Tag: Shows

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3 Nov: Gainesville, FL

3 Nov – Phillips Performing Arts Center (Gainesville, FL)
w/ Indigo Girls

So, like I mentioned earlier, I babble between songs and I don’t really recall afterward what it was I said. So I have Robyn, who’s our tour manager for the trip, reminding me later. The quote from this show: “You paid enough money to be able to give yourselves a hand.” Thankfully they laughed.

It’s hard to recall a lot of this, so bear with me. We got in and I felt a little out of place. We ran into Amy pretty early on, though, and that helped somewhat. They soundchecked first and it was an odd thing to be around for. I met Emily somewhere in there and she said she really liked my CD. The hands at the venue brought the majority of our stuff onto the stage and I really didn’t know what to do while that was going on. They kept asking us what we needed and we all seemed a little confused about having to try to articulate what we are so used to just having to do ourselves all the time. We soundchecked and the sound was so good that after we ran through a song I had to have them turn down a lot of it, I’m so used to having to really push to be able to hear things in the monitors that the mix in these GOOD monitors sounded awful. We were planning on opening with an acoustic song that had a alternate tuning and I was talking to Amy about possibly asking their tech if she could tune my guitar back up during the songs after that. Instead, Amy lent me Emily’s guitar for that song. It was a very surreal experience.

We finished soundcheck and went back for the catering, which is one of the perks of this whole thing: free dinner on show nights. There wasn’t a whole lot of interaction between us and the Girls because they were really wrapped up in figuring out their set. We had been told that things would be a little crazy for the first night. Still, it was very good.

We went on at 8pm. Amy had said that they really only expected about a 50% house (in a 1700 seat venue), and it was certainly more than that. It seemed very full to me, though not sold out by any means. We started very quiet with “Hey, California” and the band kicked in at the end, and we got a big reaction. Everything past that point seemed to go over very well, so I suppose I can relax now about whether the crowds would be too thrilled about seeing a full band playing before an acoustic duo. We hadn’t soundchecked my acoustic so when we did the three acoustic songs in the middle it really sounded tinny, so that’s something I need to make sure we soundcheck from here on out. There were big cheers at the end of “Jeff Lynne” which always surprises me. Robyn said that Amy and Emily were standing off stage for the first three songs and dancing around, and Emily stayed for another two after that. The cover song went over really well, they cheered when we started it, and then again when we got to the other song we’ve stuck inside it. Near the end of the set I mentioned that the Indigo Girls would be out soon and they all cheered, and then I asked them to not be TOO excited, they’d hurt my feelings. More laughter. Thank god.

I went out to the lobby after the stage hands helped us (again) load our equipment off the stage. A couple of people asked for autographs. Then I went back in to watch their set. I won’t cover this in every post after this (I mean, this is all about ME, after all) but I have to say… it’s really an amazing thing watching them play solo. They nail EVERYTHING. More than that, watching the reaction of the crowd is unbelievable. They would cheer every small gesture in a song, and interaction between the Girls and the crowd was palpable. I would love to achieve that at some point, it was just amazing.

They came off stage after the set, before the encore, and Amy looked at me and said, “We’re gonna get you guys up to sing with us!” I must have looked sort of freaked out (not that I didn’t know that was something that they did, but because we hadn’t talked about it at all, and the thought of suddenly going up and trying to sing on a song I didn’t know was a bit much) because she threw in, “…tomorrow!”

We went back out to the lobby afterwards and a few more people asked for us to sign the CD. One group of people asked if they could take a picture with us. That was definitely a first, and it was truly bizarre. We sold about 19 CDs (I won’t keep telling everyone the totals, I just want a number to judge by later), much more than I had hoped we might. Then we went back to start loading out and another group of people asked for a photo and then as we started to walk through the doors they said, “Do you know where the Indigo Girls are?”

Robyn and I waited in the lobby after the place had emptied and they were counting the merch out. Chris came up and found a flyer for the show. He gave one to me and was grabbing more and I told him I only need one. It seemed sort of silly to have a bunch of them.

Then I stood there for a minute looking at my name on the flyer “Indigo Girls with special guest Paul Melançon” and it FINALLY hit me. I grabbed about 15 more.

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18 Oct: Asheville

18 Oct – Grey Eagle (Asheville, NC)
w/ James McMurtry

I have asked Robyn, who will be coming on the Florida trip, to remind me later what I am saying on stage, since for the most part I am babbling and I don’t remember a bit of it later. The quote from this show:

“I’m prostituting myself just for you.”

We left early afternoon on Friday and hit a lot of traffic on the way up. Lee and Lyle were both sick and so the ride was pretty quiet. We got in an hour late but the headliner was still loading in so it was no big deal. I know who James McMurtry is (apart from being Larry McMurtry’s son), his first album came out back when I was working at BMG and it was being pushed hard to college at the time. I saw him while we were loading in, but I get the feeling he must be a pretty introverted person. We may have shared a slight head-nod in each other’s direction.

The club is strange in a good way. It was much bigger than I had expected, walking in you come into the large room that looks sort of like a VFW hall or something. The sound there is very good, nice raised stage. the people working there were very friendly (so was the eventual crowd). They set up and sound checked a song or two and then left. We set up and got a sound check as well, which was a surprise but good.

The crowd started to file in. The show was $15, so the people who were coming were obviously coming to see James’ band. They play this sort of poetic, intelligent stuff that is nonetheless very straightforward and sort of basic rock-based. Like a sort of Americanized Tragically Hip. Which is all well and good, but I started to worry about their reaction to us. I wasn’t quite ready to go the “Good ‘ol Blues Brothers Boys Band” route, but I thought maybe some effort to match the crowd might be a good idea.

I think in retrospect I was about half right.

We were opening with “King Sham” which I thought was a bit too pop so I swapped it with another song and put it in the middle. Of course, it seemed to get a big response when we finally played it, so I was off-base, I guess. The crowd were mostly older, and when we started I really didn’t know how we were going to go over, but they were very responsive. We played a little subdued, I think, in part because Lee and Lyle didn’t feel well, but I was also sort of restrained because I didn’t think the crowd would really go for me being too pop. I think in that instance I was right. Robyn says they were really impressed with “Jeff Lynne,” I can’t verify that.

In the end, I think the crowd didn’t expect much from us and they ended up pleasantly surprised. Unfortunately, “pleasantly surprised” doesn’t seem to translate into CD sales or people signing up for the mailing list. Still, there were a lot of people who came up after the set complimenting us. I was very good, I thought, and fought my natural urge to be shy and instead talked with people at length when they came up. I met two people who worked for the two entertainment weeklies, respectively. I talked for a while about guitars with a guy who’s girlfriend really liked James and so he was wandering around the club during his set, he had really liked our set. Meanwhile, Lee was getting sicker, I think, but still managed to get us paid for the show, which was not originally the deal. She says it’s much easier to be outright about this stuff when it’s not her band, so she went up and asked about our guarantee as if it was a given and he paid us. He also found me later and told me to let him know when we were going to be back in town, so (again, fighting my natural urge) I just asked how far ahead he booked and told him I’d call him this week to schedule another show.

I’m not sure how that will work, to be honest… from the photos on the wall they book mainly singer-songwriters and bands much like James McMurtry (in both instances). I don’t really fit that crowd, though I can apparently win them over to an extent. The one thing I did notice was that Josh Joplin’s photo was there, too, so I’m going to try to get in touch with him and see if he still plays there and if he’d be interested in doing a show together. Hell, if he’d be interested in doing a show together anywhere, really. I don’t know if he’s in any position right now to book like that, but I should have asked a while ago.

We crashed pretty much immediately afterwards at the hotel, on rollaways and a pull-out couch (this is a luxury compared to what we can expect in Florida, where we’ll have to rotate who gets the bed while the rest of us sleep on the floor). The drive back the next morning was good, Lee felt better and we talked most of the way back about music, bands, and crap like that. The sort of thing you’d expect band people to talk about, I suppose. But it was still good.

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11, 12 Oct: Knoxville, Atlanta

11 Oct – Pilot Light (Knoxville, TN)
w/ Apelife
12 Oct – Candler Park Festival (Atlanta, GA)
w/ lots of other Daemon bands, most of whom I missed because I was still asleep

I count IPO as a sort of strange aberration, so in truth this was the first time I have gone on the road with a band.

I think it went well.

We drove up in two vehicles, Lee, Lyle and I in a van and Chris and Robyn in his car with the drums. We couldn’t fit everything into the mini-van we were using. The drive was mainly gossip about local bands. Lee and Lyle know each other but I don’t think they’ve ever spent an extended amount of time together, and in general none of us really have. We rehearsed a couple of times in the week leading up to the show but there’s not a whole lot of messing around while we’re all still in the “let’s get this song nailed” stage. So we name dropped and told embarrassing band stories for most of the drive. I also ate a sandwich from a rest stop vending machine (I didn’t eat lunch beforehand. Lesson learned).

We loaded in and the club seemed sort of indifferent to us. Not that I can really blame them, they didn’t know who the hell we were when you get right down to it, and they do this every day anyway. So we loaded in, met the other band (Apelife) who were friendly. That’s always a plus. We soundchecked and I realized something has gone horribly wrong with Pinky. That’s the telecaster. I’m hoping it’s just in need of a setup, but it’s out of tune and staying that way. I tried to find a happy medium but it just wasn’t working, so in the end I used Lee’s backup (which happened to be a Telecaster).

Then we had about two hours to kill before the show started. We roamed around. We sat. During this time the whole of Knoxville that was laid out for us to see was dead. D-E-D dead. By 10:15 there were about 8 or 9 people in the club. Standing outside I could see people walk by occasionally, and they would stop and look inside (the door was propped open) and they all had the same look on their face that said, gee, I’ve never noticed this place before… I wasn’t feeling terribly good about the prospects.

Somehow, between then and 10:45, the town suddenly sprang into life, the club began to fill up, and I was forced to decide that yes, there now ARE enough people for me to wear the suit for the show (this is an important decision). By the time we went on the room was fairly well full, and even one of the press people Daemon had asked me to comp showed up. We played and they cheered. For my true out of town debut it went just about as well as it could have. We did “Pulling Mussels” for the cover. The band was on and the performance was a step above the rehearsals leading up to it. It felt good and left me feeling hopeful about the future of this setup.

Someone squealed after every song. I hugged her after the show. You have to show gratitude for something like that. A lot of people came up and said they really enjoyed it. We only sold one CD, unfortunately, but overall it was something, and hopefully enough to manage to get in again. Apelife started and I could tell they were a familiar band in town. They reminded me of the Swimming Pool Q’s in a lot of ways (all of them good).

We drove back to Atlanta after the show, through intermittent and unbelievably thick fog, and got in about 5am. Unloaded and everyone left. I crashed. Woke up and got my stuff ready and then loaded out for the 3:30 show at Candler Park. This show was with the Million Box, though Lyle was filling in for David. The crowd was average (good but not amazing) compared to what I’ve experienced there in the past. But the set went well, especially since we never managed to get a rehearsal in for it. Did “September Gurls” as the cover. It was hot and I was damn tired but it was still good. Amy as there and was very nice as always, she jokingly picked on me about being so pop. It was very good. Danielle Howle went on after us (and last) and I’d never seen her live before, she’s very impressive. After loading up I went to go tell her I loved her set but she pre-empted me by saying so about me and telling me she’s still trying to get us a show together up in Columbia where she’s from. So I mumbled something (I’m sure, I mean, I had no idea she even knew who the hell I was) and stumbled back to the car. Went to get some food and then home. By the time I went to bed I felt a bit like all I had done was play a show, come home, sleep, get up, play another show, come home and sleep.

Which, basically, is what I did. I better get used to it. Hopefully, I’ll have to.