I contacted Paul about having M!SS CRAZY back for one more show before they leave Des Moines and head east for the remaining dates on their tour. Paul was unsure if it would work very well with only one week's notice. The other drawback was the fact that the only night free was July 5th. How many people would turn out for a concert the night after celebrating Independence Day? One week of notice and the day after a holiday; that seemed to be two strikes against M!SS CRAZY.
I proposed a show with Standing Damaged opening, as they are mostly a cover band at this time, LyinHeart taking the mid-slot, and M!SS CRAZY headlining this show. Both opening bands had shared the stage with M!SS CRAZY before and both were fans and ready to do it again. Both have a good following in Iowa and would be a real boost to a show that seemingly had everything going against it.
I reminded Paul that Waterstock was coming up in a few days and that M!SS CRAZY would be arriving in full make-up to make an appearance and they could use the opportunity to advertise the show. I also got from Paul that if we confirmed the show fast enough, he could get his radio and print spots changed to reflect this show, too. He also had an upcoming radio show with Brion James of KGGO that could be used to advertise the show. Maybe the deck wasn't so stacked against M!SS CRAZY after all!
At Waterstock we handed out over 1200 flyers advertising the M!SS CRAZY shows at Shooters Hideaway and The Reverb in Cedar Falls, IA. Markus and Kim took tons of pictures with fans and people that just wanted to know who they were as well as signed a ton of autographs. Major Tom hung out in the VIP area and did the same. Jimmy Z even came backstage with me and met a lot of fans along the front row of the Party Pit section taking pictures and signing autographs. It was a huge day of simply marketing the band while just being in the right place at the right time.
Kim and Markus joined Paul at KGGO to record an upcoming Hairball show with Brion James on Monday night. It was to air the next evening and they used every opportunity to advertise M!SS CRAZY's upcoming appearance at Shooters Hideaway. Paul was very gracious with his air time and really made sure that the show and M!SS CRAZY took priority. It went very well.
Show night was, in the words of Chris from Standing Damaged, "the largest show I've seen at Shooters Hideaway". I've seen Naked Beggars at Shooters Hideaway and they didn't draw anywhere near the amount of people that M!SS CRAZY did this particular night.
The show started an hour late due to some technical difficulties, but it was ok since it was still early and an all ages show. Each of the bands worked together to make sure that equipment was on and off stage quickly and efficiently to work for the benefit of the show and the fans.
Standing Damaged came out with a new guitar player and stuck to familiar cover tunes. Chris mentioned to me that they were going to do one original song, but I have to admit that I missed it due to making sure other things were going as planned. They got people ready for the headliner by doing some AC/DC at the end of their set, too.
LyinHeart is an original band from Iowa. They have a fun CD out and hope to have a new one by the end of the year. These guys are always energetic and involve the audience. They even do a rousing cover of I Wanna Be Sedated to close the set. It's obvious these guys have been around a while and work well together. They are a really good segue into M!SS CRAZY.
M!SS CRAZY took the stage and most every single person was jammed to the front to see this show. The crowd noise was loud and you could hear people singing along with the band as they rocked through their set list. Everything they did got a roar of approval, from Markus' stage rap about relationships making you scream "I wish I could die", to Kim doing the splits, to Tom stepping to the front to deliver an emotional and aggressive solo, to Jimmy Z's rhythmic intros and fills. The band was on fire and the fans were giving the energy right back to them.
I freaked out once during the night. I had been down front taking pictures and heard that they were going to play a song for the first time since they had started this leg of the tour. Kim stepped to the mic and said, "Brett, this one's for you". My jaw dropped as they roared into Scream! I was freaking out and headbanging like a teenager while singing along. I'd been asking to hear that song and I finally got to hear it live for the first time. There was a minor musical accident toward the end, but the energy was high and they played it with abandon. I can't wait to hear this in the set more often.
The bands hung out a bit after the show, at least those members that were able to stay. It was a great night of great music and a lot of people providing energy to make this a wonderful success. There were many that came simply due to meeting the band at Waterstock. I saw a ton of new faces that night.