Josh Mattingly, Charger Staff
Monday, February 17 Cotton Eyed Joe’s devoted an evening to teens and
high school bands. Groups such as the Moonlight Cellar Band, No Reserve, the
Other Side, Fat Man Drowl, and the newly formed Filipino Experience provided
the event with live music and a piece of amusing entertainment. The night, however,
was not a success.
The show that was supposed to start at seven o’clock was delayed an hour
and a half because of an endless number of sound checks, microphone failures,
and equipment changes. When the Moonlight Cellar Band finally took the stage
after two more sound checks, they gave a strong performance and could have turned
the night around.
But, ten minutes and two songs later, they were off the stage, and loud dance
music was pumping out of the house speakers and the crowd was encouraged to
fill the dance floor.
In the mean time, No Reserve took the stage and began to setup their equipment.
Approximately 15 minutes later, the microphones were not picking up the amplifiers
of the bass or guitar players. After yet another sound check, No Reserve played
three songs, and like the Moonlight Cellar Band, they abruptly left the stage.
Now 9:15, two hours after the show was supposed to start the audience had heard
less than 20 minutes of real, live music!
Next up was the Filipino Experience, who did not waste time fiddling with equipment
and microphones, but instead started playing as soon as the house dance music
ended.
Through the use of a talk box and a couple of wireless guitar packs, they made
a valient attempt to give an awesome performance.
By this time, 10:00 was getting closer, and Cotton Eyed Joe’s emptied out.
Three hours had gone by and only 30 minutes of live music had been seen by the
concert-goers. This prompted most of the crowd to leave early.
The next take the stage was the Other Side. This group offered a rare blend
of acoustic guitar, keyboards, and distorted guitars. The band played their
two songs and were quickly shuffled of the stage by the Cotton Eyed Joe’s
crew.
With a dwindling crowd, the final band, Fat Man Drowl, took the stage. Fat
Man performed an intense three song set that absolutly rocked the small crowd.
By the time that the small three-piece band had finished their set, the crowd
was chanting “ENCORE!”.
But once more, the the show was stopped by the Cotton Eyed Joe and the crowd
went home dissapointed. The time was eleven o’clock.
In all, the music was entertaining, but the delays were too annoying to call the night a success. I enjoyed the live music-the little that I got to see-- and Cotton Eyed Joe’s was very considerate to allow such an event to occur, but unless the evening goes a little bit more smoothly next time, don’t expect a big crowd for ‘teen night.’