Thanks Mike! Made me wish I was there (except for the deafness and afternoon hangover parts). Really looking forward to this one. b ----- Original Message ----- From: To: Sent: Monday, March 16, 2009 12:25 AM Subject: Superdrag > Made the trek over the weekend from Cleveland, Ohio, to Nashville, > Tennessee, to attend the CD release show from Superdrag at the Exit/In. > (Actually went down to visit my brother and kill two birds with one > stone). Somehow we missed an in-store at Grimey's (something to do with > not being sober enough by 3pm from the night before, but that's another > story), which we hit later. Great store if you are ever in Nashville. > Highly recommended - lots of new, used CDs, vinyl, great selection, great > prices and very helpful staff. > > Entertaining show with a great crowd. I bunch of young kids opened, The > Privates - inventive, fast, pretty cool. Reminded me a little of Apples > in Stereo from a while back - but louder. Mic Harrison and High Score > played second. Mic is on his own again after time with Superdrag. Looks > like he hasn't cut back any on drinking, so the country bent in his tunes > made sense ;-0 Actually, pretty cool stuff. Even included some "dirt > country", by his own admission. As I'm watching this gig, I could only > think back to a show I once saw at Richfield Coliseum near Cleveland. > Robin Trower headlined and had The Stampeders and Little Richard as > opening acts. Did somebody available bands in a hat and pull them out? > Talk about variety. Same for last night. > > The reason being: Superdrag came to rock and rock they did. Wow - the > sound was excellent for me - we were camped out behind the soundboard and > seeing that I was partially deaf before the show, the volume was perfect. > We talked to the band a little before the show and they were really ready > to play - very gracious guys (spoke to Don, Tom and John). They dropped > the dark suits from the CD artwork and the white suits from the video in > exchange for regular duds. John sported a "vote third party" t-shirt. > > They opened with two new tunes, "Slow To Anger" and "I Only Want a Place I > Can Stay", which was gutsy, but seeing that they were near home turf, no > body bitched. The band consisted of the old Superdrag lineup: Don Coffey > Jr. on drums, Brandon Fisher on guitar, Tom Pappas on bass and John Davis > on guitar. Everyone had a turn at vocals, with John in the lead most of > the time. > > As you can imagine with that lineup, a lot of oldies were rolled out - > here's the rest of the setlist, minus a few changes which I couldn't write > down (no pen, plus two beers): Do the vampire, Shuck & Jive, Senorita, > Bloody Hell, Try, Pine away, Ready to go, Hellbent, Sold you an alibi, > Cheap poltergeists, Carried, Nothing good is real, Everything'll be made > right, Filthy & Afraid, Wrong v. Right, True believer, Sucked out, > Cynicality, Aspartame. Encores: Keep it close to me, Gimme animosity, > Distination Ursa Major. > > Definitely got our money's worth from the show. Notibly missing: Lighting > the way, but, hey, many of the new tunes made up for it. > > Picked up the new disk, Industry Giants, at the show and spun it on the > way back. Definitely a louder feel to it, but to me it's the first "real" > Superdrag disk since "Valley". Early loud faves: Aspartame, Slow to > Anger, Filthy and Afraid, Everything'll. Two mid-tempo tunes, Try and > Live to Breathe (both John) are also highlights. Brendon's lone > contribution, Ready to Go, is actully the most "poppy" song on the disk - > and a good one at that. Tom's two tunes a loud - I'd pick Cheap > Poltergeists over You're Alive - more memorable melody. > > Overall, good stuff if you're a fan of the group. Unlike most of their > fans, the band has gone exclusively to water, no cigarette and little, if > any swearing. Quite a difference the past shows I've seen - the cool part > is this was one of the best shows I've seen them put on - bar none. > > It's late - I've gotta sleep after driving 1200 miles over the weekend. > Take care. Mike. > >