was a good night for live music…



So we played the Chance in Poughkeepsie last night opening up for Living Color.  And may I say (and I will) it was an outstanding over all night for live music.  Now I’m not a fan of playing during the week only because getting up early the following morning to go to the job that pays the bills sucks.  But from the moment the first note of the night was hit, it was a good time.  Normally I don’t promote a lot of local bands in these blogs; and its not because I think we are higher and mightier then the others.  Its because in all honesty sometimes I can’t remember the names of the bands that played.  Well last night was different.  Alter Egoz, The Big Shoe, Freakswitch, Living Colour.  That was the line up.

Alter Egoz is a cover band that straight out of the gate made you turn your head.  I was outside taking to Sarge and we both had to go in to make sure it wasn’t a cd playing.  These guys were good.  And just when you thought “ok, I can dig this” these guys pull out 80′s hair band wigs and break into Van Halen’s “Eruption” into “You really got me”.  I love it when people can laugh at themselves and keep me entertained at the same time.

When Alter Egoz left the stage, The Big Shoe started setting up.  The equipment they had seemed like it was going to be one of those 27 piece ska bands.  two horns, two keys, two guitars, bass player and a drummer who’s kit made the Stray Cats drum set look HUGE! I wasn’t thrilled with that thought.  Nope, not a big ska fan.  Unlike Alter Egoz that waited 15 minutes before getting everyone to laugh, The Big Shoe jumped in feet first by starting with some tv show tunes.  Every… and I mean EVERY song they did was done with their own funny, musically sound way.  These guys laughed at themselves, each other, and got the crowd involved.  They have this natural ability to suck in the audience and take them for a ride.  They finished off the night with “Chicken Farm”.  Silly right?  YOU’RE DAMN STRAIGHT IT WAS and I never laughed and tapped my foot so much in my life.  I guess you can say they were fantistically funny.  Oh and in case I didn’t come off right, these guys are musically talented.  It wasn’t noise and destroying the music at all…..

Up next, Freakswitch.  How do you follow the The Big Shoe?  After all, its hard to fill a big shoe.  Sorry, couldn’t resist.  Well you go up there and do your thing the best you can and that is how you do it.  By the reaction of the crowd the Big Shoe got, I was curious to see how we would be received.  Well right away I saw people head banging, dancing and just enjoying the moment.  Brian was in rare form too.  This man likes to talk, so we had to shut him up because if we didn’t, it would’ve turned into a comedy show.  Every song we played, whether they knew it or not, the groove kept people interested and enjoying the show.  And then it happened…………  TRAIN WRECK!!!!  And who was the conductor?  That would be yours truly.  During “Follow me”, I got lost and tried to find my way.  The more I tried, the farther away I got.  It was the longest 4 minutes of my life.  Kudo’s to my band mates, they kept going looking like nothing was wrong.  What better way to clear a train wreck?  With a song everyone knows.  We started “Sweet Leaf” and EVERYONE started singing, headbanging.  For those of you who aren’t musicians, let me say that there is nothing cooler then being on stage and watching the entire audience sing along and dance.  We ended the night with “Wrong Direction” and Brian saw a woman in the audience singing every word (to our songs), so he decided to bring her (Monique) on stage to dance.  Three notes into the song, lets just say that NOBODY was looking at the band.  So since nobody was paying attention to the band then I will say that we played it flawlessly.  And then…

Living Colour.  I heard mixed emotions about their show so I really didn’t know what I was going to get.  Well, I’m here to tell you that the haters out there saw the wrong show.  Because the one I saw didn’t suck at all.  No, they are not flamboyant or over the top, but they are tight and look like they had a great time.  I wasn’t able to stay for the whole show (see hating playing during the week comment above), but you can bet your ass that if they come back (last time they were hear was 6 years ago)  I will be there.

Thanks to the Roadies, beer getters, friends and family that showed the love last night.  Don’t quote me, but I think we’re taking a short time off but bot for long.   UPDATE: Debut cd is coming along nicely.  Shouldn’t be too much longer now.

Until next time…..
MK