Second band of a 4-band night.
Man we had a great time at this show! We had a
couple of surprises for the audience, and I got a bit of a surprise
myself, so it was a really good night. It didn't begin that
promising though.
The Queen Mary (a really big boat - yawn)
was docked on the west side of Manhattan, and for some reason,
everyone
who drove on West End Ave
decided to stop traffic and take a picture. Hence,
traffic
was
hell, and a lot of people were gonna
be a little late. This set back the start time, but
it gave all our friends a chance to show up.In the long
run, it may have helped the band, but pissed off our friends.
The "band" before us was two people with an occasional
third playing drums. The only notable thing about them was
that the chick lead singer was tap-dancing while playing the
congas on a few songs. To be honest, it got kind of old kind
of quick.
Before I even loaded my equipment in, though,
I had a great surprise. Rev. Caroline's cousin - punk rock
Jenn - had come all the way up from southern Virginia and surprised
us at the gig. She hadn't been to a TFL gig in well over a
year, and we were damn happy to see her. She even brought her
new boyfriend Chip. Cool guy, too.
The crowd was very large by the time we atarted
setting up, so THANKS to all who came!
The first surprise we had in store for the audience
was that Reverend Caroline was going to begin our show by performing
a little sideshow bit that she'd been working on. She stuck
her hand in a real, old, rusty metal animal trap and it snapped
shut right on her damn fingers. It freaked some people out,
but it was
damn
fun
to
watch. Can't wait to see if she has anything planned for next
time!
We came on and sounded pretty strong from the
get-go. No major problems for most of the set, and we sounded
good throughout. It was hot, but not as bad as last time, so
John B. and I were jumping around like mad, and people in the
audience tend to respond to that a lot more than to four guys
just playing to their shoes.
I had changed around our set
list a bit, and it helped my vocals
a lot. My voice held up pretty much all the way through, and
the band just felt really loose (in a good way).
The second surprise was that we debuted a new
original song - Lesbian Circus. We nailed it, which is rare
for the first time playing a song out. I have noticed that
our sets have been getting more and more offensive: A Song
for the Ladies, Bloody Tuesday, Lesbian Circus, and Wasted
(esp. w/ Tom on vox). Luckily, those that bother to listen
to the lyrics tend to like them (and get the jokes).
Near the end, Tom sang "Wasted" again, and my
playing and his singing are getting smoother and smoother each
time we play it out.
The set was a definite success, and it's killing
me that our next gig is nearly a month away.
Sailor
She Was Just a Girl
Bloody Tuesday
Eve of Destruction
I'm Not Fine
Stay Up and Talk to Me
Superstar
A Song for the Ladies
Lesbian Circus
Party Dress
Beautiful In Black
Wasted (Tom on vox)
Got No Life
Burning Love
Take Janine Away
