Gig Report 1-17-09

Blue Tattoo had our first official gig Saturday night at The Chapel. As far as first gigs go, I think it was a good one.

The Chapel is a venue for the arts that not only hosts concerts by local bands on the weekends, but also theater and art galleries. Very cool venue. It's connected to an old Presbyterian church, and really is a chapel (or at least it used to be.) As a result it's a very unique place to see a show, intimate, yet with a massive ceiling and official church architecture. The management go out of their way to treat the bands well, something all too often missing from local venues. Now, there are a few negatives. First of all, it's hard to find, and many people got lost trying to find the place. Also, they don't have a liquor licence so they give the patrons two free drinks, but since they can't sell any liquor it's a two drink maximum which came as a surprise. Due to the size of the room there are some sound issues, but almost every club has issues of its own, so not a big concern. Still, with all that in mind it's a great little place, kind of a private oasis for the local arts community. I enjoyed being there a lot.

As for our set, I believe it was a success. as with any gig, there were some small glitches here and there. Someone broke a string, somebody hit a bad note, couldn't hear as well as we'd like, etc., etc. Most of that stuff is nit picky musician shit that the majority of the audience won't notice at all. And after seeing the video of the gig (thanks Valerie!) almost all of those little moments are barely noticeable. My personal worst flub was that during "Bitterman" my fingers got ahead of me and I actually had to stop playing for a few seconds to straighten things out. Fortunately, we missed that on the video (thanks again, honey!). The only real noticeable error was during our cover song, "Suffragette City", there was a miscommunication somewhere and we blew the timing on the break in the song. As I said at the time, that's the live show. Anything can happen. Besides, Chris, Derek and I were all sick so I think we pulled it off quite well.

I had fun on stage, and as far as I can tell the rest of the guys did too. More importantly, the audience had fun. That's what it's all about for me. I mean, yeah, I want people to pay attention to the music and the message of the songs, but it's gotta be fun first and foremost. Let's face it, if you're in a band or at a show and you're not enjoying yourself, what's the point?

The band we opened for, The Fishpaws, were good too. Kinda laid back, kinda twangy rock, which I like, and nice guys too boot. Always good to play with another band who aren't ego-whores. I liked their sound, and any band that does a Ramones cover and a Neil Young cover in the same set is okay by me. Go on to myspace and check 'em out.

Okay, that's enough ramblin'. Big thanks to everybody who showed up, and those who wanted to as well. See you next time.