Show Journal 2005-11-11
North Bend rocked our world last night. After a few so-so shows in a row it was nice to have ‘a little kick ass’ in our world again. We had never been to North Bend/Coos Bay before and it had the following: a big venue, nice staff, pretty good sound, real good lights, a good promoter and most importantly a large crowd that completely embraced a band they had probably never heard of. I’m hoping the positive reaction was because we played well, but I suspect everyone was amped up enough on their own that Justin could have held a microphone to his ass and someone would have started a pit. Well I guess any one of us could have been holding the mic to their asses, but Justin would be the one most likely to actually do it. Unfortunately because of some traffic in Portland we missed Core 13 and about half of Vern’s set. The ones we did meet from those bands seemed cool enough and that goes a long way with us. We loaded up and played about 15 minutes after arriving. I was still shaking from the cold since Justin somehow managed to mess up the van window. How you ask? I have no idea. He rolled it down and then announced that it wouldn’t roll back up. Dave eventually fixed it but we had to drive 4 of the 5 hours with the front window down which led to near hypothermia in myself and Dustin who we sitting in the back seat. Thankfully the show was awesome. People tried to sing along with every song they could figure out and had a pit going for most of the show. I couldn’t have asked for anything better so thanks to everyone who listened to us with an open mind and enjoyed themselves. I didn’t see too much of Words Fall Short since we were meeting so many people but they sounded pretty damn tough. Lunaractive was the band of the night and they tore the place a new one. They had everyone singing and moving the entire set which was pretty impressive because that was a lot of people to keep moving. I’m admittedly a little jealous since they have their stuff together so well and a relatively young age. Props to them for sure. Also, I’ve got to say they are definitely one of the nicest bands we’ve ever run across. It’s refreshing to see a younger band with so many fans that doesn’t have an ego about themselves. I know we were grateful of the large crowd and it seems they were too. All in all a good night. Well until the Jalapeno Potato Chips and the toxic fluids of Rockstar soda met in my stomach somewhere between Eugene and Wilsonville, but that’s another story. Thanks so much to everyone at the Port Events Center, Ethan and Lunaractive, and the other bands who we met and didn’t meet, and extra thanks to Patrick for putting on one of the smoothest running shows we’ve played all year.