Steve Poltz and the Cynics, Belly Up Tavern

Finding time to type out all the fun things swirling in my head seems near impossible. Right now, I have fifteen minutes before I need to be off to my parents house for dinner. The plan after that is to head to the Casbah for the Silent Comedy, Or the Whale, Hotel St. George. But we will see, staying for the headliner on a Sunday night is a very tough thing nowadays. So I will do my best to at least recap last night's events.

Sara Petite and the Sugar Daddies opened for Steve Poltz and the Cynics at the Belly Up. Sara with her country twang that really only seems to appear when she is singing, livened up the crowd with originals and a few covers. It was a good hour long set...perfect.

Steve took the stage to a packed house with an additional Cynic (besides Patrick Dennis and Chris Hoffey), Shawn Rohlf from the 7th Day Buskers. The show was in typical Steve fashion, full of stories that seem spontanious, but have been performed over and over to the point of near scriptedness. There were definitely amazing moments... Patrick dressing in a dress and blond wig singing "You Were Meant for Me" with Steve, Frank Lee Drennen showing up throwing empty plastic cups at Steve, and Steve inviting both sound guys at the Belly Up (O from the Cheap Leis and Martin) to play Waterfalls and Dick's Automotive... which neither had ever played these songs before.

The hour long encore, typical of Steve in the old days, was a bit much for the Belly Up crowd (and the Cynics... Patrick left the stage twice thinking that the show was over). My feet were a bit sore from the night but I was definitely satisfied with my fill of Steve from this show. He play to all requests and did an ultra-powerful rendition of "Rain" that gave me the shivers.