I opened for No Pressure at the Emmaus Community Park Pavilion. It was nice to reconnect with these kids and their parents and share the stage again. I did two songs to start off with – Vegetable Songs and We Gave Names to the Animals, ‘kids’ish tunes but family interactive. I then brought up the band for I Like Peanut Butter and Giants. Things were a little sluggish as they adapted to backing me up on vocals. I had to push through. They loosened up on Giants, picking up tambourines and shakers and came through with some nice moves, including a train line out and into the audience and back on stage in time for my vocals.
The kids and myself had no on-stage monitors, so it was a pretty cavernous situation that we were thrown into. They took it well, but perhaps were not used to performing in these rather harsh acoustic situations. Again, they adapted well.
The band took over with Little Talks, a tune I get to play guitar on. The band launched into their material, a spectrum of pop tunes I have no idea about. (I played The Animals, The Beatles and the Stones, so it’s quite understandable.) Bob, the dad, has crafted their musical chops nicely, the rhythm section (bass and drums) are seamless, the guitarist is a fine rhythm player and is relaxed and moves on stage. The keys and horn are solid, and most of the vocals are good (that takes years to hone). Anyway, it’s been a delight to see each kid take the stage and perform, and see the growth that they have exhibited.
The parents are on board, Bob is a wonderful nurturer of their talents in the context of their ages, and it is a community unto itself, extending into the grandparents, siblings and neighbors. I feel privileged to be asked to join them in this journey. (I finally get to play a Journey cover.)