public assembly - 05.11.09

while loading my car and getting ready to head over to the venue, i honestly had no idea what the night had in store. second acoustic show in basically a week. with shows, you never know what to expect. all the preparation and time put into making sure your performance will be its best doesn't matter once you get to a venue and things go wrong.

thankfully, this wasn't one of those shows.


i arrived at the venue on time (surprise, surprise) and the first thing i did when i walked in was find a nice spot to set up merch. i chose a dark secluded corner, pulled out my flashing x-mas lights and went to work putting them up. they help my booth stand out in poorly lit crowded rooms.

let me just take this opportunity to mention that there's one person with me at basically every show i play - my brother jeffrey - and as of late hes been helping with merch sales because hes amazing..but hes also the one who helps me load in and load out, unpack and pack up. without him id be lost in most situations but especially on show nights. im lucky to have the family and friends i do and thankful for all hes done and always backing me when i need it.

ok so back to the show..
i'm back stage tuning up my guitars and figuring out my set list. in walks mikealis and meredith and we chat a bit about where the new song ill be performing featuring mikealis will be in the set. we did an acoustic version of 'don't go away' - which you guys will all hear very very soon. its being mixed as we speak and is definitely a personal favorite of all the songs i've done with mike.

first band gets off the stage and i take it. all plugged in, tuned up and ready to go i start the set with a usual first - 'but, everybody lies'. the crowd seemed to really like it, though i could barely see them. the stage lights were literally 2 feet in front of me. i was basically blinded for the first 5 minutes of the set, but at least i walked out of there with a nice tan. (drum roll..no? bad joke yea.) but in the middle of the 2nd song - 'this time' i have a nice instrumental breakdown part and most shows i take that opportunity to speak with the crowd and see how they're feeling...but instead i spoke to whoever was in charge of lighting that night. i think i even said "umm whoever's in charge of the lights..please dim them. im sweating balls up here and cant see a thing." and like magic, the lights dimmed and a room full of people dancing and singing along appeared before my eyes. it was pretty awesome.
show continued..

side note - lately i've been running with this motto - "it's all relative." all situations we're put into and other people are put into are all relative to who the person is and what the situation is.

at my last show i did some covers and this crowd just seemed like they were ready for me to sing a song they all knew.
i went with 'eagle eye cherry - save tonight' and it was epic.
during the song a semi-circle formed right in front of the stage and there were kids break dancing and everyone was singing along. it was a feeling i've been missing and soo happy i was able to feel again. that show was something. that night was something. thank you to anyone who was there to experience it with me.

i have another acoustic performance this friday night (05.22) at Angels & Kings in NYC, with Erickson, Can You Keep A Secret? and These Green Eyes.
its 21+ to Enter and FREE!! show starts at 7pm i believe, but ill be on at around 8pm. hope to see you all there!!

- stevenbaggs