Greeley–you guys are PHENOMENAL. Really, I mean that. We had SUCH an amazing time at the Greeley Irish Festival, and thanks to all you great people who were there supporting us!
I really didn’t know what to expect going to Greeley, Nebraska. I had never been there, or even really heard of it. We drove a lot of miles in the couple of days preceding Saturday, as we played a show for Halfway to St. Patrick’s Day in St. Paul at Shamrocks on Thursday, and then a show at O’Malley’s in Weston on Friday. I was a little tired and apprehensive, but when we got to the festival I found a nice second wind and we ROCKED. Greeley is a cool little town with a long Irish history, believe it or not. All the streets are called things like Galway St., Sligo St., O’Neill Ave., etc. Definitely surprising to see in the middle of the American midwest.
We did two sets; the first one in the afternoon was cool. The sun was of course right in my eyes but that’s really the only negative thing I have to say about our set. I thought we played really well and were heartily applauded. We kept things sort of casual for the older people in the crowd, and I think we went over well.
The real show was our 10pm set– we were scheduled to close things down, and I was really excited about that. It’s not often we get to be the band playing “under the lights” at Irish festivals since usually we’re somewhere down on the bill; this was a really cool thing. It was pretty cold out (I’m guessing around 50 degrees) and you could actually see your breath on stage! We managed to work up a sweat though. haha
We opened the set with Hair of the Dog and Locked Away, and I think by the time we were halfway through Locked Away we had a huge crowd pressed up against the front of the stage! It was AWESOME, without a doubt one of the best WCB shows we have ever played. People were crowd surfing, going nuts dancing, tearing up shrubbery, throwing undergarments and the whole deal. I couldn’t stop laughing I was having such an amazing time. I didn’t know people in Greeley, Nebraska knew how to rock like that but I take my hats off to you guys–I cannot WAIT to go back for your festival again in 2010! We did TWO encores and they just kept wanting more! We ended our set at 11pm with Home for a Rest and I Am Ireland as is our common practice, but I guess were were just warming up. I couldn’t believe the reaction we got and when the emcee gave his okay, we came on again and did Kinky Boots and Celtic Symphony. That STILL wasn’t enough apparently, so we came back out AGAIN and did Waxies’ Dargle. I was so charged up I didn’t get to sleep until 5am. Amazing, like I said.
As if all this wasn’t enough, after the festival ended we were invited out to the local watering hole. A place called Frogger’s. We loaded out and said our thank yous and goodbyes, and walked towards the bar three blocks away. We’d only gone a block when a guy in a pickup truck came along and asked if we wanted a ride, so we rode to the bar in the bed of a truck instead. It was pretty funny.
We entered the bar and got the biggest ovation we had received on the night!! I couldn’t get to the bar for all the handshaking and back slapping to be done. Couldn’t buy a drink, either… What great people. I’m really sold on Greeley Nebraska! Like I said, can’t wait to go back! Hopefully someone took some pics and/or video of the deal–if you have some content, send it to me and I’ll get it up on the site with a nice little credit for you of course!
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.
Check out this video… I thought it was pretty funny anyway…
