Tied For Last

Last band of a six-band night.

So the good news is that we got a weekend headlining spot. The bad news is that we didn't take the stage until about 1:30 or so.

Now we had been warned by the booker that, "the club runs a little late," but there's a huge difference between "a little late" and well over an hour late. Worse yet, bands were supposedly given a 35-45 minute set time. Not only did every band (including us) exceed that time frame, but many of them brought no one, so we were stuck with our dedicated friends twiddling our thumbs upstairs in the balcony while a couple of bands ended up playing pretty much to the sound guy and bartender.

Still worse, the band that came on two before us took a full half-hour to set up, and when they played their uber-pretentious drivel (complete with computer samples, a trombone player, and a meloidca - aka "hooter" - player), they chased out the entire audience. I rarely mock another band, but when I do, it invariably has to do with the deadly combination of horrible pretension mixed with an utter lack of professionalism. This band had both in spades.

Back to us.

This was to be Reah's last gig with us for awhile because she's going to LA to record her second solo CD, and will be working with a crapload of talented producers. We're gonna miss her, but we were damn sure gonna have a helluva fun gig to send her off. So, ignoring the above, we were looking forward to playing.

Though I wasn't there for the incident (I always miss the good stuff), I'm told that outside the club before the gig, Reah was somehow able to convince a girl on the street to lift up her top and flash Tommy. Tommy was understandably in good spirits for the rest of the evening (and I was bumming that I missed it).

As the stage time (finally) drew near, our friends who had been hanging upstairs woke up and went down to the bar. We set up in near-record time, but the sound guy was nowhere to be found. When he finally returned, we were raring to go.

The gig itself was a blast. Jon (who had played a jazz gig earlier in the evening at another club) sounded the best he's ever sounded with us. Tommy was in rare form, and Reah, who was a little tipsy, was moving all over the damn place (in a good crowd-friendly way). The crowd was definitely wide awake again, and the folks were damn kind to us even though we kept 'em out so damn late.

Reah was shaky on a song or two ‘cause she’d been out of town and hadn’t been able to rehearse with us for a bit, but Tommy discreetly (or maybe not-so) reminded her before one or two of the songs. Tommy and Jon really just nailed everything though, which gave me and Reah more of a chance to move around quite a bit and play out to the audience more.

By the time that Tommy got to put down the guitar and grab the mic to sing “Wasted,” though, he was clearly itching to play up front, and took full advantage – much to the audience’s (and the band’s) delight. He was all over the stage, on his back, posing for Caroline’s and Denise’s cameras, and singing his heart out. Reah even joined me on backup vocals on that one. I really wished I could have seen it all instead of having to play guitar behind it all.

The whole show was a helluva lot of fun, and despite the late hour, all was more than worth it from our end. I doubt we’ll be back there again unless we get a much earlier set time, but I’m happy we played it. Of course, the hardcore souls who make up our dedicated fans and friends played the biggest hand in the evening, and we’ll make it up to you with a nice, early (free) weekend show in June. Check back soon!

Set List:
SHE WAS JUST A GIRL
SAILOR
ACHIEVER
TAKE JANINE AWAY
STAY UP AND TALK TO ME
BURNING LOVE
WE'RE ALRIGHT
SUPERSTAR
PARTY DRESS
BEAUTIFUL IN BLACK
WASTED
BLOODY TUESDAY
EVE OF DESTRUCTION
BAGHDAD