20 Years Ago on FITK

Saturday Night

In my show biz days, bands could still get a four or even a five night gig.

That is pretty much a thing of the past; the music scene is so fractured and competitive now that most bands are lucky to get a single night, much less a week-end at any one venue. “Pay to play” is the worst trend in modern music. Aside from the monetary benefits, when we did have a week booked there were real differences between each night.

Tuesdays and Wednesdays were the nights when you played to other musicians. Everybody was always checking every other act and venue. Those nights were used to try out new material, impress other bands and kind of establish your turf. Thursday the crowd changed to harder drinking types who liked to start the weekend early. Friday was TGIF, the wildest dancing and most unruly crowds. But Saturday night was altogether a different animal.

Saturday night was “date night” and the atmosphere had a different charge. There was serious interaction between the sexes, and the good bands knew that it was these couples/would-be-couplers that were the show. You played music that made people want to get together, get in the mood. The last set, if it went well, was a form of foreplay. When you could smell it, amidst the smoke and sweat and alcohol, those musky biological attractors, the mesmerizing scent of human desire—you knew that the gig was a success.