I’m the type of guy who gets totally fed up with Montana’s bullshit perpetual winter.  The clouds come out in October and stick around till mid to late June, and it’s extremely irritating.  Our precarious and unpredictable weather patterns make it very difficult to make outdoor plans on any weekend from early fall to the beginning of summer.  Remember when we used to have spring?  Ah, those were the days.

One would think that the weather would be pretty consistently hot come July, but that isn’t so.  Last Thursday afternoon was particularly warm for most of the day; and then, at about 4:30 p.m., a black, ominous cloud came out of nowhere and hovered over Bozeman.  I thought the first Music on Main of the summer would be canceled, and I was wicked pissed.  It’s been one of my favorite shows to play since way back in 2007, when I was but a naive 22-year-old recent college graduate.  Luckily enough, the cloud passed right over us and went down into Big Sky, giving them rich folk all the shitty weather.  Heh!

By the time we were all set up and ready to play, it was so nice out that people were still wearing sunglasses.  Sure, it was a little bit on the cooler side, but the four of us were completely fine with having to suffer through 75-degree weather instead of the usual 85-90-degree weather.  Especially Josh’s sweaty, sweaty ass.  But seriously, folks–the Bozemanites showed up in droves to the first Music on Main of the year and the first without our beloved R-Bar.  As always, John made a point to invite everyone to take several steps toward the stage, thus minimizing the abyss of concrete and sparse amount of strange dancers that usually occupy the space between us and the crowd.  I have no idea how many people were in attendance, but odds are I’d have to use all my fingers, toes, and the fingers and toes of several hundred of my friends.  Facebook friends, that is.

Normally I try to cater the setlist more toward the songs on our most recent record, but since our crowd had a great number of young and old fans alike, I did my best to make the setlist a miniature retrospective of the band’s career thus far.  We played a few off of Kinky, some off of Roger, a healthy dose from Mexico, one or two from E.P., and maybe three or four off each of our most recent albums, Not Fighters and Have Another.  So really, there was something for everybody there.  Granted, it’s a bit difficult to make a 90-minute setlist when we’re used to playing for approximately two-and-a-half to three hours, but I think I did a pretty good job.  Take a gander and tell me what you think.

In short, the weather held up, the crowd kept dancing, and we closed our set leaving everyone wanting more.  We all played great, except for the end when my right index finger started to blister up from the dead strings on Pearl.  (More on this development to follow!)  Seeing downtown Bozeman have so much fun, especially in the wake of what happened in early March, was very rewarding and made the four of us feel very fortunate to be doing what we do.

Highlights:

–Big thanks to Kris and Josh from Ten Foot Tall & 80 Proof for running our merchandise stand.  They’re playing at the Belgrade Lounge this Friday and Saturday night.  I might have to be there.

–I gotta say, Thursday night felt like a great “Let’s go to the R Bar!” night.  I think Bozeman is really starting to realize just how much we miss that place.

–It’s safe to say that I didn’t hear one “Free Bird!” or “More cowbell!” on Thursday night.  Are people possibly catching on that those trite phrases haven’t been funny since, I don’t know, ever?

Setlist:

Birthday Suit
Real Man
Out of Her Mind
Free Ride
Lil’ Miss Perfect
Friends w/Benefits
Potion
Come with Me
Alright Tonight
Save the World
Excuse to Jam
Bender
Baltimore
Dub-T
Fan of the Bean
Leave Me Alone
College Daze
Abercrombie Jeans
Jesus Christ