Nightflying Birthday Bash- report

Last night I was invited to play for Nightflying's 24th Anniversary Bash at George's Majestic Lounge. The details were pretty vague and when we got there, we found out that we were supposed to play 3rd on the stage that was out back. There were 5 bands playing on 2 different stages.

Well, we were waiting around to play and then got bumped to 4th in the lineup. I wasn't really excited about waiting around all night to play, but that didn't bother me as much as with every band I realized that we did not fit in with that crowd.

Realize that I've never been really comfortable in a bar setting. I've played in some clubs and bars off and on, but I've never really hung out in bars or been very comfortable in them, so I wasn't sure how I was going to go over in this situation anyway. Then, I'm realizing that every one of the bands playing out on the patio stage are total blues bands rocking out for all they're worth. I have nothing wrong with that, but for anybody who's ever heard me play, you know that I am totally not blues/rock out kind of musician.

Not only am I realizing how much I will not fit in with the flow of the evening out back, I'm also realizing that I would fit in so much better with the acts performing up front. By the 4th act up front, 3 had been acoustic/solo performers and one non-blues band. So, by that time I talked to Joe Giles, who was supposed to be up next. I'd never met Joe, but I knew he had a rockin' band and that they did rock and blues type set. I simply asked if he cared about playing up front or out back and he said it didn't matter. Hallelujah! So, about two songs before we were supposed to get up to play, we were swapped. Unfortunately, the band out back was still playing and all of our instruments were stuck behind that band.

Anyway, this is weird to explain how it happened. The thing is, I just figured I'd play the gig because I was asked to, but I didn't really expect anybody to give a rip or even listen, no matter whether we played the front or the back. Much to my amazement, I was completely wrong! Granted, there were a ton of people (both members and fans of the female band that had played earlier) that were there when we started the set, and not by the time we ended. But, the people that were around really seemed to listen and really seemed to dig it! And not only that, but we had a great time.

And then, as we were tearing down, this guy comes up to me and introduces himself as a manager of George's and starts talking about how they have all kinds of people playing in there and that he really enjoyed what we did. So, apparently he might be coming to my Arsaga's gig tonight, and seemed really interested in trying to get me on some opening slots of some of the bigger bands that they get playing in there! Crazy!

So, all that to say: we ended up having a great night and it may end up being way more beneficial than I ever thought it was going to be. Thank you so much to Nightflying for inviting me to play.