Low Profile live at BigWig
Sunday September 7th
with the Burbanks, BORD and the Hacks
Our 3rd time playing Bigwig. And what a show it was.
We practiced at 6 and ran thru the set real quick.
Then sat around Rob’s watching VH1 about Snoop Dogg and Eminem. Eventually we left for the show.
Got to BigWig. Loaded in and all that. Sat around, chilled. Started off drinking with a Red Bull/vodka. Dave the bartender said that Monday was his birthday so we toasted to that. Charles and Scott were running the place. Charles doing sound and Scott running the door. Weber didn’t show up but Williams called him up and fucked with him for not showing. Thanks Weber.
BORD from Wisconsin set up and soon started their set. There was a good amount of people there. These guys r real cool. I got to see them play on Saturday night at Rubes also so twice was a real treat. And they covered the Beatles. They rock, they got the harmonizing vocals going and they r just a fun band to watch and hang out with.
The Hacks from Denver, CO played next. They covered a Crimpshrine song but I was at the bar drinking and chatting away for most of their set and then ran out to my car for a quick session with Lisa and Julie. YAY!!! Julie showed up. We met Julie the night before at Rubes and invited her to the show.
The Burbanks played 3rd. This was probably their best set I’ve seen yet. I was feelin it. They used our amps for the show so we set em up for em. They rocked out for sure.
We played last. I didn’t really mind all too much. My only problem is that band members get 3 free drinks a piece but if we’re playin last, then I think we should get like 5 free drinks a piece!!!!!!
Williams and I both rocked the cordless systems with no problems. Our set was something like this:
Carl Panzram
Zamboni
Grudge
Figure It Out
Summertime (Crimpshrine)
30 Years (Pie in the Sky) featuring Jamey Johnson on drums
48
King of the Hill theme
Green Corn (NOFX)
Misfits medley:
Last Caress beginning
Return of the Fly
Last Caress ending
Bullet
Dig Up Her Bones featuring Betty Burbank and Jonny Jobless on vocals
The set was great. We rocked thru all the songs. For ’30 Years’ Rob came out from behind the drums and got to rock out true frontman style. It was awesome to have the added energy at the front lines. Jamey played the song lightening fast and that added to the energy of the song but I was luvin it.
Weber luved 48 when we played it at Memories so we thru it into the set just for him and since he didn’t show, I dedicated the song to Scott.
Williams and I went for a lil walk to the front of the club and then he started King of the Hill. Scott and Dave were laughing at us. Hey, we gotta entertain them too since they can’t really go to the back of the club and watch the bands cuz they gotta work the front.
Joe from Squared Off requested Green Corn so we played that.
Dig Up Her Bones was added last minute. I’m not sure how that came about. I just heard it being mentioned and knew we had to play it. There was a rustle amongs the crowd when it was brought up. Williams invited Betty and Jonny up to help sing and they quickly obliged. It sounded great. There were more back up vocals coming from the crowd and the whole place was rockin.
I doubt anyone really knew Return of the Fly. I know Jonny did cuz he was singin it right next to me. Thats a pretty obscure Misfits song.
We chilled a while after the set and did a round of shots and had another drink. Then I said my goodbyes and went home. I hugged many people that night. There was a lot of luv goin around.
Thanks to Lisa. Charles and Scott of Ratbag. Hoser and Joe of Squared Off. A:/run, Frank and Will of Rocky Denis. Jamey. Julie. The Burbanks, BORD and the Hacks. Dave – Happy Birthday!!!!
-ERIK
The night before this show, I played a gig at Rube’s with Shooting Blanks. I slept about 10 hours and felt very rested. Weber called me at around noon when I was sleeping. Normally I don’t even bring my cell phone in my bedroom when I sleep, I don’t want to be woken up, but for some reason I answered it. He asked me for the 100th time if the Burbanks were confirmed to play that night. I screamed ‘yes!’ and told him not to call so early. I asked when he got up and he said at 630 am. He was hammered at about 2 am and wanted to go to a bar the night before. That’s insane. I went back to sleep and woke up around 3 pm. I assembled my gear and loaded up my car, then I drove to JJ Peppers to make copies of flyers and then ran across the street for a burrito from Cesar’s. It was about 5:30 onw and we were supposed to meet up at Rob’s at 6 pm to reherse the set before the gig. I parked my car in front of his house and went into the River Front Park and sat down at ate my burrito and drank a lemon lime gatorade. Some trasher looking family was drinking Busch cans and playing with their dog. The dog came up right by me and the kid followed, he was trying to get the dog to go away from me but I didn’t feel he was trying hard enough, and I was perturbed that I was having my space invaded in such a huge area. I turned to the kid and said, ‘hey, get your dog out of here’. The dad piped up then and hollered for his kid to get that dog away. I finished eating and my hands were covered with grease and shit. I wiped em in the grass and walked to Rob’s. It was still too early, so I just walked the 1 block home to wash up. I went back to Rob’s and we jammed thru most of the set. I started sweating my fucking balls off for some reason then. We loaded up and I left, Hilger and Lisa and Rob were chillin.
I got to the Bigwig at about 7:40. I was hoping the Burbanks could play first and us second since they were going to use our amps. Well, BORD was already set up. Chuck (on the left) told me that they had to leave early or some shit. I was immediatley perturbed at this for a number of reasons:
1) they only live in Madison, which is probably about 3 hours.
2) they are ‘on tour’, so excuses about sleeping and work the next day — I’m not interested.
3) I try to welcome touring bands to Chicago, but I guess these guys felt like they didn’t owe us shit. 4) I HATE when bands leave early and don’t watch us play. I dont care if you sit at the bar or outside, but you better hang out until the last set is done and say ‘good set man’. its good sportsmanship like they taught you in litle league.
The guys in BORD are real cool for the most part — except for their 2nd guitarist, who for both the Rube’s and Bigwig shows watched not a minute of any of the other bands, he quickly entered and exited before and after his bands sets. They played and I heckled them about eating sausage and cheese and shit.
The Hacks from Denver were next. I really grew to like these guys more and more, musically and personally, over the 2 days I hung out and jammed with them. They introduced one song by saying ‘this is a cover…this band is from berkley….its crimpshrine’. I ran over to Hilger I was so excited — we immediately agreed we would have to bust out a Crimpshrine cover of our own. The Burbanks followed and were awesome as usual. They aren’t ‘like family’ — they ARE family. Its great to play in an awesome venue with cool bands, and bands that you know and have played with before.
So we finally went on last. Jamey came out and brought a gang of people with him: A:/run, frank, and will from rocky denis; colleen suba, and other of their friends including one dude from the band Johnny Rev. Their support is truly fucking awesome. Joe and Hoser from Squared Off also came out which was great.
Hilger came up with the idea of Jamey sitting in for a song with us, and playing a Pie in the Sky song. We tossed around a few possibilities and decided on the classic, ’30 Years’. We had not played it in months, and we had not played with Jamey in even longer. He sat down and it was fucking amazing. You could probably wake up the 4 of us from a deep sleep and throw us at our insturments and we would play 99% flawlessly. It was an honor to share the stage with an ex-PITS.
After the show I started getting pretty smashed on all the vodka I had drank. Me and Hilger helped clean up the place by trashing empty bottles and bringing glasses back to the bar. I helped Chuck clean up the sound gear and left around 2 am when they kicked us all out. It was a truly wicked weekend of 2 great shows, surrounded by the best bands in Chicago and a great crew of people that love music as much as I do. I laid in bed that night just going over everything again and again…the sets were just a blur to me, but all the partying and drinking and just having fun with other bands stuck out and made me smile even then in the dark under my covers. Thanks to all involved.
–satan165
