#40 The Echo on 8-3-10

This show was part of the International Pop Overthrow. It is a yearly music 'festival' put on by a man named David Bash. There were 13(?) nights of IPO at various clubs around Los Angeles. I'm not sure what night we were. What I do know is that there were 7 bands on the bill, and that's a lot of bands.

I had misgivings about the show, which is probably why it went the way it did. We were using mostly their back line, to assure quick transitions between bands. I couldn't get the bass rig to sound quite right though. Wayne was smart and brought his own amp.

Our set felt a bit rigid to me, and I was having trouble loosening up. We were on our 4th or 5th song and Mr. Bash gestured 'one more song.'

What? Huh?

Yes, I had failed to realized that the back to back listings of the bands meant we had a 20-minute set. A short set. Uncomfortably short. The only shorter set we'd played was at SXSW in 2008, which was maybe 17 minutes.

So, we finished our last song and I stumbled off stage a bit shellshocked. I stood near the merch tables, not quite angry, not quite sad, but feeling very odd indeed. An older man came up to me and said, "Great set, but that's a terrible name. I'm sure I'm not the first person to tell you that!"

What? Huh?

I was caught completely off guard, as if in slow motion. I mumbled something about Wayne having questioned the name once or something or something. He said, "Good set though" and walked away. I shouted some vaguely confrontational, "Did you just say that to me?" but he was out of earshot, and I felt even more defeated. I went for the front door, and took a walk.

The rest of the night was dispersed, but when leaving I was handed an envelope with money for the CDs we'd sold (we did?).

I don't ever recall feeling quite like this at a show.