Sometimes it’s tough to live up to expectations… We played the 2009 Greeley (Nebraska) Irish Festival and had an INCREDIBLE time! We played well to an extremely energetic and enthusiastic crowd–there was stage diving, crowd surfing, encores and the whole bit. It’s certainly one of my favorite memories from our career so far. The only downside was that because of that show, I was really nervous going back to Greeley this year, as I figured there was no way we could recreate the magic that was the 2009 Greeley show. Boy was I wrong!
Once again, Greeley ROCKED. I can’t figure out how such a small little place in the middle of Nebraska could throw such an incredible party, but BOY I can’t wait to go back next year (we are thankfully booked again so woohoo!). The weather was really cold and wet so they moved the music indoors, which really bummed me out when we got there. I was all set up mentally for a let-down versus last year because of this. Why do I always think like that? NO idea. Not really any reason at all for it, as it turned out…
We ended up playing in a gym with a stage at the end of it (very old-school Parochial education vibe. Really brought me back to my childhood. In fact, I sort of felt like Marvin Berry and the Starlighters. This gym had that same feel to it). We did two sets–the first was the more subdued afternoon show, to some older folks who appreciated us I think; we didn’t want to blow them away so we kept to our slower, more “pubby” numbers. Athenry, Far From Home, etc. It was still a lot of fun and a good warm-up for our 10pm set, which would be a bit longer and rowdier song-wise. This afternoon show was pretty good despite the gym lights being up full (we got them turned off for the later show which made things a little more “rock”).
Anyway… So while I was getting dressed “backstage” (in the boy’s locker room) for the 10pm show, it was getting louder and louder in the gym. I came out to see a huge crowd all gathering at the front of the stage! I have played a ton of shows where the crowd comes and presses up against the stage but it is usually for the band that comes after us, and the only reason they are there is because they want better spots for them, not us. THIS time it was all because they wanted to see WCB! It was incredible. They were chanting “WCB! WCB! WCB!” Amazing feeling. We hadn’t even strummed a chord yet and they were all over us. The emcee was trying to tell people to go sit down so the people in the back could see. HA! That didn’t work well for him… These Greeley people were so stoked I really couldn’t believe it!
The show itself was AWESOME–just like last year, they were on their feet, dancing, singing along to songs we wrote, stage diving and crowd surfing! As if that wasn’t enough, we did THREE encores–they just wouldn’t let us go! I am still in a daze from how cool it was. I can’t wait to see some pics or video, so if you have some, let me know…
I thought we played pretty well to boot. ;o)
