You like beer? Im sure you do! And..Do you like Austin? Dumb question right? Of course you like Austin!! This past weekend I had the pleasure of combining the two and playing the Austin Beer Festival with The Live Lights…read on to hear about the journey..
As you know, oh avid blog readER, The Live Lights needed a drummer to play a gig (this gig) and got in touch with your pal Mike. We practiced and planned a few days prior to the trip.
On the day of the show, we got together for a quick run through where I was able to assemble a smaller more hip hop version of my kit..Any chance to play my Patina!
Rehearsal went nice and smooth then we loaded up and hit the road.
On the way to Austin, I noticed the trees and roadsides were scorched. It took me a while to realize it was from the massive fires in Texas recently. Maybe since all it was to me was a news story, I didn’t realize just how close it really was. We drove through miles and miles of charred tree-lines. Unreal.
As the trip continued, Bryan and I were falling behind the other fellas who were hauling some serious ass…thirsty I guess. In the distance we noticed a small red car going a very slow speed with its hazards on. Yup, it was them..Apparently the cars tires had different ideas which put us on the side of the road for a while, then off to a Walmart to trump all Walmarts for a spare.
After a stop in hillbilly heaven..we were back on the road and ready to rock and drank some buhr!!
We arrived at The Austin Beer Fest and were excited to see the long line of cars waiting to get in the main entrance. As we passed the cars and went to the band entrance, we could start to see the festival!! Tons of people, beer trucks..oh man look at that STAGE!! As we continued down the road..another stage came into view..it did not even appear to be part of the festival. No vendors, no people…It was stage 2..the stage we were playing.We parked and got out..after speaking with the stage manager, we realized that the original plan for the stage didnt pan out. There were supposed to be vendors all over the place but apparently they were no-shows. So here we were..
Though we were scheduled to play for 45 minutes, we set up early and played a shorter set. a few people wandered over to the stage, but as soon as they got thirsty, they had to walk a mile to get another beer. Sort of an annoyance to anyone who was thinking of coming to stage 2. The sound company was great and we rocked out the 6 people who saw us play. We quickly packed up and headed over to the main stage. Our buddies the 71s and The Last Place You Look were over there. We made it in time to catch the last few songs from TLPYL..
We were given special wrist bands that were VIP only..thats right..VIP!! This got us free beer and crawfish. Though I couldnt think of anything I wanted less than a stomach full of heavy beers and crawfish to ride home with. ECK!
After rubbing elbows with other attendees and musicians, we started our long treck home. It was a lot of fun spending the day with The Live Lights! Sadly the Austin Beer Festival wasnt all we hoped. This was its first year so, fingers crossed that next year they hit it out of the park!
See you soon!
