Set One:
| Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | M'Lady | Law & Order Theme [Mike Post] | Don't Let Me Down [The Beatles] | Modern Age | Place | Hell-Bent Woman / Vasoline [Stone Temple Pilots] | Beards | Chosen Ones | Prelude / 7 Eleven |
Set Two:
| I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Refrigerator | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Mystic Princess | Fluffy Little Hands | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) [double time] | Angel [Aerosmith] / To the Next Episode | Stan | Jumpstart My Rocket | Downtown Liquor Store | Crossroads | Heaven's Just a Mystery |
Encore:
| Handlebar Mustache / Champagne Wishes Jam |
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| Poster designed by Tony L. Kollman |
Every time we play in Aberdeen I end up typing the same thing into the show diary -- something to the effect of "it's always so great to come back to Aberdeen." It's true. So here is my traditional expression of that: It's always so great to come back to Aberdeen.
We played again at Slacker's for the first time. Meaning, we've played at Slacker's before, but they have moved and this is the first time we've played in the new location. In the old space, there was no stage. Bands would just set up on rugs in front of the big front window. In the new space, there's a stage and the drum set ends up being set up in a display window. So people outside can come within a foot of the drummer and stare at him/her if they so choose. I felt like a zoo animal. And I liked it.
Playing with us tonight were our pals Honest Engine, featuring a member of the Junebug family on guitar. Our former bassist and old friend Brandon Johnson now calls Aberdeen home and it was really good to see him again. The way things had worked out, we hadn't even really seen him at all since he left Junebug a couple years ago. But he came right up to me, gave me a big ol' bear hug, and it was like no time had passed. And he and the Engine boys killed it on stage. What a fantastic show, complete with a hard rockin' version of "Royals." I mean it. It was good.
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| From Instagram: @JunebugMusic |
We got started in our typical fashion, noodling around while the levels get set. Dustin greeting the crowd saying, "Hello, Aberdeen. It's your hometown zeroes." Anthony interjected, "Don't call it a comeback." "Because it's... it's not," Dustin replied.
We kicked into high gear off the bat with a couple of older favorites from Share. Again, in typical Junebug fashion, the top of the show was plagued with technical difficulties. I mean, it wouldn't be Junebug if there wasn't some kind of issue, right? Anthony's gear was messing up and while he went to work on it, the rest of us kicked in a bit of the ol' "Law & Order" theme. Always appropriate. Never gets old. No debate. When it was done, we heard a request for the "Gilligan's Island" theme.
It's been no secret that the main riff in "Hell-Bent Woman" was inspired by Stone Temple Pilots' "Vasoline." Therefore tonight, we decided to pay tribute to this fact by mashing the two together. Did it work? It was surely fun. I'll leave it there.
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| Let me take you to a place... |
We kicked off the second set with a slow jam which ramped up into Bad Mamma Jamma, much to this Aberdeen crowd's delight. We continued with some more solid tunes of our own. We wound down that stretch with "Fluffy" and just as it ended, Anthony's mom shouted out "Bad Mamma Jamma!" Well, we already played it and we let her know. She wasn't satisfied. She wanted to hear it, dang it. And she's Anthony's mother. Anthony said, "My mom wants to hear 'Bad Mamma Jamma' so we're gonna play half of it!" A look of great insult descended upon Mrs. Bergman's face and she shouted, "AM I HALF YOUR MOTHER?!?" So in an unprecedented move, we played "Bad Mamma Jamma" a second time in the same set. But with a twist. We played it in its entirety, but twice as fast. It was a workout. And a success.
As sad as it may sound, there are some Junebug tunes that have sort of retired themselves. Some songs only get played in Aberdeen for the die-hard, longtime fans. And then only sometimes. Tonight we got a request for "Downtown Liquor Store" by one Mr. Scott Waltman. Though we haven't played this song probably since the last time we were in Aberdeen, we obliged Mr. Waltman happily. It's a song of triumph and inspiration. Why wouldn't we?
We unveiled some tunes tonight from the next album we're currently working on, Stan. Aberdeen got to hear "7 Eleven" for the first time tonight. They also got to hear "Stan" for the first time since our going away party at the Ramkota in August 2007.
We closed out the night with a jam on "Heaven's Just a Mystery" from Beards. But when it was complete, boy oh boy, Aberdeen wanted more. So we appeased their appeals for "one more song" with "Handlebar Mustache" dedicated to our good pal Wade.
You can't describe how we feel in Aberdeen. It's like coming home. It's like we never left. As Anthony said tonight, "There is no place in the world like Aberdeen, South Dakota." So many beautiful people. So much love. 'Til next time, my friends.
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