Set:
| Please Please Me [The Beatles] | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | Beards | Destiny, She Drives a Rolls | Mystic Princess | Fluffy Little Hands | Prelude / 7 Eleven | Modern Age | Stan |
We were asked back to Twin Cities Pride again this year. This is the fifth time in six years that we've played this festival and we love it every time. There's always such a positive air of love and inclusion hanging over Loring Park during this festival. And that's what we've always been all about: unity and good times. We're always happy to be a part of that atmosphere.
We played the Loring Stage again and this year it was emceed by the fabulous Foxy Tann, the self-proclaimed Boss of Burlesque. She started by welcoming the crowd and she said, "I'm so glad to see the youngsters here blowing out their ears so they're ready for their teenage years!" Touche, Ms. Tann. She later went on to talk about how she would be shepherding us through our debauched weekend. Love it.
We kicked off the set with "Please Please Me": that old chestnut written by some youngsters in Liverpool. Afterward, Anthony welcomed the crowd to the show and said he hoped there was somebody pleasing somebody behind some bushes somewhere. Keepin' it classy as always!
We kept rockin' it - another solid high-energy set filled with rockers. It was mostly tried and true Beards material, but there were some offerings from Stan. In a rare occurrence, we underprepared our set and were told we had more time that we had originally allotted. We happily added on. People were loving it. There were people dancing, individuals both of grown-up and child variety. Our crowd seemed to grow as the set went on, which of course is a good thing. It seemed the crowd energy maybe lulled a bit during "7 Eleven" but we brought them back with "Modern Age," I think. We closed out with "Stan," the title track from the new album we're working on. I'd call it a success.
The weather was beautiful -- at least for our set. Later on, there was a huge downpour of rain and some of the musical performances ended up cancelled, but the weather for our set was perfect.
The weather was beautiful -- at least for our set. Later on, there was a huge downpour of rain and some of the musical performances ended up cancelled, but the weather for our set was perfect.
If I had one criticism it would be this: I wish that, as in years past, they had asked us for lyrics to provide to the American Sign Language interpreters onstage. Each year, they have ASL interpreters onstage and I love watching them to see what our songs look like. This year, just moments before our start time, I spoke briefly with one of the interpreters and she asked if we happened to have any lyrics printed out. Sadly, the answer was no, so she asked if she could at least have a setlist with song titles, which I happily provided. However, I did notice there were a number of times in which it seemed she couldn't necessarily make out the lyrics well enough to sign them. So that was a bummer. On the bright side, she did seem to catch most of it and it was fun to watch as always.
The crew on this stage is fantastic. It's been pretty much the same crew every year if I remember correctly. I recognized all their faces and they are always so kind, helpful, professional, accommodating, etc. Any words you would use to describe an excellent stage crew works on this team. The mixes in both the monitors and the mains were fantastic. I thanked them after the show and being the consummate professionals, they turned it around on me and said I was the one who was good. I know the truth, though. Working with professionals feels good.
Happy Pride, Twin Cities! We hope to see you again next year!
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