BOH 5 Year Anniversary Show Recap

Thanks to everyone who came out to Momo’s for our 5 year Anniversary/Thanksgiving show. I don’t think I’ve ever seen Momo’s so packed full of people! Special thanks to Paul and everyone at Momo’s for making it such a special place to play music and for supporting us for so many years. It’s where we were born after all. We’ve done this anniversary show for the last few years, but this year was truly a special show.
If nobody came to see us play shows, we’d probably be locked up in a garage on the weekends rocking out by ourselves for the sheer joy of music, so we definitely consider ourselves fortunate to get to play music for a living. I don’t know how many shows we’ve played together as a band, but it’s probably nearing 1000. Each of those shows usually includes a couple hundred miles of driving, hotel rooms far from home, and 3-4 hours of set up time on not much sleep for just 2-3 hours of music for a show. The music is what carries us through and somehow justifies all the time on the road away from our families. Not every night is magical, and some nights it certainly feel like work, but last friday night at Momo’s was a reminder to all of us why we love playing music in the first place.
Some of the great moments at Momo’s happened with some of our oldest musician friends in Austin up on stage with us. Steve Wedemeyer, who introduced me to Momo’s and to most of the Heathens, joined us on lead guitar for a few tunes, bringing me back to the days when he played guitar in my band before the BOH formed… He’s still got the soulful chops on the guitar he’s always had.
Drew Smith, one of our favorite Austin artists got up as we ripped through one of his great tunes, Silver Pictures, and then he took everyone by surprise with the lead vocal on Bumblebee. Drew’s energy really got everybody going.
Brian Keane and Eldridge Goins, both a big part of the formation of the band and our first Live at Momo’s album, joined us for Brian’s songs Odysseus and I Ain’t Even Lonely. It was the first time in a few years that the original line up of the band had been back together on stage and it was a blast.
Then we ended the show bringing out the horn section from our ACL festival performance along with Mark Addison on keys for a tune or two. The night ended with an encore of No More Cane with the horns and the guys from Wisebird sitting in on keys and guitars.
Check out some pics from the night on this Uncommon Music Blog (thanks Uncommon Music).
I think there’s some video on Youtube from the night somewhere too. If you have any video or pics from the night feel free to post to facebook or youtube.
It was a ton of fun and a reminder of all that we have to be thankful for as a band. Thanks again to everyone who came out to the show — I hope it was as much fun on the other side of the stage, but I doubt it.
Thanks again everyone. Now back to soundcheck.
Much Love,
G