As a Minnesota cover band: Roll with the Changes is not just a song we perform, it’s a way we are required to operate. We learn, experiment, adjust, sometimes on our own prompting, sometimes due to necessity. But, we always learn and grow.
The Dog House in Maplewood is a fantastic venue : great stage and sound, lovely people and ambience. A perfect place for us to play. This night was already shaping up to be big: there were 2 birthday parties in progress as well as a local hockey fundraiser, so the people were ready for a show. Our lead guitarist Henry, still healing from an ankle-break, was situated at the end of the stage so he could most easily enter and exit. He spent the night shredding from a chair.
That alone can be difficult to play complicated leads from a seated position, but it made it all the more challenging with onstage setup and visual cues. We had a couple misses there. He also could not prowl the audience per normal, but we made the best of it. We introduced a keytar and a harmonica – well-received but we still aim to get them more smoothly integrated into our process. We went without a bass guitar for the bulk of SHOUT. The wireless had accidentally been kicked to a different channel. Fortunately, the focus from the audience was on Mark’s trombone playing. The misses, the slightly longer change-over times were very minor – most would not even notice, but we do. That hones our resolve to get back to the woodshed to make the show even better- we aim higher. So many congratulated us and told us how much they enjoyed our show, so many compliments on how well we perform together is validation that the show is very good, but we aim higher.
Years ago, we would have considered that show to be one of our best ever. Nowadays, we (again) aim higher. We want flawless. We want the best for our audience. So back to the woodshed.