4/6/07 - Wild Oats - Aberdeen, S.D.

Soundcheck: | Piper | Set One: | Back in the U.S.S.R. [The Beatles] | Poet Who Didn't Know It | Pay the Toll to Ride the Junebug Flow | Casanova | Another One Bites the Dust [Queen] | Refrigerator | Modern Day Fairy Tales | Crossroads | M'Lady | Spring Fever | The Money Medley (For the Love of Money [The O'Jays] / I Need Some Money [John Lee Hooker] / Gimme Some Money [Spinal Tap] / Money [Pink Floyd] ) | It | Last Night | Like a Spy | Sledgehammer [Peter Gabriel] | Damn the Man | Set Two: | Rapper's Delight [Sugar Hill Gang] (Featuring Fat Cat) | Underneath the Sweet Love | I'm a Bad Mamma Jamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | The Ocean [Led Zeppelin] / To the Next Episode / House of the Rising Sun [Animals] | Jumpstart My Rocket | The Date | Breathe You In | Place | Piss Up a Rope [Ween] | Play That Funky Music [Wild Cherry] | Soul Shaker | Chosen Ones | Clone You | Call Me Up | Mary Jane's Last Dance [Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers] | Tonight was a great start to another weekend at Wild Oats downtown. We had really hoped we'd get a big crowd, with college students and regulars alike. Unfortunately, we hadn't realized until very recently that this weekend is Easter weekend and tonight was Good Friday. This, of course, means that the college students are at home and people are more in a family mindset than a party time frame of mind. Luckily, though, the place wasn't empty. We still had some pretty good attendence, and those who were there were ready to enjoy some drinks and have a good time. We opened with our own Junebug-ized version of "Back in the U.S.S.R." by the Beatles and seemingly caught the crowd's attention. We continued with "Casanova" and then on to "Another One Bites the Dust" by Queen. We've found that the more we play cover tunes in a setting like this, the more people pay attention to our originals. So that's what we did tonight. But we don't ever play covers in a copy-cat way. We always play the songs in our style. The show tonight contained our normal frivolity. We wished Cheryl Tullis a very happy birthday. Anthony told the crowd that "we've come to rock you - and give you Cadillacs." Dustin responded, "Shut up, Oprah." Our friend Wade in the crowd threatened us with "I'll donkey punch you, tomorrow!" We don't know why he threatened this, but he did. Anthony then proceeded to advertise the Donkey skate shop in the Lakewood Mall, and invited people to check it out. Inside info: The Donkey store, which Anthony used to manage, closed up shop some time ago. Anthony was grateful that his presentation got a laugh. Dustin added a "Tromboooooone." The witty banter continued. Later in the show, Dustin thanked the crowd for coming out to Wild Oats tonight. "That was totally not lame of you." We dedicated "Spring Fever" to Liza tonight, even though her mother Diane was consistently protesting spring time in favor of winter snows. She's one of those. Anthony, relating an anecdote, finished his tale by saying, "You know what they say, if the groundhog sees his... uh, Buick Skylark or something.." A crowd member shouted "Shadow!" Dustin affirmed, "Dodge Shadow, yes! Thank you." Anthony descended into giggles. Dustin then encouraged people to buy drinks and tip their waitresses. "But don't tip 'em over!" Classic. Tonight, to introduce "Damn the Man," Anthony went on a mini-rant about hating your job and hating your boss and how you sometimes just want to damn him. Well, I had to add a disclaimer that I work for my future father-in-law. He's my boss. Not to mention, he was present at tonight's show. So, I had to assure him that I do not necessarily support the claims and/or products presented. After it was over, Anthony said to stay tuned for our second set -- Junebug mark two: this time it's personal. To open the second set, Dustin brought out an electric shaver and announced that if at any time during this set, there are four people dancing, "I have this razor here that could be used to shave something." "He'll shave his beard," Anthony announced excitedly. "Let's not limit it to the beard," he replied. "It could be anything." Intriguing, no? The second set started with us poorly attempting "Rapper's Delight" by the Sugarhill Gang. The bright spot was the guest vocal by Aberdeen's own hip-hop artist, Fatcat. We had fun with that fella tonight, for sure. Too bad there weren't more people paying attention to a good tasted of local rap. Afterward, Anthony thanked him saying, "Thank you for breathing life into this boring band." He later introduced "Bad Mamma Jamma" by saying, "You're gonna savor the Wendy's flavor, if you know what I mean." "What do you mean," I asked. No answer. The world will never know. Tonight, we began playing "The Ocean" by Led Zeppelin. It was going very well, and the crowd that was there was completely into it, raising their glasses and bobbing their heads. Then, without warning, "To the Next Episode" reared its ugly head. The crowd was supremely confused by this horrible turn of events. As the song went on, it gave up the struggle to "House of the Rising Sun." Once again, the crowd dug it. They were singing along and swaying their mugs, German-drinking-song style. But alas, "Episode" returned to close out the battle. Much bemusement was held by those in attendence. Then, after a few failed joke attempts, Dustin let everyone know that we have now dropped the "witty" from the banter. We had another special guest tonight, and it was our old friend Elizabeth Andrews. She played violin with us on "The Date," "Breathe You In," "Place" and "Piss Up a Rope." I think she was a bit taken aback by "Piss Up a Rope." I don't quite remember if she practiced this with us or not, but it's kind of a delightfully vulgar and misogynistic song. She may have been uncomfortable. If that is the case, we are sorry. Tonight, a brand new song was debuted. It's called "Call Me Up" and it will be on the upcoming album, Stan. It went okay and the crowd liked it. We then closed with "Last Dance With Mary Jane" and called it a night. I don't think Dustin actually shaved anything tonight. Not on stage, anyway. We'll be back, same time, same place tomorrow night.