Well Beyond Expectations
So you get the call from Clear Channel Entertainment- "Do you want to play the side stage at The Woodlands Pavilion on Saturday and the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in San Antonio on Sunday before the Allman Brothers concerts?" Um...if you insist. You appreciate the nod from a huge music conglomerate like Clear Channel, you know you're going to get to play on a big outdoor stage, you know your sound system (P.A.) will be great, and you know you get free tickets to a great show. What you don't expect is an audience (A Clear Channel rep would later tell us that he's seen 100 of these side stage deals and it's always background- we were the first band he had ever seen hold a huge crowd)- foreshadowing.We met at the Woodlands Pavilion at 2pm on Saturday. Right away we were treated with a level of respect and appreciation that blew us away. There was special parking, a special entrance, and passes that would get us anywhere on the grounds that we wanted to go (except backstage, but keep reading). The stage was just inside of the park's main entrance, our soundman was already there with the entire P.A. set up and waiting for us. Sound check was quick and we had a little time to hang out before they started letting people in (we knew this was the time to drink since we could get beers with no line). We soon figured out that (at $7 each) if we had many beers we would drink up our entire profit for the gig. We didn't care!
Doors opened at 4pm, and there were at least 1000 people in the park within the first 10 minutes. They had to walk right by us and our stage to get in (a few mumblings of "I wonder what's going on over here" and then they've walked on by, which is what we expect during the set but don't care because we have two objectives today- 1. Impress Clear Channel so they will want to work with us again, 2. Have fun). Waiting to play is funny (not just this show but always) because we all bitch about the driving, the lugging of equipment, never getting enough sleep, not having enough time with our families/significant other, etc. And then you see your gear set up on stage and it all fades away and all you want is for it to be 4:30 (in this case) so that you can play the music you love with the friends you love.
4:30 comes and we're starting the show. As we fade into our first song (Slippery), I laugh to myself as I realize that we can be playing the first song of our set at the smallest of clubs or the Woodlands Pavilion, and either way Phyve is nowhere to be found, and I just have to trust that he'll show up in time for his first lyric (he always does). A few of our friends have come to watch us or maybe they came for the free Allman Brothers tickets we hooked them up with. Either way, having a little of the chateau crew there meant that instead of playing to 2000 people who don't care, we'd be playing to 2000 people who don't care and 5 who do (sounds silly but it's much better). That was apparently not to be. It wasn't long before our little are of the grounds was packed (I mean packed). Now everything has changed. Instead of having fun playing for each other, we have an audience to entertain (a concept that we are quite comfortable with). Everything about this gig just seemed to get bigger and better as our short little set went on (one hour to most bands is a normal length set but for us that's just enough time to warm up). We were pretty song oriented but fit in plenty of improv. We had joked before the set about playing Sweet Home Alabama (Lynard Skynard was playing before the Allman Brothers. I've tried hard to put off mentioning that but it seems the time has come). We get to this point at the end of the set where Marc, Conrad, and I all know that we are in the right key, at the right tempo and that if we are going to do it, now is the time. But it will be the WORST VERSION OF SWEET HOME ALABAMA EVER and we will be playing it for Skynard fans who won't get the joke and won't give us much slack. So of course when Marc gives me the "do it or don't do it" look, I smirk and nod. Insert southern accent here- "That's not how it goes, I know how it goes." So we give the torn blue jean wearing, fake blonde hair having, completely off key singing lady our microphone- she rocked. That's how one of the biggest shows we've had to date ended- Sweet Home Alabama led by a mid-life crisis Skynard groupie. Perfect.
After the set we're hanging out, signing autographs, meeting more people than we can count who apparently think we're ridiculously cool, (you know, your basic rock star stuff) when we find out that during the set someone from the Allman Brothers crew had heard us and was nice enough to give us backstage passes (and buy a CD- maybe Greg Allman is listening to Urban Ocean right now). The night is young and we have free access EVERYWHERE. (We each go backstage but it's pretty lame- for now).
8:30- Lynard Skynard plays (whatever).
9:25- Marc, Phyve, Beatty, and I don't know who else are backstage. (I F-ing missed it, I didn't want to lose my quality spot on the lawn.) The Allman Brothers are slowly making their way to the stage. Marc's got a story about Derek Trucks tuning right next to him, Phyve has a story about a guy showing him pictures of us on stage that he had taken earlier in the day, and come to find out he's Oteil Burbridge's brother and so they take pictures together. I don't know if Beatty or Marty have a story or not (like I said, I F-ing missed it).
A few key moments during the Allman Brothers set- A very drunk Calum almost gets arrested when he throws his lit cigarette over his shoulder and hits a State Trooper, Jeff has Tyson stand in front of him so that nobody will notice that he's peeing into an empty beer cup in the middle of 30,000 people (of course Tyson moves, of course we all notice, and of course Jeff tries to talk everyone into taking a sip of his "beer"- Marc (of course) almost does until everyone cracks up and he thinks twice), Tyson and (either Marty, Beatty, or Jeff-I forget) get a little mixed up in the dark, sit in someone else's chairs and finish the popcorn and soda that was left behind before they realize they are in the wrong spot with the wrong popcorn) and Derek Trucks blows the roof off the place.
As Phyve and I head to the chateau for even more (whatever) Phyve tries to talk me into just going to his house and crashing since we had a long drive and another gig coming up on Sunday. This is quite out of Phyve's character so I figure he must be wrong- we go to the chateau.
Sunday, we left Houston at 1pm and headed for San Antonio to do it all over again. Somehow the energy level wasn't quite as high. We were amazed to see that we were able to pull a great crowd again on Sunday (not nearly as big as Saturday but they had us play earlier, there weren't very many people there yet). The Verizon Wireless Amphitheater treated us great. This time we got passes to the VIP tent and tickets for free dinner (just what we needed, a quiet, no heavy drinking Sunday evening). Most of us left soon after (we had a good laugh at Lynard Skynard's expense when we noticed that their set was exactly the same as the night before right down to what the singer, who we affectionately refer to as Lynard Himself, said and wore) and then we were out of there.
So I know this has been ridiculously long but trust me, I've left a lot out. It was a great couple of days in Little Brother Project history and we want to make sure that we thank Clear Channel Entertainment, the Cynthia Woods Mitchell Pavilion, the Verizon Wireless Amphitheater in San Antonio, The Allman Brothers Band and of course Lynard Skynard.
Thanx for your continued support,
Coy - LBP Bass
P.S. Happy Birthday Phyve
P.S.S. See you soon Debbie
posted by Coy - LBP Bass @ 7:22 PM
<< Home