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We had a great time down in Southern California this past weekend! The show at Fishlips was by far the most well-attended show we've ever been to. Capacity was 250 and I'm sure we were right there. 1916 opened the whole thing, playing a great set of originals and trad tunes. They blew us away! One of the better versions of "Comfortably Numb" I've heard -- with Dave Gilmour's signature out-solo played on Robbie Byrne's tin whistle! Very cool. Next up was Whiskey Galore, a great bunch of guys who originally got us the show there. More traditional sounding than either 1916 or Bog Iron, but you can definitely hear the "Bakersfield" influence. Excellent version of "Seven Drunken Nights." Much kudos for the best damn cover version of "Thunderstruck" I've ever heard! Special thanks to the boys for pulling me and Peter up on stage to sing for that one! We closed down the show and hell of a time doing so. That hour and a half roared by! Whiskey Galore joined us on stage for "Come Out Ye Black and Tans", which was the absolute best that song has ever sounded They also joined us for "Finnegan's Wake" and Mike from Whiskey G. even took a verse! Man...that dude lived up to his band's name that night...he replaced his entire blood supply with alcohol. It was amazing to watch.... Then they hit it out of the park when they helped us finish off the evening with our version of "The Night Pat Murphy Died / People Who Died." (Also special thanks to Don, for putting us up for the night. And breakfast the next morning at the Village Cafe in Bakersfield. I had the tri-tip and eggs with a side of biscuits and gravy. The waitress offered!You just can't idly offer biscuits and gravy to a native-born Bakersfield boy!) Onto Huntington Beach the next day. We arrived a little early, which gave us time to relax and enjoy the hot tub where we were staying. We got to Fitzgerald's early enough to eat and get a good start on the show. What a great stage that is! Several feet off the ground in the corner of the bar. Plenty of room to bounce around. And a good sound system too! We rocked it there for a good 45 minutes, which gave us plenty of time afterward to enjoy The Galway Hooker Band. If you like your Celtic music jacked up and dirty...these are your guys (and one girl...)! Great versions of "Back Home in Derry" and "The Irish Rover"! Their whole damn set was awesome! We would absolutely love to play with these guys (and one girl...) again. Hopefully we can get them up here some time. This is the first time we had merch available for sale at a show. And we did pretty well. Sold a bunch of t-shirts and a goodly amount of CDs. We will of course have these available at all future shows. Sometime soon we're going to turn our attention to recording some of the new songs we've developed and writing more original material. Our next show is at Woody's Bayview Grill in Pacific Grove on November 6. We're playing the whole night! Come down and check us out! --Patrick |
