Tied For Last

Second band of a five-band night

We had played Wild Spirits once before (April 2nd), but it was a somewhat unsuccessful show because of a torrential downpour and the cancellation of more than one of the ther bands scheduled to play. This time around, it was the Friday of Memorial Day Weekend, so the prospect of a crowd was real hit-or-miss.

I got there to see that they had gotten the band name wrong on the chalkboard at the door (Lied For Last). After a few of our irate (and possibly somewhat drunk) fans told the girl at the door, she changed it.

We got there to see a soul band with a great girl singer doing a cover of the old disco song, “Street Life” (Randy Crawford), into Prince’s “I Wanna Be Your Lover.” They had a pretty big crowd, but a lot of them looked like family members, so that means they probably don’t play that often. They broke up the flow of their set entirely because they had a good amount of equipment problems, but on the whole, they were solid.

We weren’t shocked to see the overwhelming majority of their fan base bolt for the door before we even had a chance to set up, but by that point, we had a fairly solid crowd there ourselves.

Before I get to the gig, I would like to say that damn near everyone in the place, from the staff (door staff, hot chick bartenders, assorted dudes, and soundguy) to the folks in the audience that we didn’t even know, treated us great. When you’re in a friendly atmosphere, it makes playing that much easier, and that much more fun.

Unfortunately, there’s just something that doesn’t quite work about the stage sound there. By all accounts, the sound in the audience was outstanding, but the onstage sound was again horrible. For some reason, there weren’t enough microphones to mic my amp. This means I had to turn it up pretty loud. Poor Tommy couldn’t hear anything else the entire night. The sound guy was awesome though.

We did the sound check and started a few songs. Everything was going well until I blanked out on the words for Lead You On. That threw off Tom, which threw off John B., but Geller nailed everything back in place. As a matter of fact, while the band all played well, Geller didn’t miss a hit all night.

The sound was jarring onstage, and I can’t overestimate how strange that makes a gig. When things don’t sound right, you end up overcompensating and/or playing too tentatively. The fact that I was strung out on the Water Joe (caffeinated water) and over-tired probably didn’t help things along.

In the original setlist, Wasted was to come before Sailor, but my damn dyslexia kicked in and I started playing Sailor first. We dedicated it to our friend Lisa from New Mexico. She got the song airplay out there, and to her we’re forever grateful.

I then tried to do Wasted, on which I lay the only guitar, but my hands were hurting so much from the barre chords in Sailor that I was having hand cramps. Tom was fumbling with the words as well, and early on in the song, he decided to switch mikes and stage spaces, and he damn nearly knocked me off the stage when we switched. Luckily, we got through it somehow.

We dedicated “Superstar” early on to BatPam who did our mailing list (Rev. Caroline’s been walking with a cane, so sending her around the room just don’t seem right), and we played “Sweet Jane” for our friend Chris Lowe’s birthday. I had written the set without Take Janine Away on it, but Tom wanted to keep it in, so we bumped I'm Not Fine.

Everyone was in a good mood in anticipation of the three-day weekend. The audience – especially those we didn’t know – seemed into it, with the lady bartenders dancing on the bar, and one guy doing a cartwheel while dancing in front of the stage. After the show, we met a few new friends outside, including a lovely lady who was questioning our taste in Rick Springfield riffs, Jersey Mike, who sold his soul to work corporate, and a homeless dud who joined BatPam in a couple of songs – including “Dock of the Bay.”

All in all, a fun night was had.

Set List:
She Was Just a Girl (one verse and one chorus for soundcheck)
Achiever
Superstar
Stay Up and Talk to Me
Rave On
Lead You On
Bloody Tuesday
Lesbian Circus
Sailor
Wasted
We’re Alright
Sweet Jane
Take Janine Away
Baghdad