Tied For Last

Second band of a five band night.

The trip down was riddled with traffic from car accidents and rubberneckers. I was a good 15 minutes late, and had sat in traffic for over an hour. All was better when I landed a parking spot right across the street from the Continental.

It was a beautiful night in the city, which didn’t bode well for us. It meant that we wouldn’t get much of a walk-in crowd because people would rather walk around outside. We didn’t get a large crowd by any measure, but we did have a larger crowd than any other band on the bill (at least as of the time we left the joint).

We found out that the club was running about 30 minutes late, but that was fine because it gave us a chance to get better settled in, and it meant that our audience would have time to get through the traffic to see us.

I had been sick all week - bad allergies, no sleep, a sharply sore throat and a general grogginess. I was determined to not let that affect the show, though, because I love playing the Continental, and I want them to keep asking us back.

For the gig, I had made a set list of mostly “newer” material – i.e. only two songs were from the Sorta Live album. It seemed like a good way to test the flow of the newer material. I was later told that the set, and the songs chosen, made for a really good sequence.

To be honest, the gig felt like a blur to me. I think that because I was sick, I was sort of in a disconnect. I did drink a lot of Water Joe (caffeinate enhanced water), and it helped to carry me through. We must have been doing something right though, because we had a few guys we didn’t know slam dancing/moshing to our songs (particularly funny during our cover of Buddy Holly’s Rave On). Also, as soon as we got off stage, John B and Tom (and later, Rev. Caroline) said that they thought the gig was awesome. I guess I covered for being sick.

We had recorded the gig, and we did play damn well. I’d post the mp3’s, but the mix had Tom’s guitar WAY too low (far quieter than mine) and John G’s backing vocals WAY to loud (far louder than mine). Damn shame.

Set List:
Sailor
She Was Just a Girl
Bloody Tuesday
We're Alright
Lead You On
Achiever
Lesbian Circus
Party Dress
I'm Not Fine
Rave On
Take Janine Away