First, before I even get into the details, I didn’t really get into most of the meat of this recap until a couple of days after the show so my memory will be a bit fuzzy in places. This was a borderline spectacular show; if you’re not familiar with Runaway Sun, the vast majority of their shows fall into three categories: great, excellent, and spectacular.
I stroll off the METRORail Red Line train at Ensemble/HCC Station at a good quarter until 8pm, waltz into Sig’s Lagoon to pick up my ticket. Yes, ticket, singular; I went alone, and I have no shame. I then patiently awaited the opening of the doors of the Continental Club. By the time the doors were open (I think it was a good five minutes past eight) a crowd had begun to form. For the curious, yes, I do believe I was the first person in. Not like it matters, really.
As announced, Clory Martin was the opening act. She played a set of about six songs if I remember right, some of which included her twin sister Beth as backup vocalist and a violinist, whose name I have forgotten. Quite embarrassing, to say the least.
Moving on, it was then time for Runaway Sun. I knew from the opening riff of Lovebite (track 2) this was going to be one of the better shows from the band. Most of the set was from the album, with Stoplight from the EP (track 2) thrown in the middle. I found Bad Bad Man (track 1) and Headin Down South (track 8) particularly great performances. Of course as many times as I’ve been to Runaway Sun’s shows, I had heard most (if not all) of them before, but didn’t really get a chance to match titles to some of them until listening to the album after the show. (Yes, I’m one of these freaks that goes and hunts down title and artist info on radio airplay, as well, I’m strange like that.)
Somewhere in the middle of the set, I’m not sure exactly where (I think shortly after Stoplight), Tina Zulu and DJ Melodic were recognized and presented with the first two copies of the album. (The band won the studio time to record the album at a benefit for DJ Melodic, who had suffered medical problems, and this benefit was organized by Tina Zulu.)
The two songs which feature Clory Martin, Goodbye to You and Sweetheart (tracks 9 and 10 respectively) closed out the set. (Unless there was one that came after those that I forgot.) And then, we were done, or so I thought… I mean, really, I should have known better than to think there would not be an encore.
The encore started with Lily from the EP (track 1) and included (I think) one or two more tracks from the album which did not make the original set. Toward the end of the encore set I inquire about getting a T-shirt. Unfortunately, they were out of my size. Maybe next time…
This is not my best work on a recap; I’ll take better notes next time, I swear. I blame the one Lone Star I had for frying my brain cells. I’m just glad I had enough sense to not get an import beer that would fry my wallet as well.
If you want the perspective of one of the guys that was on stage, you may also be interested in Andrew Karnavas’s recap posted on the band’s official blog.
