Show Journal 2006-07-22
The show tonight was a benefit for a kid named River who was killed in a drunk driving accident. The family and friends setup a benefit in his honor to raise some money and awareness. We were told he had actually seen our band a few times and Dave actually recalled meeting him in Longview so it was flattering to be invited to play. From a feel good point of view event it was a pretty cool night. Nice vibe, nice stage, and lots of effort put into promoting and running the show. From a band waiting to play it was admittedly pretty frustrating. I don’t want to tarnish the memory or upset anyone but we arrived and setup at 5:00 PM. There were 4 bands before us and the first band (one guy playing acoustic) started around 6:00. Everyone’s gear was backlined (ie- already set up and plugged in) so if you do the math we should have been on by 9:30 or 10:00 at the absolute latest. We didn’t even get to play a note until 11:00. For the millionth time if there are 5 bands you have to keep that shit moving. You do not need to play 45+ minutes when there are 5 bands after you. Ever. How long do bands play at the Warped Tour play? 30 minutes. Ozzfest? 30 minutes. The times we’ve gotten to play large shows in big venues it’s often 25 minutes or even 20 minutes. I guess it’s one of those things you can’t truly appreciate unless you’d watched helplessly as people file out the door because a show is running late. Given the circumstances surrounding the show we just kept our mouths shut and tried to make the most of it. On a positive note (finally) it was a blast playing again and it was cool to see how much River’s dad and family appreciated it. Dustin did well despite performing double duty with his cover band called DTP. Thanks to the people that did stay late, everyone who helped setup and run the show and the other bands for dedicating their time as well.
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