Gig Report: ArtBar, 12/1/12

Now that was a night!

The Berries and our designated videographer loaded up my minivan and headed to Columbia at about 4:30 yesterday afternoon. Load-in at the club was at 7, which gave us time to grab dinner at a local sandwich shop. Perhaps the greatest adventure of the night was getting from dinner to the venue after I missed a turn, but we still got there in plenty of time and got loaded in quite nicely, using the drum kit from Gravitron (and I’m grateful for that — I’m not sure my kit would have fit comfortably on the stage, and I know humping it in would have aggravated my lumbago.)

This was the band’s first bar show after shambling through years as something between a would-be working band and a rock-oriented comedy troupe, and I’ll confess to having some pretty serious pre-show jitters, but I’ve got to say that our set went about as well as I could hope. A sizable Newberry contingent showed up, and we also got to make lots of new friends while we were at it. With luck, we’ll have some footage up somewhere pretty soon. As soon as we were done, I wanted to do it again, but settled for happy talk and band pix with fans both new and long-term.

Gravitron was up next, bringing their patented blend of surf- and twang-influenced instrumentals to the stage, and as usual, they went down a storm. I think they’re heading for a few dates in Florida in the next month, and if you get a chance to see them, take it. They’re keeping the spirit of Davie Allan alive, and Davie isn’t even dead yet!

Noted Columbia show-stealers The(e) Get Wets were next, with what may be their last local show for a while. Their raunchy party rock once again set the Wayback Machine to 1965, and the cool kids were frugging and ponying with wild abandon. But the highlight of the night came when frontman “Wild Wild” Stark took a moment in the middle of the bands “Land of 1,000 Louies” medley to some into the crowd and propose to his party partner (and occasional Get Wets backup dancer) Leigh. She said yes, and at least one local observer said that this officially made the night Real City’s greatest rock show ever. Who am I to disagree?

Finally, Dead Surf brought their shimmering pop stylings to the stage to close the night. Because of the long haul back to the Berry, we weren’t able to catch the entirety of their set, but the songwriting craft was clear. So we made it back home safely (one of the nice things about being a teetotaler is that the band has a built-in designated driver), and wrapped up a fine night.

See you next time — and we hope it’s soon!