The Urgency Tour: Day 3

Day 3

Wichita, KS

The Vertical Violet

Awoke to the sound of traffic zooming by just a few feet from my head for my second morning in Omaha. Yes, I have become the new Uciel of the band. I had been spending the nights in the van due to the overabundance of cats in Hotel Frank. They were very cute, but they make me sneeze aplenty.

After everyone doing their usual morning activities, we headed out for Wichita around one. The five hours drive was relatively uneventful, though it is worth noting before I took over the second half of the drive, Kerry Wood was seven innings deep into a no-hitter against the Seattle Mariners in the final game of the World Series on Triple Play 2000 for the N64. Sadly, I had to turn off the system and the game was lost.

As we pulled up to the Vertical Violet, we were greeted by a bearded gentlemen whom introduced himself as Brack (or Breck or Brock). He quickly ushered us into the house as dinner was ready. We were met with all sorts of vegetarian/vegan friendly pizza/pasta/snacks. If only every venue/house was like this, the world would be a much better place!

After getting a tour of the house and finishing dinner, kids of all ages trickled into the house and the show began. The first band was The Fall of the Empire which kind of reminded me of Brian Eno at certain points. They also had a Sanrio guitar and bass. They were pretty cool. Next was Hot Air Balloon Trauma. They were pretty cool too. As cecil said, “This is stuff that people in their 20’s should be doing…not 17 or 16 year olds.” The third band was Ghosts of Monkshood. They sort of reminded me of Of Montreal-type 70’s slightly jam rock. But in a good way.

We were the last band to play. I wish we could just play nothing but house shows. They usually seem to be better shows. A lot more fun. Really nice people. All-in-all it was a solid show. A nice variety of stuff.

Afterwards we chatted with Fall of the Empire about caves and debated whether Iowa or Kansas was more American. Greg and I thought Kansas was while they thought Iowa was.

I’m not sure what the setlist was, you’ll have to ask Greg.

EDIT:

GG:

Good show, and like Ryan said to me last night, all of the bands and the bill were nice, varied and good. The backyard of the house is home to numerous semi-wild cats, chickens and a pot-bellied pig, and has a playhouse and half-pipe. And the daughter of the family is a fairy. Like, with wings and pointy ears. Seriously.

SET

1.) RABBLE ROUSE

2.) A SENSE OF URGENCY

3.) LOVELY TO SOMEONE

4.) WHILE WE’RE YOUNG (SING ME SOMETHING NEW)

5.) YOU ARE MY MEGALODON

6.) IF THE MOOD SHOULD STRIKE…

Ryan