We played two sets at the Elevens on December 31st as part of Northampton’s annual First Night festivities. Having never attended First Night myself, I wasn’t sure what to expect. I couldn’t imagine that many people would want to attend a rock and roll show at a bar at two in the afternoon.
To my great surprise, people were abundant at the Elevens that afternoon. It was so great to see older people and children mixed in with the usual crowd of 20-30somethings. Everyone really seemed to enjoy the music, and responded with plenty of cheers, and even some dancing! It was great.
Ryan explained to the crowd that although they saw the name “Los Hijos Unicos” printed on their First Night schedules, we are now known as the Salvation Alley String Band. The LHU-SASB merger (as it’s known in corporate circles) has opened the band up to a wider variety of songs and instrumentation, which is exciting both for us and for people coming to our shows. Aside from the regular guitar, bass, and drums, we also brought in washtub bass, ukulele, banjo, saw, kazoo, and plenty of vocal harmonies.
After our last set, School for the Dead played a great set, engaging the audience with “Instant Surveys” about New Years Eve, which they cleverly read aloud right in the middle of one of their songs. The Fawns followed with a cool pop set that had the crowd thinking about snow ball fights and cozy snuggles on the couch with loved ones.
We had to leave shortly after the Fawns set, so we weren’t able to see the rest of the performances. I have to say, being inside a dimly lit music venue during the majority of the daylight hours, not emerging until early evening when the dark of night has already taken over, makes one feel a little disoriented. By the time midnight rolled around, I felt like the First Night show was last year’s news.
Happy new year! 2010- whoa.
-Brandee