Gigs: Feb 11 & 12

Last night I played with Grand Champeen at the Elk's Lodge and then with Excited States at ND. While they were rather different shows, both were fun. The Elk's Lodge gig was a joint birthday celebration which allowed Grand Champeen some room to stretch out and play some fun covers. We also played some originals fairly poorly, but that's ok. Right? From what I can remember...

Wounded Eye

You May Be Right (BJ)

Records & Tapes

And Your Bird Can Sing (Beatles)

Cottonmouth

Get Back To The Quiet

Hey Tonight (CCR)

Winterlong (Neil)

Foreplay/Come On Come On (Boston/Cheap Trick)

Root and Branch

Radio Radio (Declan MacManus)

Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown (Neil)

Can't Hardly Wait (Westerberg)

Paid Vacation

Just Want To Get You Alone

Bottleglass

Another World, Another Planet (Only Ones)

All The Young Dudes (Bowie)

Walk Of Life (Dire S.)

At 10pm I hauled ass over to the ND, found a parking spot right outside the door, and walked into The Decade Show's third to last song. They have really spruced up that venue since the last time I was there. I feels like a real club now. Right on. Excited States went on second and delivered a searing set of catchy, angular, rock gems. That set went a little bit like...

Victories

1983

The 15th (wire)

Found Some Tapes

New Song

Pretty Little Cages

Slow Cooker

Feel The Sting

New Song

Under The Weight

Look What the Wind Blew In (Thin Lizzy)

The next evening, Grand Champeen shared the "middle" stage at the Hole in the Wall with Pink Nasty, and The Mother Hips from California. Jack Wilson played short sets between acts on the front stage and helped make a great night all around. Pink Nasty delivered a solo set that was full of good songs and an endearing, stark honesty. Grand Champeen played second and tore the room apart, leaving a splintered stage for the Mother Hips to repair with a couple of hours of smooth Northern California tunes. Despite the nearly unrecoverable state in which we left the room, they managed to put on a great show. Perhaps it was their creative songwriting that displayed their mastery of mid-song tempo changes. Or it may have been their outstanding musicianship and singing abilities. The loyal and excited crowd was a no doubt a big help. I don't know what happened on the first night of the Hips' two-night stand when Smoke and Feathers and December Boys opened, but I hope for them that it went as well as our night did. We did something like this:

Join Us

Good Slot

Diff Sort

Records &

Get You Alone

Root &

Get Back TTQ

Wounded

Death Of

PGPA

Haste

Ides

One &

Rott

Come On Baby Let's Go Downtown

Rest Of

Fakin' It

Or at least I think that's how it goes. Some fella who flew into town to see/bootleg the Mother Hips recorded us as well. I want to find this guy and get a copy. He said he'd give us one. If the recording turned out, it should be a good snapshot.