The Drams Wednesday June 27, 2007 Club Cafe Pittsburgh, PA
Gimme Back My Dog/Hummalong/Trust Jesus/Man Of Note/Des Moines/Never You Mind/Fireflies/Crudely Drawn/You Won't Forget/Billy Pritchard/Shortsighted/I Can Tell Your Love Is Waning/Make A Book
Encore: I Am The Cosmos
The Drams autographed ticket stub
What a BLAST!!! I took my neighbor Kurt to this show. He never heard of the band. I made him a mix and as the show approached we were both getting psyched. He was absolutely blown away. He couldn't believe a band could be that talented and at the same time be such a nice bunch of people. Too much fun. I had such a good night I won't even mention the asshole who cut in line for a seat and almost totally wrecked the vibe of the night with his inconsiderate picture taking. Some people are just born jerks.
The Drams autographed print (do I smell T-shirt material?)
The Drams autographed drawing
Too drunk to focus.
The Drams supporting Drive-By Truckers Sunday October 15, 2006 Mr. Small's Funhouse Millvale, PA
Lowenbrau anyone?
The Drams: Hummalong/Shortsighted/Crudely Drawn/Never You Mind/You Won't Forget/Unhinged/I Can Tell Your Love Is Waning/Make A Book/I Am The Cosmos
Drive-By Truckers: The Living Bubba/One Of These Days/Decoration Day/Road Cases/72 (This Highway's Mean)/Sink Hole/The Day John Henry Died/ Puttin' People On The Moon/Play It All Night Long/Marry Me/Goddamn Lonely Love/Tales Facing Up/Cottonseed/Ronnie and Neil/Never Gonna Change/Shut Up And Get On The Plane
Encore: A World Of Hurt/Outfit/Zip City/Feb 14/Let There Be Rock/I'm Eighteen/Lookout Mountain
So things are tight money-wise around here lately and my show budget is drastically cut. I have all intent and purposes to catch this show, but the $20 ticket price is killing me (seriously, my funds situation is abysmal). I really want to catch The Drams and could actually care less about seeing the Drive-By Truckers. I saw them in 2002 touring behind Southern Rock Opera (to a crowd of about 30) and while they did blow me away, I kinda lost favor with them over the years. Their southern, spoken-word, guitar anthem vibe wasn't really doing much for me and I passed up several shows since then. The Drams on the other hand were formed from the ashes of Slobberbone and I was digging the fuck out of their latest release. Seeing a request on the band's message board for someone to work merchandise during the show, I jumped at the chance to get in the show free.
Keith, The Drams bassist, set me up and I hung out all night and enjoyed the show. I am proud to say I sold the most stuff so far on the tour. I am thinking of doing it more often to save some cash. The upside is that I got a free shirt. Turns out some guy just sent the band a few prototypes for a new t-shirt design and I got a one of a kind shirt since the band quickly rejected the submissions! Bonus! The downside was my pictures turned out like shit from so far away.
The Drams came out and played a short, terrific set. What a tease for a headline show. As the Truckers hit the stage the room was surprisingly full. Damn, they have come a long way since I saw them last. More than a few people mentioned to me they discovered the band though the jam scene. I guess the festival circuit really pays off in growing your fan base (see My Morning Jacket). I am happy to say the band really was fantastic. They played a high energy show for 2+ hours and had the crowd in the palm of their hand. I would have gladly paid the ticket price for that show.
My view from the 'merch perch'. Shit this band is LOUD!
Wanna see some killer photos from a few nights later in Canada courtesy Frank Yang (chromewaves.net)? This is how you take concert pics.
Brent Best hand-written The Drams autographed setlist
The Drams autographed Jubilee Dive CD cover
The Drams autographed print (The band loved the artwork (Superfriends!!) so I gave Jess the original).
Drive-By Truckers autographed print
Drive-By Truckers and The Drams autographed flyer
Amazingly, I think I am the most sober person in this picture. Well I guess not that amazing, these are The Drams. What a great bunch of guys.
Brent Best hand written setlist (final draft)
Brent Best hand written setlist (first draft)
Slobberbone Wednesday December 12, 2001 Club Cafe Pittsburgh, PA
w/ Grand Champeen
Brent Best, Jess Barr and Tony Harper autographed ticket stub
Lumberlung/Barrel Chested/Placemat Blues/Butchers/Sister Beams/Engine Joe/Little Sister/Billy Pritchard/That Is All/Josephine/Trust Jesus/Lazy Guy/Dunk You In the River/Some New Town/Pinball Song/Front Porch/Gimme Back My Dog/I'll Be Damned/Can't Stay Sober/Dark As A Dungeon
Slobberbone autographed Everything You Thought Was Right, Was Wrong Today CD cover
What a kick ass rock and roll band. They play loud and they play hard. This group is bound to break big someday. The nicest guys to talk with also.