Saturday, July 23, 2004
The Orange Bear
47 Murray Street
downtown, NYC

First band of a three-band night.

This show was one of the most fun, and best played we’ve ever had.

This keeps happening at The Orange Bear. I get there, there’s no band on stage, and there’s no audience in the place. I get nervous and freak out that no one’s coming, and then, by the time we get onstage, there’s a large crowd there, and I feel a bit stupid.

The good part about being first band onstage is that we were able to set up our equipment as soon as we got there, and then we were able to hang out with the crowd before getting onstage. This beats the traditional mad rush of set up at most gigs.

It was pouring outside, and there was some sick traffic on the West Side Highway (backups at both tunnels and the GWB), so how we got so many people there, I’ll never know. But damn our friends and fans are AWESOME!

At this point, the Orange Bear is pretty much our home base as far as clubs go. Because of that, we were so completely relaxed when we took the stage that we played one of the best sets that we’ve ever played.

We played the set like we were on auto-pilot – but in a good way. We pretty much just nailed it from beginning to end. Small screw ups here and there, but on the whole, I was damn happy with the set. Even the band’s between-song banter went over as if it was all planned (it’s not).

Pat Smith of the Heaves was in the audience that night, and though we wanted him to join us onstage, he had a three-set show of his own later that night, so he politely declined. We were gonna dedicate Burning Love to him, but when it came time to play a cover, we gave the audience a choice between that and Eve of Destruction. The lovely Desire, who was sitting right up front, damn near demanded Eve of Destruction, so we had no choice but to give in.

Later, as a special one-off treat for our friend Edy’s birthday, we played David Bowie’s Ziggy Stardust, and I was surprised at how well it turned out. Also, Tom took the mic for “Wasted” and we played it better than we have in quite awhile.

Victor, the owner of the Orange Bear, and possibly the most supportive club-booker we’ve ever dealt with, felt that we sounded so good that about half-way through the set, he recorded us for free. The vocals are a little low, but I’ll try and pull a song or two and get it posted.

So on a scale of 1 – 10, I’d give our show a 9.5. Later that night, we went to see The Heaves at Kenny’s, and despite some recent spotty shows on their part, their performance at Kenny’s was a humbling 11. Oh well, that gives us something to shoot for.

Set List:
Sailor
She Was Just a Girl
Bloody Tuesday
We're Alright
Lead You On
Eve of Destruction
Stay Up and Talk to Me
Superstar
Lesbian Circus
Party Dress
Achiever
Wasted (Tom on vox)
Ziggy Stardust
Got No Life
Beautiful In Black
Take Janine Away