Revival Road: part 2

So Dave Hause has put me and a plus one on the guest list for the Nottingham show, four days after the Manchester show. In between the tour has been to Dublin, Glasgow and Newcastle so this is the 6th night of the tour. By now the guys would be really in the swing of things, used to each others songs, some good covers worked out, should make for an even better show than Manchester in theory. The only problem was, was Dave Hause going to remember and keep his promise? Tweeting him during the day to ask for confirmation was useless because which musicians reply to or even read the tweets of their fan followers?

The show wasn't sold out so we (me and my sister) set out anyway, thinking worst case scenario is we have to buy a ticket at the box office if we aren't on the list. Two and a half hours later we are parked directly next to the venue and hanging around out back trying to catch the band to get our albums and photos signed. We could hear Dave sound checking but other than that not much was going on. The box office was closed so we had no choice but to queue outside Rock City and hope for the best. The show was approaching and still no idea but we were a little alarmed at the group building a separate queue on the box office side. Prior knowledge maybe??? Anyway, 10 minutes before doors a personal message drops into my twitter inbox, its usually phishing scam so Im expecting this but NO, Dave Hause messages "Just putting you on the list now man, enjoy the show" Awesome, Dave Hause personal messaging me. We got in, we got on the barrier at the front standing right in front of Brian Fallon's mic stand and next to a fellow Dimestore Saint - Alexander.

I liked the venue. If you've never been this is what its like. A wide stage in the middle facing the entrance doors. The venue is much wider than it is deep with a bar at each end and a balcony at the back over the entrance doors directly facing the stage.

The guys started the gig promptly and went about the show with similar songs to the Manchester show just varying their sets by a couple of songs each. Not to say that it was repetitive though. They were clearly all having a great time up there. Half the enjoyment for me was seeing these guys that i look up to a lot just hanging out with their friends on stage and playing their songs in such great spirit and passion. The highlights this time for me were Long Ride home by Brian and Dave (Patti Griffin cover), Old White Lincoln by Brian, Crush by The Horrible Crowes and the finale 'Revival Road' by the whole band, a song that I had now become familiar with. An awesome song; more on that later in the song of the blog;)

The official setlist was supposed to contain a fourth Horrible Crowes song ' I Believe Jesus brought us Together' but was cut out because during 'Cherry Blossom' (The quietest most emotional song on the whole show) some ignorant people about 7 rows back were chatting and laughing loudly amongst themselves. Brian finished the song and then started discussing the next Gaslight Anthem album and had to stop saying something like (and Im paraphrasing) "You must be having a real fucking interesting conversation over there" he was quite angry and when the houselights were cast over them they high fived and  Brian said (again im paraphrasing(you get the idea))"Oh yeah high five thats really cool" "You know I'm not sure if all of these people here came here to see me but they sure as fuck didn't come to hear you" At this point the whole room cheered and clapped for what must have been a whole minute.  That seemed to shut them up anyway. By this time Brian was a bit annoyed so after carrying on with his story somebody shouted for him to play and he responded "Yeah, Im getting to that but heres what you need to do; find a few friends, write some songs, try and get somebody to listen and then maybe you can get up here and play what you want, Keep em coming I got a load more of these I could do this all day" or something to that effect. He'd called one fan earlier an idiot not one but three times for cheering BRUUUUUUUCCE! Long story short Brian didn't seem as happy during the show but once he'd finished dealing with the troublesome crowd he seemed to perk up for his Gaslight Anthem songs. Theres no way they could have performed 'I believe Jesus brought us together' over the voices so unfortunately it was dropped. A shame that a few had to ruin it for the rest.

It didn't totally ruin the show it just tainted it a little. A plus for my sister was that Dave kept commenting on her being the pretty girl in the front row distracting him which she loved when she realised he was talking about her. Similar to last time we went to meet the band after the show and they were much quicker at coming out to speak to the fans. Unfortunately the fans couldn't get close to Brian for 15 minutes because his hecklers had come out to either apologise or argue their point which seemed to aggravate Brian at first. His explanation for his outburst was that he misses his friends and family when he tours and its all going on in his mind all the time and these people pushed him over the edge. I felt sorry for him because they still continued arguing and I was this close to wringing some girls neck for shouting insults. He said his concern was that these people were spoiling the show for others who had paid and had right to enjoy the show without hinderance.

More people were after his attention so we didn't get to chat as the hecklers were hanging around annoyingly still trying to talk their way back into his good books or put their point across for the millionth time. I did get 2 of my photos with him signed and had a new one done too which was better. Got 2 more albums signed by Chuck Ragan and went over to say thanks to Dave for the guest list spots. We got photos taken more autographs and he held off other fans until he'd finished talking to us and making sure we got what we wanted from him. Real nice guy and next time he's over either solo or with The Loved Ones I'll definitely go watching. Maybe he'll even remember me and my sister?

I was a little disappointed I had'nt had chance to speak to Ian, he'd disappeared when we came to leave and his was the only photo that I hadn't had signed so we walked back into the quiet multistorey and over to the car and who should be paying at the meter. Ian and a friend of his from Johnny Cupcakes. He remembered me from the Manchester show and wrote me a message on the photo that he signed which was cool. They both invited me to a Johnny Cupcakes event but unfortunately I can't make it.

That drew a close to another great night. As we pulled out of the car park Brian looked up from the people he was talking to and gave us a quick wave and a nod. In the distraction I forgot to put my headlights on and turned the wrong way up a one way street. Luckily it was quiet...

Song of the blog this time is Revival Road as mentioned earlier. I just think this song sums up The Revival Tour. Its used as the last song to say goodbye to the fans before the Tour hits the road again. Its got all the makings of a great folk song and I think this song should close every Revival Tour show there is. Maybe it will go down in history and become one of the legendary folk songs that people still sing in 100 years time like the traditional folk songs. Its a nice idea. Heres the link. Enjoy the camaraderie

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YCjaJ1EMmoY

Fare thee well for now...