Every once in a while a show comes along where the vibe is so strong that you know hours before you start to play that this is going to be one of those shows that you're going to remember. This was the case with the show we played last night at The Holimont Ski Resort in Ellicottville, NY. I walked in at about 4pm for a 6pm start and the place was packed already, with folks of all ages, 2 and 3 year old to folks in their 70's and 80's all decked out in their tropical finest, parrots, hibiscus printed caps, tropical shirts and the like just having a great time.
The duo Son Of A Son had started at 3 and kicked off the afternoon. It was an interesting setup. Although the resort had a bar and food concessions set up, they also allowed people to bring in coolers as well, so it resembled an indoor Parror Head tailgate of sorts, with folks staking out and setting up camp on the tables throughout the room. Palm trees, parrots, tiki bars and raffia skirts were the order of the day along with plenty of tropical cocktails, Corona, Landshark Lager and anything else you could imagine. Even so the little ones were running around in grass skirts, leis, dark sunglasses and other paraphenalia and all was right with the world.
Long about 6pm we started playing and from the first note to the last, the crowd was pumped. We went through our standard Buffett favorites, some PD classics and our other favorites, the Petty, Barenaked Ladies, Travelling Wilburys and appartently we did something right, because at the end of the show we were called back to play Two encores.
We got alot of compliments last night but what the folks don't realize is that we should be thanking them and we did... repeatedly. When you get a crowd that pumped and so into what you're doing it makes it so easy to put on an energetic show. To all the folks who honored us with their compliments, their applause and most importantly, their Jell-o shots, we say one more thank you. You made it very fun for us.
And if anyone has any pictures or videos of last night, and there were flashes going off all night, send them off to me at jim@piratedreams.com and we'll post them.
Thanks,
JimmyPirate
