On Friday night, we played Reverie Café on the NE corner of Franklin and Nicollet for the last time. We’ve always had a great experience there and Friday was no different.

We showed up at the Venue around 8:30 and loaded in our gear. It was a unique experience because Flowerstalks, who we were sharing the bill with, were back lining for a quicker set change time.  And that means they were bringing all the amps and even drums.  It worked out that Dave and Shane and I didn’t have to lug our amps around per usual.  Beau needed only to bring his cymbals.  So we loaded in and it didn’t seem like we did much of anything at all.  We set up our merch table and waited for the Flowerstalks to arrive with the heavy gear.

The Flowerstalks started arriving shortly after us and so did the sound guy. They started setting up their amps on the back of the stage and assembling their kit and Corey started setting up his keyboard rig.  There was a bunch of commotion on stage.  Amps getting plugged into power sources, chords into instruments, Dave and I set up our pedal boards and moved them to the side and we were ready to roll. We were just waiting for Beau to get off work and set up his cymbals.

The first act, which was a comedian, started closer to 10 pm. He had about a twenty minute set and he had the crowd right there in the room with him.  We were on stage and set up and ready to go as soon as he wrapped up.  It was a lively, sweaty affair.  The room was full of people coming out to a sticky bar to support the bands and they hung around for most of the night.  We fed off the energy from the crowd and the sweat pouring down our faces in the dead heat of the night.  Reverie doesn’t have AC, just a few industrial fans trying to stir up the damp of the place.  It was hot in every corner of the bar, not just under the red stage lights.  There was no way around it.  Still, the crowd was there and into it and we were grateful.

We left the stage after playing ten songs. The Flowerstalks followed shortly after with hardly any tear down time for us.  They brought an energetic and eclectic mix of tunes to the stage.  If you haven’t heard the Caterpillar song, you’re missing out.  Chris Vogel is a solid songsmith and I look forward to hearing more of his stuff.  Kansas City Keith is so good.  I love watching him perform.  The Neighbors family, brother on bass and the singing sisters was a fine compliment to the sound.  They also had a drummer, Luke, who was performing his first show with them.  Their set was spirited and sincere.  They share a certain esthetic with us and we’re glad to have been asked to join the bill.  We’d do it again.

The closer was an intricate acoustic guitar player named Mark. He didn’t get to experience the same crowd as we and the Flowerstalks did.  He put on a great display for those who stuck around.  It was definitely hot in there, but the free water was flowing and sours and wines were on full display all night long.

I have to give a shout out to everyone who came out to the show. I was pleasantly surprised.  So, thank you so much!  It was great to see you all and chat a bit.  It means the world to us.

Looking ahead we’ll be working on arranging a few older tunes and a couple newer ones. We’ve changed our rehearsal structure around a bit and it seems to be working well for us.  So we’ll just keep trucking away.

“I wear black because I’m comfortable in it. But then in the summertime when it’s hot, I’m comfortable in light blue.”     –  Johnny Cash