Whew! We made it through St. Patrick’s Day! Quite a high-tempo couple of days. On Tuesday the 16th we were the first band to ever play the BRAND-NEW Kieran’s Irish Pub location in downtown Minneapolis, AND THEN we had three gigs on St. Patrick’s Day itself! By the end I was… beat. It was a hell of a lot of fun though. The new Kieran’s is pretty impressive! Here’s a pic I took from the stage:
Not the greatest pic but I hope it conveys the sheer size of the place! It was really cool to play on that stage–they’ve really done a great job with the sound system and the lighting rig–definitely not your typical pub set up. Geno, Cody and I had a great night!
On SPD Geno and I did a lunchtime gig at Jake O’Connor’s out in Excelsior, MN. People weren’t really quite ready to party yet but it was a good chance to get things loose for the rest of the night ahead. I was really worried about my voice because I had been sick the week before and of course everything was draining right into my sinuses on the big day. I don’t like to complain but I actually had a pretty tough go of it at Jake’s and was thus kinda nervous for the rest of the shows. It’s not fun for anyone if the singer in the band is no good. I was pounding the hot water and lemon, and I think that helped a bit. By the time we were done at Jake’s I was feeling better.
Next up was O’Donovan’s, and we had a great time because our time slot of 5-8pm was really a good one; people were getting off work and starting to get into the spirit. By 8pm we really had them going–it was great.
We didn’t get to hang out with anyone of course, as we had to run to our next show–our full band set at O’Gara’s. I really have to doff my hat to our road crew of Michael Gibbons and Mike Korstad, as without them we never would have been able to eat, get on stage at each venue on time, etc. Thanks for all the help and hard work guys!
When we got to O’Gara’s, I was kind of shocked… The place was REALLY empty. There were maybe 40 people in this big room that holds 400+. That is a pretty small number, and I was thinking to myself, “what have we gotten into here?”. There was a cover band on stage playing songs from such seminal Irish artists as Poison, Journey and Young MC. WTF?
Anyway needless to say I didn’t really think good things when we took the stage but BOY was I wrong! I think the place was pretty much PACKED about 15 minutes into our first set–I heard later that they had a line outside the bar because the room was at capacity and they weren’t letting anyone else in. Nice. I’ll take that every time! We really rocked and had a fantastic time. There was so much energy onstage, it was as though the eight hours I had already been singing that day didn’t really happen. I felt really strong vocally and gave it my all. The next day I paid for it of course, but it was all worth it!
This weekend Geno and I will be at McNally’s in Sioux Falls, SD. We’ve played there a couple of times now and the shows are getting better and better so I am looking forward to it. After SPD, I figure we can handle it. Hope everyone has a great weekend!
Adam
I can tell you all, it is VERY tough being an American fan of the Pittsburgh Penguins today. Sid, I love ya but you broke my heart yesterday. Watching that hockey game was one of the most entertaining sports experiences I have had–until the very end that is.
