Sometimes it’s hard to get a foot in the door when you’re a band that books their own shows. Many places defer to agent – represented bands to fill their music programs. Over the years this Minnesota cover band has built a good reputation, so we’ve gathered some pretty impressive shows to date on our own: Minnesota Vikings games, Moondance Jam, Midsummer Music Festival, and city festivals such as Chaska River City Days and Slice of Shoreview come to mind (along with the bar/nightclubs we play). The larger metro county fair circuit was one we’d yet to break into… until now.
Representatives from the Dakota County Fair saw us at a local club and decided to give us a try for their mid-week headliner in the beer tent. Wednesdays have a bit more of a transient crowd, and people go home early mid-week. That’s ok with us. We had excellent sound from Soundwave Productions, a ramp up to the stage for easy load-in and a fantasticly large stage to prowl.
People watched and clapped while the little kids danced. We had some Sugar Buzz faithful there to dance early. The second set was when the hyped up teens and young adults came in to sing along and see what the fuss was all about (we were told you could hear our show all over the grounds… and the grounds were huge!)
Nirvana’s “Smells Like Teen Spirit” drew them in. This song is decades old, but the youngsters knew it… along with Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”. We remembered WHY we put those in the last set. It’s for the more hard- core. They stayed for Uptown Funk and shouted along with SHOUT.
We finished with a flourish of energy. And, as we were breaking down the set, singer Beth joined the crowd as the DJ took over for a couple line dances like the Cupid Shuffle.
The reviews came in . The Fair management loved us. We hope to be back next year, and maybe with a date a bit closer to the weekend – but we’re here to break in!