Trip report: Seven Mary Three weekend 6/27 & 6/28

This weekend saw a fun-filled journey to visit one of my very favorite bands.

Friday night was a trip to Rockford, aka Little Nashville. Never mind why, it's a stupid story but I enjoy calling it that nonetheless. I gathered up 3 of the fellas, Joe, Duch and Q, and off we went. After a fun filled trip to our old greasy food hangout Nicky's for gyros (what a horrible idea with four people on a roadtrip), we were on our way. Thx to Q's iPhone, we were able to peruse hotchickswithDbags dot com on our way (great site that lives up to its name) and even actually figure out where we were supposed to go for the show.

After a $174 drive, we finally arrived at JTs or TJs or whatever the place was called. As far as Rockford goes, it actually wasn't too bad. The place was decently sized, with a bunch of different areas, including a stage with a dance floor type area. Strangely, the band had to walk through the crowd to get onto the stage, thus no encore type scenario, which I actually kind of liked. Unfortunately, the crowd was abysmally small despite a pretty staunch showing from area band diehards. There were roughly fourteen opening bands (actually 3) so the fellas didn't come on until about midnight. The setlist was filled mostly with greatest hits but had four songs from the new record and a sweet cover the band has been playing lately called Big Bird, although I can't for the life of me remember the name of the original artist. During some of the hits, the people who know one or two songs gravitated towards the front and I made new buddies with some high-fiving mother f'ers.

Funny story after the show, it was about 1:45 and the bar must close at 2. So, several of us were standing around chatting with a couple of the guys from the band when the waitress starts trying to hustle everyone out of the joint. I asked if she was going to kick the band out and she replied "Oh no, they're all downstairs". With 2 of them standing right next to us talking. It was worth a chuckle but I couldn't argue with her logic, could I? Trust me, in little Nashville, you don't argue with the waitresses. So, off we went and the band members actually did wind up going downstairs. Long drive back, with lots of inebriated and horrible singing and I rolled home about 4 am.

After some recovery time and way too much homework, it was off to beautiful Round Lake, IL for the village festival, where 7m3 was headlining the affair. This place was a haul from the homefront, much further than I expected. I was excited because it was an outdoor show that started early in the evening so I was going to bring the 2 oldest kids (6 & 4). As we're pulling out of the neighborhood, the oldest says she's not feeling well and wants to go home. She was up super late the night before and spent all day swimming at the neighbor's pool party so she was just physically wiped out. Fortunately she wasn't really sick, just tired but it knocked her out of the trip. That left me and the four year old for her first concert experience.

After the lengthy drive, and nearly being run over by some numbskull walking over to the stage area, we met up with Wudchuk and were ready for action. The stage was quite large and like most of the area village festivals, was set up in a parking lot area, surrounded by beer tents and food booths, etc. The weather was really perfect, about 75 degrees or so. However, the mosquitoes were crazy!!!! Fortunately, one of the big fans of the band was willing to share his bug repellent and it was very helpful.

This was a free show so there were a LOT of people, probably 500 to 1000 people overall, with 100 to 200 around the stage once the music started. Again, a nice turnout from the band faithful with a few different faces than the previous night. The setlist was quite similar to the evening before with a couple of differences, including favorite Southwestern State and swapping cover songs. Instead of Big Bird, the band finished the set with Neil Young's Rockin in the Free World. Always a great performance, this was enhanced by the fireworks display beginning while the song was being played. Very cool, they should do that at every show!

The four year old did pretty well at the show although she was wiped out by the time the show actually she started. The music was too loud so we moved WAYYYY back by the sound booth. She stayed on my lap for the remainder of the show and nearly fell asleep. We crept back up towards the front at the end of the show and she seemed to really enjoy it (or so she tells me!). All in all, it was a great time.

This concludes today's lengthy broadcast.

Song lyric of the day "You've got no taste in music and you really love our band" Local H

Until next time.

Ace