I'll tell ya, you guys have really pushed gig reports to a whole 'nuther level with local history, travel shots, food shot, etc.! I used to worry about making a fool of myself on stage - now I have to worry about looking like an idiot posting a gig report! 
Anyway........
Brunswick County, North Carolina has seven coastal towns that - like a lot of towns now - all have a summer concert series. This represents 50-60 summer gigs all within about two hours of our hometown so I was really thrilled to get our "foot in the door" with this booking. It put some additional pressure on us to really knock it out, but we're old pros and I have much bigger fish to fry - like putting together a decent gig report!
The gig was schedule from 6:30 - 8:30 on Friday night. Oak Island is about two hours from my house. The coastal region of North and South Carolina is relatively flat land so scenic vistas are far and few between. Visions of large plantation homes with huge, old oaks draped in Spanish moss ala Gone with the Wind aren't common. Traveling the back roads to the gig you're more likely to see lots of pine trees and let's face it - if you've seen one pine tree, you've seen them all.
Oak Island is a barrier island on the coast (duh) between Wilmington, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC.
Here we are (my wife and I) leaving the mainland and crossing the bridge onto the island:
This is what we're crossing - the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The "Ditch" is about 3000 miles stretching in sections from Boston to Texas. It's a safe haven for vessels unable to handle open ocean travel. It's also great for recreational boating and fishing. During the spring and fall it's cool to watch the large private yachts migrating north or south for the season.
And the ocean side of the bridge. Just beyond the trees is the beautiful Atlantic Ocean.
THIS COMPLETES THE TRAVEL PORTION OF THIS REPORT.
I snapped a couple obligatory "from my mike" shots during setup. People were starting to arrive early to stake their claims.
This is Ryan. He works for the Oak Island Parks & Recreation Department. He had a few announcements to make before introducing us. He's a really nice guy and very easy to work with. The guy with Joe on his hat is really Steve. He plays keys and various percussive instruments as well as singing high harmonies and some lead. Also a really nice guy and very easy to work with!
Away we go! We're only a couple blocks from the ocean so we battled a fairly stiff breeze the entire gig. The breeze worked to quell the oppressive 100 degree plus heat index we had going on so it was a fair trade. The only downfall - the canopy behind me (the tall, handsome, wealthy looking, pony-tailed, bass player) kept smacking me in the head if I stepped back too far from my mike. I wonder if Sir Paul ever has that problem?
Here's a panoramic shot Google fused together for me. The crowd really started to build about a half hour into our first set. Ryan estimated the total number for the night to be around 1000. Pretty impressive for a small coastal town if you ask me. It was the biggest crowd they've had for the series so far this year so we were really stoked!
This is the golf cart parking lot. Golf carts and bicycles are the prefered mode of transportation at the beach.
A few more crowd shots to prove these were real people and not just cardboard cutouts! The couple on the bottom right of the first photo had something to do with a local brewery and gave me a can to sample. I haven't cracked it open yet but it won't be long.
"Let me set my beer down and kick off my flip flops so I can bust a move!" The event is family-friendly so they don't have a beer vendor on tap
but that doesn't slow anyone down.
The other benefit/liability to the strong breeze was it kept blowing the food vendor smells at us all night! I was about to starve by the time we all met up at a Waffle House a few miles down the road. I didn't get any food shots but here's a stock photo.
Like pine trees, once you seen an All-Star breakfast...
I'm hoping to get some more photos from social media, etc. The city had a drone flying around so I should get some pretty cool shots! The drone is really amazing. At one point it was about twenty feet in front of the stage at our eye level hovering perfectly still in the gusty breeze. I kept think about Star Wars.
On a personal level this was my first gig actually singing some backing vocals. I sang the bass line on Seven Bridges and some minor other stuff while playing. This has been a goal of mine and ultimately a lot of work for me. I'm quite proud I pulled it off without stinking up the joint! (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!).
Thanks for looking!
Charles
Anyway........
Brunswick County, North Carolina has seven coastal towns that - like a lot of towns now - all have a summer concert series. This represents 50-60 summer gigs all within about two hours of our hometown so I was really thrilled to get our "foot in the door" with this booking. It put some additional pressure on us to really knock it out, but we're old pros and I have much bigger fish to fry - like putting together a decent gig report!
The gig was schedule from 6:30 - 8:30 on Friday night. Oak Island is about two hours from my house. The coastal region of North and South Carolina is relatively flat land so scenic vistas are far and few between. Visions of large plantation homes with huge, old oaks draped in Spanish moss ala Gone with the Wind aren't common. Traveling the back roads to the gig you're more likely to see lots of pine trees and let's face it - if you've seen one pine tree, you've seen them all.
Oak Island is a barrier island on the coast (duh) between Wilmington, NC and Myrtle Beach, SC.
Here we are (my wife and I) leaving the mainland and crossing the bridge onto the island:
This is what we're crossing - the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway. The "Ditch" is about 3000 miles stretching in sections from Boston to Texas. It's a safe haven for vessels unable to handle open ocean travel. It's also great for recreational boating and fishing. During the spring and fall it's cool to watch the large private yachts migrating north or south for the season.
And the ocean side of the bridge. Just beyond the trees is the beautiful Atlantic Ocean.
THIS COMPLETES THE TRAVEL PORTION OF THIS REPORT.
I snapped a couple obligatory "from my mike" shots during setup. People were starting to arrive early to stake their claims.
This is Ryan. He works for the Oak Island Parks & Recreation Department. He had a few announcements to make before introducing us. He's a really nice guy and very easy to work with. The guy with Joe on his hat is really Steve. He plays keys and various percussive instruments as well as singing high harmonies and some lead. Also a really nice guy and very easy to work with!
Away we go! We're only a couple blocks from the ocean so we battled a fairly stiff breeze the entire gig. The breeze worked to quell the oppressive 100 degree plus heat index we had going on so it was a fair trade. The only downfall - the canopy behind me (the tall, handsome, wealthy looking, pony-tailed, bass player
) kept smacking me in the head if I stepped back too far from my mike. I wonder if Sir Paul ever has that problem?Here's a panoramic shot Google fused together for me. The crowd really started to build about a half hour into our first set. Ryan estimated the total number for the night to be around 1000. Pretty impressive for a small coastal town if you ask me. It was the biggest crowd they've had for the series so far this year so we were really stoked!
This is the golf cart parking lot. Golf carts and bicycles are the prefered mode of transportation at the beach.
A few more crowd shots to prove these were real people and not just cardboard cutouts! The couple on the bottom right of the first photo had something to do with a local brewery and gave me a can to sample. I haven't cracked it open yet but it won't be long.
"Let me set my beer down and kick off my flip flops so I can bust a move!" The event is family-friendly so they don't have a beer vendor on tap
but that doesn't slow anyone down.The other benefit/liability to the strong breeze was it kept blowing the food vendor smells at us all night! I was about to starve by the time we all met up at a Waffle House a few miles down the road. I didn't get any food shots but here's a stock photo.
Like pine trees, once you seen an All-Star breakfast...
I'm hoping to get some more photos from social media, etc. The city had a drone flying around so I should get some pretty cool shots! The drone is really amazing. At one point it was about twenty feet in front of the stage at our eye level hovering perfectly still in the gusty breeze. I kept think about Star Wars.
On a personal level this was my first gig actually singing some backing vocals. I sang the bass line on Seven Bridges and some minor other stuff while playing. This has been a goal of mine and ultimately a lot of work for me. I'm quite proud I pulled it off without stinking up the joint! (That's my story and I'm sticking to it!).
Thanks for looking!
Charles
