Uptown Bar
Minneapolis, Minn.
Set:
| Pay the Toll to Ride the Junebug Flow | Poet (Who Didn't Know It) | I'm a Bad MammaJamma (Who Works at Wendy's) | M'Lady | The Date | Chosen Ones | Gamma Ray [Beck] | Like a Spy (Not the Stalker) | Last Night | Clone You | Aphrodite | Jumpstart My Rocket | Damn the Man |
What a great night we had tonight at the Uptown! I know we say this alot, but tonight's show truly was one of the best shows we've played. It was a Friday night, the Uptown Bar was packed, and everyone was in the mood for a heck of a good time. We opened tonight for The Isles (of which Nick's wife Anna is a member) and Chosen Robot.
Right off the bat, we had solid rock-block energy. Many of the people at the show tonight had never heard us before, so this was our chance to reel them in. It worked. Starting with the introductory "Pay the Toll" and moving on with rockers and dancers, people were into it right away.
Tonight marked the return of fan favorite, "Like a Spy (Not the Stalker)". It is a very welcome addition to our regular set now. It's true that we've been playing mostly the same twenty songs for the past six months, but this is going to be our last show until March. We plan on working up a bunch more songs that we haven't had time to work up lately.
So thanks for coming out to the Uptown, folks. You made this show into another amazing one.
Tonight was the first night we've played at Shaw's. It's a great little pub on Northeast University in Minneapolis. Really cozy and friendly. The waitress was the friendliest server I've had in a long time. I got the sense also that there was a good number of regulars hanging around, and that the next time we play there, we'll see a lot of familiar faces. There was a real good small-town vibe. It kind of reminded me of Aberdeen a little bit.
So we descended upon the great Whiskey Junction in Minneapolis for the second time in twenty days. Tonight's set was really solid and diverse. We whipped out "Place" tonight, which we haven't played for quite some time. It's a long song, so it seems we only play it when we know we have a longer amount of time alotted, which we did tonight. We also played "Spring Fever" as well as the Rolling Stones tune, "Dead Flowers." We had originally worked the latter up for our bowling alley gig, but had to cut it for time that night. So we broke it out tonight, and the rock was good. Nothin' like a little 'Stones at the end of the night to get folks raising their glasses and putting the arms around each other. But then, after that, we all damned the man together and that felt just as awesome.
Tonight we opened for The Lost Marbles, a nine-piece blues-rock band. They were a lot of fun and had a real good vibe about them. We were happy to share the bill and the stage with them.
Bowling alleys: they're not just for bowling and drinking any more. No, no. In today's world, bowling alleys now mean good ol' rock and/or roll as well as the above mentioned joys. Tonight, Junebug descended upon Memory Lanes bowling alley in Minneapolis to mix the sound of funky rock and roll with the satisfying sounds that a bowling alley provides; balls rolling, pins falling, drunken people shouting and hooting... It was beauty in its truest form. In fact, the evening was so beautiful that some dude bowled a 298 just before the bands went on. He was two pins short of a perfect game, which is awesome.
So there we were, playing rock music in a bowling alley. It was pretty awesome the way they set it up. They turned off three of the actual lanes and set up the stage right on top of them. That way, we could more easily distract those bowlers who were trying to concentrate. But why would you want to, with us on stage? I had said that I wished people could bowl right under us. But I suppose the bowlers need to see the pins at the end of lane, huh.
Tonight was our first appearance at Bunkers in Minneapolis. We opened for The New Congress, the Thursday night house band at Bunkers. This was a gig we were kind of looking forward to. It had the potential of being a brand new crowd that would most likely dig what we do. As it was, most of the crowd didn't fill in until after we were done, but those who came early felt the flow.
Tonight was a special night. It was the first Junebug show of 2009, the year which Nick has designated The Year of the 'Bug. It was also special because our dear old friend, Vanessa C. was in town from Seattle. It was the first time she'd seen us play since the days of playing acoustic in friends' basements. Having her in the crowd was great. This was the first time we have played Whiskey Junction. It was definitely a fun venue. The stage wall was decorated in the club's winter motif, with sticks arranged as bare trees and snowflakes scattered about. It looked pretty cool.
Tonight, Anthony announced to crowd that we're going to be on Oprah really soon. To his chagrin, we had to correct him and let everyone know that it's actually KARE 11's "Showcase Minnesota" that we'll be on. What can we say? The boy loves Ms. Winfrey. But who doesn't? Other than that, the show was pretty typical. Except I (tony) tried to hit on the collective crowd, asking it if they come here often and what their collective sign is. When there was absolutely no response, I dejectedly started the next song. Furthermore, we later gave a shoutout to all those who went to high school in North Dakota (we know there were some there). It was again met with complete silence.
