March 21st, 2003

      After over a month off, we played this long-scheduled gig at Ian's old highschool. I wasn't sure what to expect before we showed up, because basically i was out of the loop on every single detail except that we were supposed to play. Anyway, upon arrival, i was welcomed with #1) a decent sound system, #2) a professional band soundchecking, and best of all, #3) a growing audience actually waiting for the show to begin. This only added to the itch that i personally had gotten after a month of inactivity.
      Anyhoots, we did a quick setup/soundcheck, and were in full beginning swing at about 7:30 or so. This being a cool show, we didn't have a 25 minute set, so the atmosphere was much more relaxed. We got to play our songs comfortably, and had time to talk to the audience and really get into what we were doing. It's been a while since all of these elements were in place at a show, so i was particularly pleased.
      All in all, my personal performance sparkled. i was comfortable, spent lots of time looking out at the audience, and even had the opportunity to watch the rest of the band occasionally - a great improvement over the in-the-dark cramfest-in-front-of-a-benign-crowd we've done for the last few shows.
      After our set, Pete Kilpatrick went on. He (and his band) play some pretty solid acoustic-based rock. I can't really say i gave him my full attention for the entire set, because we missed a good deal of it while packing up our stuff & tending to the merch table. Rocktopus closed the show with a pretty high-energy show (for the band at least). I was just mad becauase the lead singer didn't bring his Moog Liberation, instead using a digital synth i didn't get a good look at. I'm serious, the second that guy straps the Liberation on like a guitar and plays the show like that, i will watch intently. But as it was, i was again distracted somewhat by my other duties, but aside from a few good songs, their jam/funk/rock combo wasn't really something i'd listen to. But the rest of the band liked them, so i'm outvoted. Special thanks to them for setting up the show though. We're playing right before them at Bumstock this year.
      The key to this shows success was clearly the audience. They really gave us a lot of attention, not to mention energy. After our performance (and for the rest of the night), we talked to lots of happy kids - once again proving that the ideal show combines all of the following:
     1) Lowfive opening
     2) a full setlength
     3) highschool kids

amen to that.

/caleb


www.petekilpatrick.com
www.rocktopusmusic.com

SETLIST
Lie Down With Dogs
Action, Reaction
Jesus Sunrise
Elemental Subtlety
Calico
Autumn
Boys Will Be Boys