This past weekend we did a short run down to Springfield and Little Rock. When we were invited to perform down at Midtown, a late night billards bar in Arkansas, we were slightly hesitant because of the distance from Chicago to Little Rock. After deciding that it was worth it, we set up a show on our way down at the Keg in Springfield on Friday. Brad Elliott decided to spend his birthday performing. A beautiful sacrifice! Happy Birthday Brad!
When we arrived at the Keg it was great to see that almost everyone that had seen us when we played there in July was present. We had a 34-song set list put together for them and ended up performing a very long and hot 3 hours. Overall, the show went very well and Brad was feeling nice and loose from all of the Birthday shots that were being delivered to him.
To our surprise, on top of all of the return clientele, we also had quite a few people from Chicago and also some of Coate's friends. A few very devoted fans drove down from Chicago not only with a birthday gift for Brad but also with an open hotel room floor. In addition, Coate had invited some of his friends from Illinois State University to watch us perform. Very nice sized crowd and great energy throughout the night. Thank you for a fantastic night Springfield, and thank you to new friends Alyssa, Adam, Matt and Craig from ISU and to old friends Vince and the ladies (you know who you are)!
After the show we headed over to the hotel room that was provided to us by our dear fans/friends and we were able to catch some sleep on the hotel floor rather than the van floor.
When we woke up, we had a 7.5 hour drive ahead of us. It was at this moment that I thought... We are out of our minds. We were literally driving about 20 hours round trip to do 2 shows. In my gut I knew it would be worth it, though. Not only had I heard great things about Midtown, but I also knew that a late night crowd would be fun and rowdy.
Poor Brad got a ticket on the drive down. Happy Birthday Brad Elliott... Here is a speeding ticket. We arrived at the venue at about 9:30 pm, and still had 4 hours until we performed. We had a burger and a beer and set up our merchandise. Coate sent me around the venue to put down matches and at one point a drunk and angry patron took the book of matches I just put down and threw them at the back of my head. Just on par for an after hours bar. Drunk and rowdy.
See, our set was from 1:30 am to 4:30 am which had new implications - playing to a crowd of people already hammered and performing when we are usually getting off stage. This was going to be interesting.
Brad, Kevin, and I laid down in the van and took a nap until midnight when Coate woke us up. It was time to sound check...
The crowd was nice and full when we started. The previous night we came out with some 'softer material', but after I had been assaulted I figured we could come off with our 'heavier' (which is a funny word in Reverieland) material. This worked well! We performed some of our earliest songs in our catalog first. By the 5th song of our first set we had the crowd engaged, and over the next 2 hours we ended up winning them over. Many shots were delivered to the stage, the tip jar was hefty, and we sold a good amount of merch. So in the end we made new friends, we performed well, and came home with some cash in our shallow pockets. Not to mention, most importantly, the booker was satisfied.
We finished loading up at 5:30 am. Coate had stayed sober and somehow energized enough so he could get us on the road and back to Chicago promptly. With the sun coming up and 10.5 hours of driving ahead of us I layed down to get some rest. Shortly after hitting the road we had to pull over just once so Brad could puke up some whiskey, but before I knew it we were about half way home. I got up and took over the wheel bringing us the rest of the way home. I finally made it to my house about 6:00 pm. I was asleep by midnight.
Long weekend. Lessons Learned. Thanks for reading.
Stephen Francis
ROAD TRIP PLAYLIST:
So with a 10.5 hour drive ahead of them, what tunes does a band listen to?
COATE DRIVING, KEVIN SHOTGUN:
The Dissociatives - some tracks from their Self Titled album
Mute Math - "Armistice" album
Radiohead - "OK Computer" album, "Kid A" album
Foo Fighters - first few tracks of "Skin and Bones" live album
Phoenix - "Wolfgang Amadeus Phoenix" album
Stereophonics - few tracks from "Pull The Pin"
Kenny Loggins - "Danger Zone" and "Footloose" tracks (Kevin's choices)
STEPHEN DRIVING, BRAD SHOTGUN:
Bright Eyes - "Fevers and Mirrors" album, "I'm Wide Awake, It's Morning" album
Derek & the Dominoes: "Bellbottom Blues" and "Layla" tracks
Fleetwood Mac - "Don't Stop", "Go Your Own Way", "The Chain" tracks
Harry Nillson - "Without You", "Coconut" tracks
Lou Reed - "Transformer" album
Muse - "Black Holes & Revelations" album (Much to Coate's delight)
LATER ON DURING THE DRIVE:
Pearl Jam - Vitalogy
Nina Simone - Greatest Hits
One Black Tooth - Ball Coffee
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