develop. The first balloon was flown at 25ft, where the water table used to exist naturally in Pima county. The last balloon, reflecting the modern day situation, flew at almost 200ft high.

Before the balloons are lifted to their appropriate "depths".



The Shadow Walkers freak out the crowd.













Balloons start to get raised.





The bats come out, and fly through the balloons.





Both these events were probably benefit concerts, so Flam Chen did them for free, essentially (at least as I understand it). For these ones they were mostly working on a skeleton crew. But even with that, and especially on Friday, they put on a good show.