Vetsfest and Donahues 7/24/10
Posted on July 27, 2010 with 4 commentsTime for the Weekend Update
With all the members of MCB sharing a passion for the sport of baseball, which I will digress upon in the future, MCB played the musical equivalent of a doubleheader. Two gigs in one day.
Unlike baseball, our doubleheader is played in different venues, which requires setting up and breaking the gear down twice.
First up was the Vets Benefit at Bishop's Field in Guilford. This gig was much easier for the band in terms of dealing with gear. Thanks to Edwin Bartlett , the promoter, who provided all the bands who performed there with a "backline". For those who don't know what a "backline" is, in the music biz, a "backline" is all the gear that is required for each performer, such as a drum kit, amplifiers, speaker cabinets for the bass and guitars, already in place excluding the musicians own personal instruments. In this case our backline consisted of a drum kit and a bass rig. Not having to set up a drum kit saved us double time giving Edmund Peart, our drummer, the opportunity to set up his kit at our next gig.
Edwin also provided the bands with a very nice mobile stage appropriately painted with a shoreline scene as a backdrop. One cannot give credit enough to Edwin for all the hard work and effort that he puts into making this event happen for the last several years. The townspeople of Gulford should be grateful and show this man much more support for this event. After all, it is for the Veterans. Thank-you, Edwin. All the members of MCB, myself included, were glad to contribute our time and music to a worthy cause.
Though the stage faced north the band got no relief from the overhang with the sun starting to set in the west. The band played a solid hour-long set in the heat and the music heated up as well with the band gathering an interested crowd. But, before you know it, it was over. We rushed to get our gear off the stage to make way for the next act and to get to our next gig, Donahue's.
Fortunately for us Donahue's was just 15 minutes away. The transition went very smooth giving the band enough time to get our gear set up, again, change clothes, and get a good meal in before having to perform.
For any performer or artist it's always nice to be well received and that is exactly what we get at Donahue's.
Great treatment from the owners, the employees, and a fantastic, enthusiastic reception from the clientele who are quick;y becoming our fans. It always translates to a much better performance when a band or an artist truly enjoys performing at a particular venue and that is definitely the case here. The band genuinely looks forward to this venue. Particularly Vin, as I'll mention once again, who is in his glory playing the Hammond B-3 organ, complete with Leslie cabinet ( with pictures and arrows on the back !) , that is permanently in place on the stage.
Here's a shot of Vin in, as he calls it, "B-3 Nirvana"
Thanks to our previous gig, the band was already "warmed up" and away they went. Playing to a very nice full room of intent listeners. It didn't take long before some of those listeners appeared on the dance floor. The first two to take the floor were two girls, both blonde, both dressed in black and white. These girls had some really kooky dance moves that were quite entertaining. I didn't catch their names but I have to give them credit for getting people up and dancing. I even went and did a little "matrix" dance off with them myself during James Brown's, "Sex Machine". Those girls were fun to watch.
Ok, back to the music .......... with the people movin' and the band a groovin', the band worked through their 1st set doing a really nice version of Jamie Cullum's, "Mind Trick", with Lee Sylvestre on vocals and Mike playing a Jerry Garcia style solo on it. Then, another new catchy original by Mike, "Burning Bright", with some beautiful vocal harmonies, that will be on the next release. Sometimes I catch myself thinking about this song a couple of days after I hear it.
Along with their originals the band went through songs such as, "Caymen Review", for all you Trey fans, Marvin Gaye's, "What's Goin' On", Dave Mathew's, "Stay", and Ben Harper's,"Steal My Kisses".
The 2nd set began with a little P-Funk, "We Got the Funk", which got the people back out on the dance floor. The band was really sounding good and Jay, the sound man had the sound system cranked. One thing about Donahue's, as we say in the business, "it's a good sounding room". Johnny Steele, an old friend of Mike's, who has seen the band many times over the years and in numerous locations mentioned to me how good the band sounded there. Indeed they do.
After "Thank You Falettinme Be Myself " they did a few more originals. The first, a new one, "You got My Love(if you want it)", no not the Slim Harpo song, an original rocker penned by Mike. This is my favorite out of all the new songs. A rocker with a great hook that builds into a jam that just launches. It launched that night very nicely. Then two of my favorite to dance to, "What Goes On", one of MCB's earliest originals, and
"All To You", that the band kicked ass on.
Mike brought it down with another nice new original, "Highlight of My Day", a tune the band has recorded for the next disc but doesn't play out much live and another new one, "Song of Love".
But the musical highlight of the night was an incredible "Child Inside". As many times as I have seen and heard this song performed live over the years this was completely different. Thanks to Jedd Chlebowski, our bassist, who, when the band broke the song down, took a solo, and take it he did. Jedd took it way out with a phenomenal bass solo that he brought back with an altered phrasing of the "Child" groove that left the band in a position to take it somewhere special. Mike started it out with a few chords taking a completely different tac than normally taken, then Lee chided in and the two traded off guitar licks building it into an epic ride-out. The band killed it with a superb ending to a great night.
Shout Outs.....
Tiffany and Joe, whom I featured in my previous blog report, made it back again to light up the dance floor with their great vibe. Yes !
It was a pleasure meeting Al Donahue, the first of the next generation of Donahue's.
And does anybody at Donahue's that night know the girl who was taking photos of the band ?
I didn't get her name or get the chance to give her our information. We'd like to get the pics she was taking. Please contact us or have her contact us. Thanks.
stay tuned, Jonny Gates
