D.C. and David Letterman

Next up, Washington D.C. The band was originally scheduled to play the "downstairs" room at the Black Cat; a room that they had played before. Frankly, they've outgrown it. Between great ticket sales and a bit of a gut feeling, the show was moved upstairs to the 700-person capacity, sprawling floor, upstairs mainstage. The band was hoping to sell about 400 tickets or so... just enough to fill the space in front of the stage comfortably. However, the show was a monster. 638 heads were counted by the end of the night. The band was ecstatic to have done so well, and over their expectations by 200-something people. The show itself was fantastic. They nailed every song and the production value of the venue is superb. Great staff, great PA, great lights, intimate vibe.

The only downside of this show was of course the fact that we had to leave ASAP to drive to NYC for Letterman and get there by... yes... FOUR THIRTY A.M.

Needless to say, that timing didn't work out too well. Elise and I split the drive and were able to make it in by 5:15 to load in. The next let down was that they were to do a line check after setting up. The band was dying to sleep, so I stepped up to take care of line check for them. They wen't back to Josh/Becca's apartments to sleep, while I fudged my way as a violinist and cellist. Hit some drums, played Milo's guitar, etc. It was a pretty stressful scenario actually. The stage hands want nothing all in the world except for you to do exactly what they ask you, perfectly, immediately, and without your two cents. Then I slept from 8am-12 noon in the green room, awkwardly.

The band came later, and we did a sound check with camera's and all. I sat in the mixing room in the basement with the head sound engineer in front of the most massive digital SSL console I could imagine. I was much more confident this time around than I was with the Conan experience, giving some thoughts to as to how the mix of the band should be, and the engineer was much more open to suggestions. They performed "Can You Tell," and felt much less nervous about the whole process, having done something similar to this before with Conan. But overall, I think the Letterman experience was a bit "bigger" in its scale. Conan's production felt homey.

Check out the performance on youtube below, and some of my backstage footage!