Our euphoric high from Hiawatha continued the Tuesday after, temporarily dulling our senses for the Tuesday Evening Music Club. Held in the Meijer Gardens Outdoor Amphitheater in Grand Rapids, the Music Club originated from the mind of prominent Grand Rapids singer-songwriter Ralston Bowles to showcase regional up and coming artists. Every Tuesday night from the beginning of July through the end of August, two bands take the stage between 7pm and 9pm. Earlier this summer, music legends Elvis Costello, Huey Lewis, and Brian Wilson played on the very same stage. It was both empowering and nerve-wracking to play on the same stage in an amphitheater large enough to to fit 1,900 people. Easily, this would be the largest venue we had ever played.
The closing band was already sound-checking when Nic and I arrived. After dropping off our equipment by the stage, the concert coordinator showed us around the venue, most notably to the private cushy green room complete with munchies and iced down drinks.
Backstage, Ralston asked us a few questions about our sound and working dynamic for our big introduction. Sadly, I can not recall his exact wording suffice to say that Nic and I initially did not know how to respond. His questions sounded more like rhetorical quandaries posed by a life guru than softball lines easily answered by pre-scripted talking points. Given that every song we play is inspired by a range of influences and that our future as a cohesive unit feels constantly in flux, his prompts stirred more soul-searching responses (in myself at least) than Ralston was looking for.
Possibly as a result, Ralston just brought Eric up to the other microphone to describe our sound in his own words instead of Ralston's.
To hear Ralson speak is to be in awe. Ralston has a sage-like quality with the way he describes his own experiences. Having been in the music business for a longer than any of us in the band have been alive, it was inspiring to speak with someone so willing to share advice with the intent of making our journey a little easier.
As the audience size grew, so did my expectations of our performance creating a mental chasm between them and my evaluation of how we actually played. Judging by the overall audience response, we put on a great show. In my head, we sounded like flailing amateurs. Certain songs punched through with the tightness of our best nights, but other songs felt sloppy and unsynchronized. The sloppiness could be partially attributed to our monitor mix which dramatically shifted through the beginning of our set. For the first three songs, a low feedback hum rang through our stage speakers before the sound of my bass-drum and Nic's bass cut out entirely, to be restored several songs later.
But other bits of sloppiness were entirely our own doing: slow song transitions, wildly fluctuating tempos, and instrument malfunctions. I felt like we were letting Ralston down as well as ourselves and imagining him backstage with his face in his hands did not help my concentration.
Still, warm applause at the end made me feel like we did not entirely blow the opportunity although it took awhile to remove that negativity from my skull.
After moping in the green room for a few minutes, I headed back to the stage to hear the closing act. Strangely, the audience did not seem to be responding to their songs and possibly as a result, a slow but steady trickle of people drained the amphitheater of its numbers and clapping hands. The security guard at the amphitheater entrance smiled at me and said that he thought we were the best Tuesday night band they had ever had. Final door count, 1,400 people, the largest audience ever for the Tuesday Night Music Club.
My elation was short lived. Ralston came over and asked why we were not all manning our merchandise booth. 'Standing at the booth increases merchandise sales by 20%,' he said. In my head I grumbled a choicely worded response though in my heart I knew he was just looking out for us. It didn't matter how big the audience was. Ralston was simply calling us out stating that our job as performers did not end after our set. It was just beginning as salespeople. Thank you Ralston, sincerely for your uncompromising honesty. Let the journey begin.
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| The crowd and us on-stage. Thanks Erin for the picture. |
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| The wise, gracious, and blisteringly honest Ralston Bowles. |
Above is a video from the performance. One of Eric's originals 'Enthusiastic Evangelistic Preacher Man' due to be released in November. - Thanks to Catbob for the great video footage.
