I find it very interesting that I am writing this just 2 days after Mark wrote his post about 'the bar being lowered' ...

Last night my buddy Sal (guitar player in NJ) and I played our 4th annual 50's gig for his town's Summer Concert Series - from 7PM to 9PM ... The forecast showed a 30% chance of rain and thunderstorms starting at about 8PM, and then increasing after that ... At about 4:30PM we get to the town center to begin setting up - we are meeting a stage guy and a sound guy at that time ... Well, we proceed to get everything set up, do a sound check, etc. and then at about 6PM or so, I start to feel rain drops ... 4 guys from the Knights of Columbus (who co-sponsor our concert with the town) get a 12x12 tent and put it over the stage to protect the gear (don't ask why this wasn't part of the initial setup plan) ... the rain lets up a bit, and people start showing up ... at about 6:45PM there is a fairly decent crowd and it starts to rain again ... Sal and I figure we should start and give these folks at least a little bit of music before it starts to pour ...we start playing and I look out at the crowd and can't believe there are so many people sitting under umbrellas listening to us ... fortunately the rain let up and we were able to do the full 2 hour show ... we ended up having about 125+ people there (last year there were about 300 people at our show) and I can't describe the feeling I had when I looked out from the stage and saw this view of one side of the audience ... apparently we are doing something right for people to not only show up in that weather, but to sit through it until it let up ...

Congrats. It's a great feeling to have that kind of response.
Eddie

Tony, That’s great and as I recall last year you and Sal also got an excellent response! CONGRATS great job!

Love it!

Gary

Tony you have been blessed. Good for you my friend, John C.

Congrats t, nice pic...where's the band???

Taking the picture ...

I'll check to see if there are any good pics ...

Tony....I forgot that you were playing there every year. It's only a 40 minute drive, I would have stopped up again.

For anyone who hasn't heard Tony play, he's not exaggerating about people being glued to his show. Last year when I went to see him, I had casual conversations with people in the audience. They all remarked about how pleased they were with his sound. There's no fluff or artificial ingredients....just plain good driving, non-stop music and good song selection and good vocals.....and......good audience interaction!

Unlike many of today's "phony balonies," he's the real thing!

Mark

Tony
Great story and picture. I'm sure it will keep you feeling good for a long time. Wish I could hear you guys.
I'm in a similiar situation tomorrow. Outdoor 2 hour set by the pool of a large community here. I will have some cover from a building overhang but the forecast is 60% storms. Not good.
I was one of those people in the rain to see a show once. It was last time I saw Felix Cavaliere and his "Rascals" Cranford NJ park and it POURED ! He was up on a covered stage and all about 100 of us who stayed stood in the rain singing and dancing. He was so impressed he kept going even as the stage began to flood from water dropping off the front of the roof. Pulled the B3 back twice and then had to call it early.

Tony:

I would say that is an impressive feat... drawing a crowd despite the weather. Glad it worked well for you. Thanks for sharing the story and photo.

Thanks all ... it was a sight and a feeling I will never forget and I think (and hope) Sal and I appropriately thanked the audience ... I told them I felt I was paid the greatest tribute a musician could get by them staying through the weather ...

Mark, Thank you for those words ... during the performance I remembered you stating that you were there last year, and I was wondering if you were there this year ... We've had a lot of 'stuff' going on the past month or so, and I completely forgot about posting anything about the concert here on S-Z ... I know 'sparky' is also from around the area ...

Bill ... Good luck with your gig tomorrow ... hope the weather holds out for you ... A number of years ago we were at the Newport Jazz Festival and a rain storm came up while George Benson was performing with his band ... we put heavy trash bags over us and stayed until he finished ... afterwards we talked about how we would have told our KIDS they were crazy if they did anything like that ...

I wish I knew!

Sorry, sparky ... I just didn't get around to posting anything here about it ... Would have loved to see you ...