CJ, HNS, 4/22/2012

We played an Alliance for Animals benefit with four other bands. The sound guy was really cranky and not helpful. He did not offer to sound check anyone...but after the show complained that no one sound checked. Yeah...dude you gotta set that up...that's your job.  Even with the bad attitude, my monitor mix was pretty good and I didn't have any trouble singing (CT said his mix was terrible though...and it was totally unclear that the sound guy was willing to help fix it, so he didn't even ask him). An awkward MC interupted people's sets to pick raffle tickets and told bad jokes badly between sets. Not many people came. We played ok. I spaced the opening to Bird...a classic case of...gee I've never messed THAT up before. And my voice almost gave out on Where Is My Mind. I'm puzzled by this. For almost two years I sang that song flawlessly. And about two months ago I started having trouble with it. I never practice it because I hate making that noise...but I guess maybe I need to start practicing it. I also think that I may be over thinking it and messing myself up. I think that Velouria, Dig, and Ana all need work...but they are likely to fall off the regular set list soon anyway. We purposely played all the animal songs and all the slow songs...and the pacing on that certainly would drive away any normal crowd...so won't do that again. I also think starting the show with In Heaven/Wave UK is a mistake that we all agreed was a mistake. Could be a 2nd set opener...but not a show starter. I noticed that it is hard to shake off nerves when you don't play any fast songs too. I noticed that the two songs that people really reacted to were Manta Ray and Here Comes Your Man...and I really think it was just because they were up tempo compared to the others. We had the usual handful of people come up to us after the show and tell us that we nailed the Pixies and where could they see us next. That's nice to keep hearing...even when the crowd is small.

Setlist:
In Heaven
Wave UK
Velouria
Palace
Letter
Bird Dream
Monkey
Manta Ray
Caribou
Ana
Dig
Here Comes
Where Is
Gigantic (cut for time)