June 13 @ Martyrs’ - Chicago, IL
My birthday show! Anne and Casey from 56 Hope Road sat in on Aretha Franklin’s “Think” and we nailed it with no rehearsal. Anne wails!! I got a singing ovation of “Happy Birthday” from the crowd at the end of our set. Yay for another year of being 27!
June 14 @ Alex and Kayla’s Wedding – Bettendorf, IA
We got up way too early to head to the Quad Cities for the wedding of long-time fans, Alex and Kayla. We decided to resurrect an old tune, “Seein’”, from our first album, that Alex has been requesting for a good 4 years or so, and we executed it surprisingly well for having not performed it in years.
Cool little festival on the river in Peoria. Awesome weather, but a shitload of huge mayflies everywhere. Joel from Umphrey’s came out and sat in with us during “Little Walter Rides Again,” which we took into Chameleon, and then a little dueling keyboard action from Joel and Jordan. The crowd was bumpin for the whole set. After the show, we grabbed a quick bite to eat at the pizza place next door, and came back to the festival to find that 56 Hope Road had raided our hospitality trailer of all the beer. (I’m sure Chad will be leaving this detail out of the 56 Hope Road tour blog, but I tell nothing but the truth, folks!)
June 29 @ Lazy River Music Festival – South Elgin, IL
Another way too early departure time for this early afternoon festival set. Weather was erratic all day but we survived our set without getting too wet. Hung out with EOTO and New Monsoon and various other folks backstage and enjoyed some nice hospitality food and drink.
Stay tuned for a (hopefully) timely report on FGC's 4th of July weekend shows!
