Tied For Last

Second band of a five band night

There wasn’t a very large crowd to start with, but we had a decent draw of TFL friends for a Tuesday night, and the people who were there to otherwise hang out or to see other bands hung out to see us, and seemed to like us quite a bit so that was cool.

The good news is that the band played well, and sounded good throughout. My voice held up pretty well, so I was happy with my vocals for the whole show.

Most of what I remember about the show, though, are the few clumsy mistakes that I made, which ended up affecting my performance and inhibiting me somewhat. John G made a few small missteps too – nothing noticeable to the audience I imagine, but enough to make him a little more tentative as well. Tom and John B were damn solid, and it helped make up for my slightly weakened performance.

We started off on “Sailor, and it sounded pretty tight, and seemed to win over the crowd early. My problems started when I dropped a guitar pick during “Lead You On.” Because it’s a fast song, and because my part’s a very steady up and down rhythm, it didn’t sound as tight when I had to finish my part with my fingers.

I ended up dropping picks in three different songs. Because I’m singing, I can’t usually move too far away from the mic, so I usually keep extra picks in my pocket. This time, I had forgotten and left all the spares on my amp. Whenever I would drop one, I kept having to play out the rest of the song with my fingers.

Even worse was what I did during “Rave On.” We were playing it as a request for our friend Mike Stevens because it was his birthday week (it was mine as well).Early in the song, I had inadvertently stepped on my tuning pedal, which cut out my guitar signal (in other words, I was playing, but there was no sound). I didn’t realize this.

Noel, the sound guy, saw that I was playing, but since he couldn’t hear it, he turned up the guitar channel in the house speakers. I then realized that I had cut the signal, so I stepped on my pedal again to get sound. Because Noel had turned up the volume on my guitar, it was extraordinarily loud when it came back on, and I could see the reaction of the audience when it happened.

Of course, it was a small and easily-remedied snag, but that and the pick situation were enough to make me second guess myself. When that happens, I’m less comfortable, and when I’m not comfortable, I tend not to jump and move around as much onstage.

At about the two-thirds mark, we were firing on all cylinders again, so the last few songs were very strong, and the closer of “She Was Just a Girl” immediately into “Ziggy Startdust” was damn near perfect. We definitely ended on a very high note.

Set List:
Sailor
Lead You On
Take Janine Away
Rave On
We're Alright
Got No Life
Lesbian Circus
Superstar
Achiever
She Was Just a Girl
Ziggy Stardust