Experiences Numbers Two and Three
My second experience with exploding pop was in 2005 when GS played. I'm pretty proud of that show. We got on with a great band from Brooklyn, and the event ended up being voted second-best local show of the year by readers of the publication linked below. Tough to compete with a Pe__l J_m concert, I guess.
Which brings us to this year. GS did not apply, since local acts are seldom admitted two years in a row (understandably). BB did, and was accepted. We somehow managed to score TWO shows: one 19+ (Thursday night) and one all-ages. On Saturday we actually played twice in one night: an opening set at the Pav, then a headlining(-ish) set in Truro, one hour out of town.
Sound like a busy weekend? Well it was, especially after GS was brought in as a subsitute on Friday. Four shows for me in three nights.
Thursday night, BB opened the show in Hell. The crowd fluctuated considerably (there was another show upstairs), but a small core of people stayed up front. I like the claustrophobia of engaging a large group of people when playing live. The resulting tension makes for an enjoyable performance, to me. I don't want to be comfortable up there, nor do I particularly want the audience to be. There's one BB song where I like to solo provocatively (if not flirtatiously) in front of a select audience member for a few seconds. I had a particular beneficiary in mind on this night, but could not find her. It was a good set. The instrumental we opened with will eventually have lyrics. I can't comment much on the rest of the show as I had to leave early. There was eventually an enormous crowd.
Friday night GS hit Stage Nine. That stage is higher than I'd like it to be (see above), but I can't really complain since all of our shows there have been really good. Ube did not "roll around in broken glass" this time (that's a GS urban myth anyway, heh heh), nor did he injure himself (or anyone else) by jumping onto the audience. The people seemed so far away I couldn't tell how many of them there were, or if they were enjoying themselves. We played really well though, I thought. A nice recovery after G-fest the other week. We might have been the punkest band at that gig, but we were probably the least so Friday night. The other bands were awesome.
Saturday BB rocked the local all-ages club in good form after our Thursday show. No major complaints there. I wore a bike helmet in addition to my usual mask because I felt I was having a bad hair day. It was interesting rocking out in a bike helmet. My neck hurt more, yet I felt oddly safer. I have no idea how the rest of that show went because we had to bail immediately.
Truro was awesome, as usual. Small town punk scenes take note: it's ok to like bands that aren't mainstream-modern-emo. Truro understands this. DMY were amazing and the audience knew it. Hell yeah. BB played our best show of the three; we were in the middle of the floor, surrounded by people. As per above, I really felt the power. It allowed me to dig deep and play hard. I almost had a funny experience with falling over. I was trying to step onto my amp in mid-song, with really mediocre results. It took me about 7-8 seconds to fully catch my balance, and I never stopped playing. It probably did not look very dynamic.
Satisfied, we drove home at the end of the night. I finished my radio show, with Ube having covered the first part for me. Thanks Ube!
Next week on the radio I will bug people for money. More on that later.
Which brings us to this year. GS did not apply, since local acts are seldom admitted two years in a row (understandably). BB did, and was accepted. We somehow managed to score TWO shows: one 19+ (Thursday night) and one all-ages. On Saturday we actually played twice in one night: an opening set at the Pav, then a headlining(-ish) set in Truro, one hour out of town.
Sound like a busy weekend? Well it was, especially after GS was brought in as a subsitute on Friday. Four shows for me in three nights.
Thursday night, BB opened the show in Hell. The crowd fluctuated considerably (there was another show upstairs), but a small core of people stayed up front. I like the claustrophobia of engaging a large group of people when playing live. The resulting tension makes for an enjoyable performance, to me. I don't want to be comfortable up there, nor do I particularly want the audience to be. There's one BB song where I like to solo provocatively (if not flirtatiously) in front of a select audience member for a few seconds. I had a particular beneficiary in mind on this night, but could not find her. It was a good set. The instrumental we opened with will eventually have lyrics. I can't comment much on the rest of the show as I had to leave early. There was eventually an enormous crowd.
Friday night GS hit Stage Nine. That stage is higher than I'd like it to be (see above), but I can't really complain since all of our shows there have been really good. Ube did not "roll around in broken glass" this time (that's a GS urban myth anyway, heh heh), nor did he injure himself (or anyone else) by jumping onto the audience. The people seemed so far away I couldn't tell how many of them there were, or if they were enjoying themselves. We played really well though, I thought. A nice recovery after G-fest the other week. We might have been the punkest band at that gig, but we were probably the least so Friday night. The other bands were awesome.
Saturday BB rocked the local all-ages club in good form after our Thursday show. No major complaints there. I wore a bike helmet in addition to my usual mask because I felt I was having a bad hair day. It was interesting rocking out in a bike helmet. My neck hurt more, yet I felt oddly safer. I have no idea how the rest of that show went because we had to bail immediately.
Truro was awesome, as usual. Small town punk scenes take note: it's ok to like bands that aren't mainstream-modern-emo. Truro understands this. DMY were amazing and the audience knew it. Hell yeah. BB played our best show of the three; we were in the middle of the floor, surrounded by people. As per above, I really felt the power. It allowed me to dig deep and play hard. I almost had a funny experience with falling over. I was trying to step onto my amp in mid-song, with really mediocre results. It took me about 7-8 seconds to fully catch my balance, and I never stopped playing. It probably did not look very dynamic.
Satisfied, we drove home at the end of the night. I finished my radio show, with Ube having covered the first part for me. Thanks Ube!
Next week on the radio I will bug people for money. More on that later.
posted by the baron ash von foolishness at 5:14 PM
1 Comments:
I should add that the Truro show was not associated with the explosion.
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