Sleep Deprivation, Overwork and the Rock Show, Part the Second

Even though I am now fully a week behind in writing anything I am still going to try and cover the events of last week, which were without a doubt more interesting than anything that has gone down since. (Two thirds of the title still apply though, can you guess which? Hate.)

The Revival Tour rolled through LA last weekend, back no track after missing a few dates due to actual winter in the Rocky Mountain states. Last year's all star lineup,(Ragan, Barry, Nichols) seemed pretty tough to top, but I think they pulled it off. I love each of last years acts individually, but their collaborations were minimal and predictable. With a year to plan and the experience of the first tour, Ragan and Co. put together a pretty killer show. The LA lineup was pretty ideal, though catching Austin and/or Bob Lucas doing Bristle Ridge songs would have been pretty great.

Chuck Ragan, Frank Turner, Jim Ward, Audra Mae, Joey Cape, Possessed by Paul James, Jon Gaunt and Digger Barnes all played on the gang vocal opener, Frank Turner's "The Road." From there, the night wound its way through their individual sets, bottoming out on Joey Cape's abortive Lagwagon sing along, and peaking with Turner's solo set.

There were too many great songs to cover, but hearing Chuck do "Bloody Shells" live was excellent, as well as "The Boat" with two fiddles. I was also pleasantly surprised by Jim Wards solo sound, I will have to look into his album. I was hoping Frank Turner would bust out "Sons of Liberty" for the dueling fiddles, but even without his set was spot on, with all the jams and some deep cuts too.

The night ended with everyone on stage again, for the tour anthem, "Revival Road" and what must have been about a nine minute version of "Let The Circle Be Unbroken" that saw Jim Ward and Frank Turner in the middle of the floor leading the crowd through the chorus. I guess Frank Turner really liked At The Drive In, and so was grinning like an idiot the whole time. Fanboyism=awesome.

So much more happened, but you get the idea. Go next year, everyone. And to the drunk kid in the Yankee hat, I don't give a good god damn if is your birthday, you have no rhythm and you sing worse than me (that's bad). Get the fuck off stage.