The set list for The Coach House show 5-24-14
Saturday evening’s show at the coach house in Orange County, definitely brought out the older crowd. I generally like the place but I am not sure why. Southern California shows are different than up north. It takes a lot to move those people it’s seldom about the music and more about being seen. But don’t get me wrong I adore LA, (which if you are from nor cal it is a term that encompasses the entire lower half of the state.) Southern California is like visiting a foreign land with a quaint caste system.
I love the town of SJC, the mission is one of my favorites, the original mission was farther south but had to be moved when the local Indians revolted against the harsh rule and burned down the mission.
We began the night at the bar in El Adobe. Drinks here are very strong, the bar tab was more than dinner. The restaurant was apparently a favorite of Tricky Dick, his Casa Pacifica just down the road. Making this the second place I have eaten before a show that has served the commander in chief. The Sink in Boulder, Co being the first. Barack Obama has his signature on the wall right next to that VIP Guy Fieri.
Zack, me, Daryl, Annette at El Adobe in SJC 5/24/14
New friends and old friends at this show. I met my friend from high school, Annette and her husband Daryl. It was so great of them to come spend the evening with us. We met up with Natalie and her lovely daughter Jade who saved us a spot after dinner. We arrived just in time for the POTR set, Brian was on the stage setting up.
Natalie and MJ at the Coach House San Juan Capistrano May 24, 2014
The show was a good, but a short one. It honestly left me hanging, it wasn’t that it was incomplete because it had a beginning middle and ending. It’s just after as many shows as I have been you get used to a certain rhythm. Lukas walks on stage and immediately he slays you with his intensity. One note on the guitar and the room is silenced he’s that good, but Lukas needs time to shake off the outside world and step up to the astral plane. He’s only just beginning to walk in the light after about an hour on stage. They do these songs something like 350 times a year the only difference for the band is the crowd. It takes time to feel and experience the energy of a particular crowd. Lukas wrote about it in his blog, Life on the Road, “…..Just like during sex when both partners are moving together and breathing together…giving pleasure, and maybe more importantly, receiving pleasure..musicians connect with each other and the audience, feeding off of the energy that emanates between them.” So if all that isn’t a load of bullshit, let’s talk about the sit down show. A sit down show is the equivalent to having sex and just laying there. How can you connect to an audience spread out over a large room on picnic tables? How can an audience be connected to the music stuck in the back behind the housewives of Orange County? I decided I just had my farewell tour at the Coach House.
We drove down from the BayArea so we were tired after the show. We got to see Brian Fallon who we missed in NM-CO because of a skiing accident he had right before we arrived on the tour. He looked amazing, I was pleased for him. It sounds like it will be a while before he’s back on the tour. Corey was missing, he’s in Japan until the Ohio show. John Avila is with the guys once again, having been the fill in before Corey joined them as their permanent bassist. John was the producer of their EP Brandos Paradise. But we did have Tato and that is always magical. Every band member is crucial to he sound but Tato is the soul of POTR.
We said good bye to the guys and told them that we would see everyone in Topanga on Monday. My pilot got a little trashed so I had to drive back to the hotel which was just down the street but we got over confident that we could get there without the GPS and we I ended up wandering down Camino Capistrano with a police escort. Just when I was ready to hyperventilate the cop turned into the police station. I pulled over and punched in the directions to Dana Point.