The Crush Festival (8/14/04)
Scituate, MA
It's been a while since I've attempted anything like this. Pride's Crossing used to road trip quite a bit when I was in college, and for a while, I was even commuting to Boston every weekend to record with the guys from Canine. But aside from the summer of 2001, when I was out West writing songs for Plain and Simple, I haven't had many opportunities to play the bohemian. Boy did that change yesterday.
I was in the hospital seeing patients until 1:30, at which time I jumped into my dad's truck and made a beeline for Scituate, MA. The boys from The Midnight Collective had graciously invited me to perform at their Crush Festival in the Harbor, and I was scheduled to take the stage at eight. I arrived at 7:40. Essentially, I drove 5 1/2 hours, through the traffic-infested highways of Connecticut (is there anything but traffic in Connecticut?), hitting the Harbor just in time to plug in. There were enough people milling around to make things interesting, but I followed a punkish college band and preceded the Collective, who are as close to perfect bar band as you can get. More on that later.
I decided to pepper the set with covers, many more so than usual; I'm told my records don't sell terribly well in New England. Also, I was introduced as a Yankees fan, which resulted in my being greeted with a chorus of boos. Not exactly a hero's welcome.
I didn't have a chance to even think much about what to play, so I played it by ear. I decided to tune down to dropped double D for Neil Young's Cortez the Killer and Men At Work's Overkill. I didn't exactly nail either of them, and it was apparent early on that I wasn't feeling it. A lot of people ask about this, because depending on the night, I'm either curled up in a chair, hugging my guitar, and singing with my eyes closed or rocking back and forth in front of the mic stand, looking out over the audience. At Kenny's, I was fully into what I was playing. I never had that sense that I was disappearing into myself at this show. Maybe that has something to with the covers I chose, but more likely it was the venue. I should've brought a band.
Be that as it may, the crowd seemed relatively happy as I struck the first notes of Cloud 9, which is sounding more and more like the first single from the new album. Charlene, which is my favorite of the new batch so far, got a nice reception, especially when I sang that line about Australian women ("I like to take my women like my wine—dry, bold, and Australian"). My Winding Wheel is the song I've been turning to most often when I play in the evening, and it really feels like something I own now. Ryan Adams' music is a good fit for me in general, and I'm going to reintroduce Jacksonville Skyline soon. Fake Plastic Trees, usually a sure thing, fizzled a bit, which tells you all you need to know about this show. I wasn't terrible, but that connection I've been making at the last few shows wasn't there, at least not consistently. Maybe that can be attributed to the long layoff—I hadn't performed since late May.
All Of This Will Stay and So Long, Angeline were also a little flat, but the audience seemed to prefer the original material to the covers, which is always nice. Most of the covers are obscure enough to pass for my own songs anyway...
Jane Says went over very well, and I played The Beauty Pool for Adam (he requested The Drowning Pool, the picture of which gave me a chuckle—the real Beauty Pool in Yellowstone is a seemingly bottomless pit of chemicals and heat, all wrapped up in a colorful mirage). I signaled to Adam that I was through, even though I was starting to feel it a bit toward the end of the set.
The Midnight Collective then joined me for a run thorugh U2's All I Want Is You, which we'd also joined forces on at Kenny's in May. After a false start (I forgot the lyrics to the first verse), we gave it a good go through the first two verses, but things just seemed to disintigrate and we just let it wind down. I exited stage right and left the rest to the boys from Scituate.
I watched most of their set from the perimeter of the Harbor, and I must say this was the tightest I've seen them. The sound was pristine and they were all in fine form. You'll be seeing them again in NYC soon...
After their set, I packed up my gear, grabbed a coffee from Dunkin' Doughnuts, and hit the road. I drove through the faded remnants of Hurricane Charley, and though the battery on my iPod died shortly after I left, I sang myself back home, as the Dead would say. I reached my parents' house sometime after two in the morning.
Many thanks to Adam, Ian, and everyone else who mnade this possible. I had a blast and I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. Scituate is a beautiful town.
I'm working on some new songs so the album should be out this fall. I'm playing a benefit in New York on September 11th, and I'm in the early stages of planning the fall dates. I hope to see you all at the local shows!
Enjoy what's left of the summer. October is around the corner, and there's nothing in this world quite like Autumn in New York...
It's been a while since I've attempted anything like this. Pride's Crossing used to road trip quite a bit when I was in college, and for a while, I was even commuting to Boston every weekend to record with the guys from Canine. But aside from the summer of 2001, when I was out West writing songs for Plain and Simple, I haven't had many opportunities to play the bohemian. Boy did that change yesterday.I was in the hospital seeing patients until 1:30, at which time I jumped into my dad's truck and made a beeline for Scituate, MA. The boys from The Midnight Collective had graciously invited me to perform at their Crush Festival in the Harbor, and I was scheduled to take the stage at eight. I arrived at 7:40. Essentially, I drove 5 1/2 hours, through the traffic-infested highways of Connecticut (is there anything but traffic in Connecticut?), hitting the Harbor just in time to plug in. There were enough people milling around to make things interesting, but I followed a punkish college band and preceded the Collective, who are as close to perfect bar band as you can get. More on that later.
I decided to pepper the set with covers, many more so than usual; I'm told my records don't sell terribly well in New England. Also, I was introduced as a Yankees fan, which resulted in my being greeted with a chorus of boos. Not exactly a hero's welcome.
I didn't have a chance to even think much about what to play, so I played it by ear. I decided to tune down to dropped double D for Neil Young's Cortez the Killer and Men At Work's Overkill. I didn't exactly nail either of them, and it was apparent early on that I wasn't feeling it. A lot of people ask about this, because depending on the night, I'm either curled up in a chair, hugging my guitar, and singing with my eyes closed or rocking back and forth in front of the mic stand, looking out over the audience. At Kenny's, I was fully into what I was playing. I never had that sense that I was disappearing into myself at this show. Maybe that has something to with the covers I chose, but more likely it was the venue. I should've brought a band.
Be that as it may, the crowd seemed relatively happy as I struck the first notes of Cloud 9, which is sounding more and more like the first single from the new album. Charlene, which is my favorite of the new batch so far, got a nice reception, especially when I sang that line about Australian women ("I like to take my women like my wine—dry, bold, and Australian"). My Winding Wheel is the song I've been turning to most often when I play in the evening, and it really feels like something I own now. Ryan Adams' music is a good fit for me in general, and I'm going to reintroduce Jacksonville Skyline soon. Fake Plastic Trees, usually a sure thing, fizzled a bit, which tells you all you need to know about this show. I wasn't terrible, but that connection I've been making at the last few shows wasn't there, at least not consistently. Maybe that can be attributed to the long layoff—I hadn't performed since late May.
All Of This Will Stay and So Long, Angeline were also a little flat, but the audience seemed to prefer the original material to the covers, which is always nice. Most of the covers are obscure enough to pass for my own songs anyway...
Jane Says went over very well, and I played The Beauty Pool for Adam (he requested The Drowning Pool, the picture of which gave me a chuckle—the real Beauty Pool in Yellowstone is a seemingly bottomless pit of chemicals and heat, all wrapped up in a colorful mirage). I signaled to Adam that I was through, even though I was starting to feel it a bit toward the end of the set.
The Midnight Collective then joined me for a run thorugh U2's All I Want Is You, which we'd also joined forces on at Kenny's in May. After a false start (I forgot the lyrics to the first verse), we gave it a good go through the first two verses, but things just seemed to disintigrate and we just let it wind down. I exited stage right and left the rest to the boys from Scituate.
I watched most of their set from the perimeter of the Harbor, and I must say this was the tightest I've seen them. The sound was pristine and they were all in fine form. You'll be seeing them again in NYC soon...
After their set, I packed up my gear, grabbed a coffee from Dunkin' Doughnuts, and hit the road. I drove through the faded remnants of Hurricane Charley, and though the battery on my iPod died shortly after I left, I sang myself back home, as the Dead would say. I reached my parents' house sometime after two in the morning.
Many thanks to Adam, Ian, and everyone else who mnade this possible. I had a blast and I'd do it all again in a heartbeat. Scituate is a beautiful town.
I'm working on some new songs so the album should be out this fall. I'm playing a benefit in New York on September 11th, and I'm in the early stages of planning the fall dates. I hope to see you all at the local shows!
Enjoy what's left of the summer. October is around the corner, and there's nothing in this world quite like Autumn in New York...
Setlist: Cortez the Killer (Neil Young cover)/Overkill (Men At Work cover)/Cloud 9/Charlene (debut)/My Winding Wheel (Ryan Adams cover)/Fake Plastic Trees (Radiohead cover)/All Of This Will Stay/So Long, Angeline/Jane Says (Jane's Addiction cover)/The Beauty Pool/All I Want Is You (U2 cover)* *w/ The Midnight Collective
posted by Michael Novick at 12:36 PM
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