Saturday, June 20, 2009
The Cave
Chapel Hill, NC
w/ guests Birds & Arrows
Well, last night was it, the FINAL show. Before the show started, i presented the band with their farewell gifts. They each got a flask with “Mystery Road – Have A Good Time…All The Time” engraved on it. They all were so pumped to get it and from there, we went up, set up our gear and prepared to deliver the last Mystery Road show.
How did it go? Well, right out of the gates I fucked up the 2nd verse of the first song, Jennifer but I ended up recovering and all was good. The audience was a great one but they all seemed a lil somber so I felt compelled to turn it up to “11″ and give them not 100 but 120%. I gave them all I had plus some and by the 3rd song or so I could really tell that they were lightening up, smiling, laughing and dancing around with us.
The sound in The Cave was, well, typical for The Cave… TERRIBLE. I couldn’t hear a goddamn thing but Ira’s bass and the drums. I could hear my guitar cutting thru every now and then and once I got Ira to turn down around 3rd song, the sound leveled out. It sounded better but I still couldn’t hear my vocals. In all honesty, I think musically we weren’t very tight but again, the fact that we were having so much fun and cutting up with each other totally made up for the looseness of the actual playing. I think I just totally gave up on the idea that any band could EVER play a perfect musical show at The Cave and that it’s all about the vibe and the people, more so than the quality of the playing. I’m very proud of our songs and I think they speak for themselves but it’s our performances that I feel have always been our strongest point and is what drew people in to see us.
The show was so much fun as we marched through each song and delivered them with as much passion and energy as we ever have. “Another Cowboy Song” was the highlight for me. This particular song really seemed to have the audience on their feet and moving around. I remember when I first wrote this song and it was such a slow, sad song. Somewhere along the line it turned into this upbeat danceable song. It was really cool to see so many people getting into it. We closed the set out with “Take Me Back Home” which by the end of the song I was flat on my back frantically strumming the closing chord with everyone cheering and going crazy for us.
All in all, I feel like we went out on top of our game. There wasn’t a face in the room that wasn’t smiling and we gave them everything we had. The band’s spirits were high and there were no over emotional tears or anything. We parted ways after an amazing show knowing that we had done well. Mission accomplished. Everyone had a good time… ALL THE TIME. It has been a real treat playing w/ this band and I know that somewhere down the road we might even play together again in one form or another. This was exactly what I needed to end one chapter and begin a new one. I couldn’t be happier and I will always cherish my time as a member of Mystery Road, the best folk/rock band that Chapel Hill ever saw and will ever see.
