Gig report: 9/30/23 Sunset Grooves at the Bite of Broadview

I love the back-to-back gigs and I also hate them. I love 'em because I get to play music. Nothing I'd rather do. I hate them because of the waiting around and the commute and the getting home tired, etc. But I am not complaining. It's what players like me strive for.

This year, I had Planets on Friday, 9/29. Then I had Sunset Grooves on Saturday, 9/30. Looking back, same thing happened last year, with Planets on 9/23, and then SGs on 9/24. Good times.

This gig was my second time playing the Bite of Broadview, the third time overall for the Sunset Grooves (last year's write up is here: BOB 2022. For some reason, I thought it was quite chilly last year and in reading through the recap quickly, apparently it was 70° but ended up cooling off. This year, we are getting another bit of an Indian summer, and it was in the high 60's, with an expected cool off after the sun went down.

Earlier in the day, Dusty messaged the group chat with the suggestion that we go with a "70's denim vibe," which is cool, if you have "70's denim vibe" clothes, which I don't. I was planning on wearing my flamingo suit, since I'd be on a big stage and it might be cool out. But then I pivoted, going with the Canadian tuxedo look. I don't have cool vintage jeans, but just a pair of Levis and a jean jacket on top.

After spending all day troubleshooting, pulling out, shopping for, installing, and then troubleshooting a dishwasher, I didn't have much time to get ready. Luckily, it's getting to be second nature, so I packed up both L-1000s, packed up the pedalboard, grabbed the flamingo suit, shirt and white shoes, just in case, then headed out the door for the Shoreline area again.

Putting in the new dishwasher pre gig.

I got there and last year, next to the stage, there was a "green room," which consisted of a canopy and some tables. This year, nothing. Nowhere to put gear or hang out. Mainly concerned about putting a couple K worth of gear on the ground in the open, but I trusted in the goodness of others (it worked out).

Haley was meeting me there as she needed her SS card for a job she got in Bellingham. Though she's only been back at school for a week, anytime I get to see her, especially when it's at a gig, it's special. She showed up and we got to hang for a little bit. I got us some dinner at a food truck selling crepes (quite good) and got our grub on.

The kid and me.

Since this gig was up north and a lot of my crew lives up there, I asked people to come out. Cass drove out, Steve and Salena showed up, as did his mates Dan and Alan. We all got to catch up a bit and it was nice to have some support for a change.

Usually when we play out, we have to provide the PA and lights. For that reason, it's always super nice to play a gig where there's a stage, lights, PA and a sound guy. The band before us did classic rock and did it pretty well and they were sounding great out front. They did their thing and then we got setup and ready to go.

Stage with classic rock band.

One thing I love about the SG gig is that it encouraged me to try out stuff I otherwise would not have. I'm able to dress up, play a different pedal and also use IEMs. It does make the load in/load out a lot easier, but in a case like this gig, I did have to rely on the sound person to have my mix dialed in. My IEM receiver/transmitter also seems to be weird at times. I don't know if it's normal, or if my units have problems. I get some interference from time to time. Last night wasn't too bad, but I'd love a gig with no weird glitches.

Everything sounded pretty good otherwise, but I did have some issues with the bass being too loud, then the keyboards too quiet (and then too loud), and Jen's vocals being too loud. Easy enough for me to tell the sound guy to adjust, but still annoying when he wasn't getting it perfect. I ended up just dealing with what I had.

Getting announced by Mike the MC.

Set 1 with the Hog, set 2 with the Gold.

Another issue was that it was quite chilly on stage. My basses were all sharp due to the cold, my fingers kept sticking to the strings. Kept me from sweating, though, so there was a positive to it all. We powered through the first set and for me, I played pretty well. I got through my nemesis, "Brandy," without issues. Most songs ended up being fine. We took a quick break and then got back onstage but had to cut our set short due to a hard stop at 10pm. We ended up trimming out about 5 songs, but ended up having a great time anyway.

As mentioned, load out was easy and quick and I was home by 10:45.

Next up: Sunset Grooves at the Central.