Since December I've been talking to Tom from Billions. Honestly, I'm
not the best when dealing with booking agents, but this past monday all
the work came to it's final apex when Low played in Indianapolis. Yeah,
Low playing in Indy, and yeah, I'm financially responsible as well as
responsible for the show going off well. Yikes.
Low arrive at about 5:30, I'm setting up the PA. I meet the band and
Chris, their extra hand/soundguy. They bring in their gear and set it up
and I get the PA working. We mic up everythin and check the levels. This
is a moment I won't ever forget. Me, in the club, sun low in the sky, a
perfect spring late afternoon. The only people there were me, eric
(shallop from the list), the owner, and low. They played Missourri, and
it gave me chills right away. Here I am in a club listening to low play
by myself. Wow.
I guess I should describe the club. It was this little place called the
Music Box Café. a room, about 35' by 35' with a 6" stage, maybe 15' by 10'
in the corner. Tiny place.
They get done and they run off to go to record stores, etc. Zak stays
back to work on his visual art. I stay there and wait
Friends start trickling in between 6:30 and 7:00. More of a crowd around
7:45. A friend of mine is working the door, which is making the show much
easier for me to handle.
The first band is Feedback Loop, on at 8, and well, that's my band. We
played pretty well, but I was a tad shaken by the whole experience, a
touch too stredded and too full of anticipation to really relax. Eric
will tell you about us if you really want to hear.
The second bad was United States Three. Three piece british invasion
style pop. They listen to Revolver and then go write songs ;). the guys
in the band are great, and the singer/guitarist wrote a song on the way to
the show which he taught the band on stage before the first song, which
was the new song. They were good fun.
By the time Low was setting up it was packed. I was sitting at the foot
of the stage, the front three rows of people were sitting as well.
Low "came out" as best they could. They began with "I Remember" I
believe. Eric has the set list. When they played, the crowd shut up. It
was great. Then again, there'd be no reason to come to this show if you
didn't want to SEE low play. The talkers went outside. Low were very
personable, and played amazingly well. the PA sounded great, the monitors
worked... The moment that defines the concert was when Alan hit the
opening chords to Violence. That just gave me shivers. There was some
onstage banter, some good silliness, which no one was expecting. They
even took requests. Perhaps because no one yelled out any before he asked.
And no one yelled "Free Bird". Amazing, I'm so proud of Indianapolis.
They did Immune live, also another high point.
It all ended about an hour and ten minutes later with Soon. The crower in
mostly awe, stunned after seeing low in this tiny room with friends and
most of the local "scene" for lack of a better way to put it.
Low then hawked their merchandice from stage. They cleaned out a box of
the new CD, many double LPs, some 7", and probably made more from the
records than from the door.
However, everything worked out great. The PA didn't blow up. Low got
their guarentee plus some more, I made all the money back, United States
Three did okay. Here's where Low blew me away AGAIN. I paid Alan the
final amount for the door, and I explained the finances. He found out
that my band didn't take any money, and he gave $50 from Low's money to my
band and said, "all the bands should get paid." I was floored. I thanked
him for playing and said I wanted to get them on their next tour. I think
they admired the fact that I wasn't a sleezy biz promoter, I was a real
guy in the local music scene trying to bring good shows to town. It was
all very rewarding.
The moral. See Low, book Low. Support Low. Be nice to Low. They shall
rock, err, soothe your world.
Cheers,
ben adrian
ben@bewley.net
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