8/7: Rockin’ the Rivers

Ah, Rockin’ the Rivers.  How do you rock?  Let me count the ways.

1.  Tesla

2.  Hell’s Belles

3.  Peter Fucking Frampton

4. The Mighty Flick

5.  Sweet (?)

What an awesome time.

This year’s Rockin’ the Rivers was easily 1000 times better than last year’s for several reasons.  For one, the Bullet Boys didn’t perform, weren’t subjected to hearing them scream “Oh YEEEEAAAAHHH!” in between snorting lines of coke.  Secondly, we had our in-ear monitor system on stage, so we could actually hear ourselves play.  (For those of you who don’t know, we basically played the first half of our set last year without being able to hear John’s vocals at all, forcing me and Josh to close our eyes and hope for the best.  It worked out ok, but it isn’t something we really enjoy doing.)  Third, we had our banner up behind us during our set, making us look super-legit.  Fourth…

Look, I could go on for pages and pages about why RTR rocked so much, so I’ll spare you the agony and simply say that it kicked ass.  It really did.  I’ll admit that the four of us were a little worried that we’d be playing to nobody after the rain started fallin’ fallin’ shortly following the conclusion of Tesla’s ass-rocking set, so you can imagine how pleasantly surprised we all were when we looked out from the stage and saw a large crowd.  We were even more surprised that we maintained it for the duration of our set, especially considering how late it was.

Last year we had to play an amazing gig in Helena (Rockin’ the Gulch, anyone?), so we were unable to partake in any of the RTR festivities on Saturday or Sunday.  Thank heavens we had Saturday off this year, because I had a great time.  Kim and I met up with Jawsh and Mama and Papa Keehr for a day chock-full of RTR goodness, which included hanging with Jamie Nova, the lead singer of Hell’s Belles (and Jawsh’s ex-girlfriend.  Awwwkwwaaarrrd!), rocking out to Peter Frampton, watching the guys from Sweet get shitfaced, and beer.  Lots and lots of beer.  It was nice having the VIP treatment that lasted the whole festival.

In all, I had a great time and I hope we play there again next year.  If you live in Montana and you’ve never been to Rockin’ the Rivers, you NEED to go at some point before you die.  Period.  I’ve said countless times that RTR is something that every Montanan should experience at some point in their life.  Even if we don’t perform, you can bet your bottom dollar I’ll be a spectator.

Highlights:

–Hell’s Belles–the all-female AC/DC tribute band–were AMAZING.   Adrian/Angus Young, the lead guitar player, perfectly emulated the legendary Aussie ax-slinger in every way, shape, and form.  She kicked ass at guitar, wore a school girl outfit, and sprinted across the stage from beginning to end.  They were my second favorite act, behind a bitchin’ Peter Frampton.

–Speaking of Hell’s Belles, the girls made the mistake of inviting Sweet guitarist Drunky McDrunkerton on stage to play “Back in Black” on guitar.  He did a good job, but once he finished he started playing the opening chords to “You Shook Me All Night Long.”  It was pretty awkward.  Jamie, bless her soul, gave a nervous chuckle and said, “No, not quite yet.”  Some other dude from Sweet came and coaxed Drunky off the stage.  How retarded is that?  I mean, the Hell’s Belles girls didn’t come up on stage to play “Ballroom Blitz.”  I don’t know why anyone would be playing “Ballroom Blitz” in the first place, but still.

–Ok, on to our set.  I put together one of the rockingest setlists EVER.  Just take a gander below and judge for yourself.

Setlist:

Friends w/ Benefits
Bender
Real Man
Outta the Way
Undercover World
Birthday Suit
Little Miss Perfect
Potion
Baltimore
Free Ride
Chimney
Jail
Save the World
Out of Her Mind
Dub-T Bootay
College Daze
Grant
Grinnell
Scotsman
Livin’ Large
Jesus Christ

ENCORE:

Leave Me Alone