Monday, December 7, 2015

Last Trip of the Year

Yacht Rock played a show in Indianapolis Friday night.  It was unusual in that it wasn't connected to any other midwestern dates--we flew up for the single gig at The Vogue in Broad Ripple, and then got up the next morning and flew home.  

Friday:  This trip felt like a series of naps.  I basically napped for a few hours the night before we left;  I slept on the plane;  we set up and played;  we crashed in our hotel rooms for a few hours;  I slept on the plane.  I even fell asleep in between sets at the gig.


A small bus picked us up at the Indy airport and drove us to The Vogue.  Almost enough room!


One major disadvantage to not having all of our own gear was that we did not use in ear monitors.  Instead, we had monitor wedges for everybody.  It was LOUD.  I'd forgotten how much more difficult it is to hear everybody on stage.  We also played on rented equipment, which for the most part, was pretty good.  Both keyboards were in good condition.  The keyboard stands (both mine and Bencuya's) were ROUGH.

We had Kip, though, so sound-wise, it was as good as it could be.  He provided Nick with an in ear pack so that he wouldn't blow out his voice.

This gig was unusual in that we played a private party for the first set, and then the doors were opened to the sold out crowd for two public sets.  Sold out!  Indy is good to us.  It's easy--mention that five us are Indiana University graduates, and the place goes nuts.


Our rooms at the Broad Ripple Inn, a house a few blocks away from The Vogue converted into a bed and breakfast.  We left too early for breakfast, but the beds were nice.




The Vogue still has one of the tiniest, shittiest dressing rooms in the universe.


Nice gig!  This one went by pretty quickly, even though it was three sets.  I guess the first set was a bit subdued because it was a company party, but the thousand people who turned up for public sets were...very excited!  Considering how different the stage sound was compared to that which we've grown accustomed, I think we gave them a great show.

My bed (and the matching twin bed) had a vintage blanket--army hospital blankets?  Nice touch.


Saturday:  up too early again for the flight home.

This is the last I saw of Kip before I fell asleep.


The early flight back to Atlanta left us just enough time to go home, eat lunch, grab our equipment, and head out the door for our next gig.

We played a holiday festival at a private school north of Atlanta.  Wow!  It looked like an expensive junior college.  The gym was an arena.  It must cost big bucks to go to school here.

Unfortunately, the party was stale.  We were on stage in this enormous room with a couple of hundred people who mostly sat at their tables far away from the stage in the darkness and watched us.  After the frenzy of a thousand person show the night before, this was very underwhelming.  We were very happy to end at 9 PM.