Alright, Bearman, all the gory details?
So the new venue is incredible. How it?s been closed for 30 years is beyond me. The pictures are well worth a look ? the one interesting addition was vents in the floor for air conditioning to blow upward. Gave a nice little breeze to the Bettie Page girls in attendance. Anyhow, I?m sure after a few spilled beers down the vent, that air?s gonna stink, but it deep keep the floor from getting extra sweaty.
?30 years of Underground Rock? ? that was the mantra on the sign handing behind the stage. I hope that means an extended tour this year. Ness did say that a new album is being worked on and he hopes it will be out this year. A few of those newer tracks are expected to be included. They did not do an acoustic set this time ? it was all plugged.
As I mentioned, I had floor seats and the sound was a bit rough in the beginning (first show at the new venue so I was cutting them a ton of slack) but they had it all figured out after a couple songs. I managed to stay out of the pit for ?Sick Boy? for the first time in my life, but ?MLM? followed by ?When She Begins? and it was impossible to stay out. I lost my shoe and was dumped for the first time in life ? looks like grandpa might be getting too old for that kind of shit. Luckily I got my shoe back and was picked up quickly by the other revelers so all was good. I stayed out of the pit for the remainder of the show. Even though it was only one song, I hurt like hell the next morning. It fucking sucks to get old.
Ness didn?t talk as much as he usually does, but that didn?t mean that when he opened his mouth it wasn?t always laugh out loud ridiculous. Two favorites: ?So we got a black President now. The only thing better would be if it was a black woman President so I could hear her say ?Oh no you din?t.?? I cringed as did most of the crowd. And the second was a 5 minute long banter about being able to play Oakland and not having to go in the City anymore. ?I can fly to Oakland. Stay in Oakland. Play in Oakland. And fly out of Oakland.? Then he went on for a while about Gangsta life, how hard it was, how it always ends up with people risking it for Nickles and Dimes. Then Brent?s hitting the sticks for like 20 seconds?the bands all looking at Ness. Ness has his eyes closed, clearly deep in thought as if he?s praying?finally he opens them and announces he doesn?t have to play that and spits on the stage. He turns around to Charlie who tells him all how the song goes with the beat (and maybe even the chords, hell I don?t know). After Ness ?remembers? how the song goes, they bust into Nickels and Dimes. Classic.
All in all a great show ? highlights would have been ?When She Begins,? ?Alone and Forsaken? and the slow bluesy piano intro version of ?Prison Bound.? They guy I went with was a SxDx virgin and was just amazed at how good they were. The place went crazy for ?Ring of Fire? and we were pushed all the back to the railing of the front floor level (the floor level was tiered as most new venues are ? 3 tiers on the floor and a balcony section that I never visited). We started somewhere near the 4th or 5th row of people so by the time it was over, we were shocked we had been pushed that far back. Sign of a good time.
