Norm’s St. Patricks Day 2014

Hard to believe it was just a year ago that we played our first ever gig as the Drop Daddies at Norm’s grill in Danville.   It was great to be invited back to play at this year’s St. Patricks Day celebration, 2014.  

The weather was glorious, the green beer was flowing, there was piles of corned beef and cabbage.   Many friends and new faces came out to enjoy the food, music, bounce houses, and good vibes.  Unfortunately, Xeno couldn’t join us, as he was on special assignment in Aspen.

A few amusing highlights- we ran all our electrical through a single extension cord into the neighboring bike shop.  Thank goodness a bike tech didn’t accidentally pull the plug!  In the midst of singing “Oh Donna”, Gary called out “hey there’s Donna right there!” as  his friend Donna walked on by.   Thankfully, Coach kept the ice cold  green bullets flowing to the stage.

Ian found a green Coors Light shamrock and taped it onto his bass drum-  it was so perfect that he plans to keep it there indefinitely.  John’s epic talk-box solo in Beverly Hills was one to remember- usually the talk box is such a let down – never loud enough- but this time it roared.

After John dedicated Melt With You to his friends Andy and Shelly (it’s her favorite song), they came out to dance; and then we somehow completely spaced on the arrangement in the second half, and the song became what we later described as the UK extended remix.

A much more dramatic moment- in the middle of Come On, Let’s Go, a rather explosive grease fire kicked up on one of the main grills across from us.  We finished out the song, observing the flames getting scary high.  John asked “um, is everything alright?  No need to evacuate?”  Too bad we didn’t have Disco Inferno ready to go.  Once they assured us they had it under control, we busted out Johnny B Goode which never fails to bring people to their feet.

Some of the most enjoyable songs were our new ones- Stone Temple Pilot’s Interstate Love Song, Neil Diamond’s Sweet Caroline, Imagine Dragons’ Radioactive, and even Maroon 5’s Daylight went alright.    We played two sets, about 30 songs in total.   Gary said it was the most fun he’s ever had singing.

Overall, a great day out.