Tripping Icarus

It must be every local musicians dream to play First Avenue. It’s certainly been mine, ever since I first started playing locally many years ago. I always imagined it would happen after a lot of planning and even more waiting but it happened today with neither. I awoke to my phone ringing over and over again and when I finally got my eyes to stay open and found my phone I saw that it was Chris. I answered and he asked if I could play a show in the main room in a couple hours as an opening act for Sick Puppies. My first instinct was to say no. We’d had a very short rehearsal early in the week, working on some new songs and running through three or four finished tunes just because we enjoy playing them. But we’re still a new band and, so far, prior to every show we’ve gone in well prepared. For this we were unprepared and very rushed.

I got myself together and met Andy at the rehearsal space. We got all the guitars and amps into our cars and headed for First Ave. It was at the peak of downtown rush hour traffic and Washington Ave. was a parking lot. Andy and I frantically called each other. Finally I made a right onto a street that, at one time before all the changes and the stadium, exited into and away from downtown. No longer! It dumped us onto westbound 394 into a sea of traffic that wasn’t moving. By the time we made it to Penn Avenue to turn around, raced back downtown and made it to First Ave, Chris had already picked up Matthew in Roseville, gone to the space, torn down the drums, and unloaded. We pulled into First Avenues parking garage and a gaggle of First Ave employees unloaded our gear and raced it inside. We got the low down, got all our gear onstage, and did little more than turn on the amps and tune the guitars before we took ten minutes in the break room to decide upon a set list and catch our breaths.

Soon enough the Sick Puppies stage manager knocked on the green room door and, without a sound check and with our fingers crossed, we took the stage. The curtain went up and we went on and…

Well it was a great time, one of the most exciting shows I ever played if only because of the pace of the entire afternoon. Being on the First Ave stage opening for a national act was such a surreal experience I remember very little of the sensations inside and out. I remember taping all of my pedals together for fear of kicking a chord lose, a little piece of tape on every chord that went in or out of my effects, then taping the chords to the stage, an ugly exercise in nervous over-doing it. I remember how big Andy’s guitar sounded when he played the opening parts to the first song. I remember the looks on the faces of the people in front of the stage, all gathered tight against the mosh rail, and their expressions which must have expressed sentiments akin to “Who the fuck are these guys?” But we got them going with us, and that’s what matters.

I don’t remember thinking “Is this really happening?” although that’s all I’ve thought since.Everything just went by so fast and every part of the experience was so rushed, it was more dream than reality. Still, the sweat on that historic stage has got a little Tripping Icarus in it. I can’t wait until we’re headlining. I assure you that, on that night, the very first thing that will enter my mind once the curtain starts going up is “Is this really fucking happening?”