The great thing about getting to play together as a band consistently is the opportunity to take things up a notch. And that’s exactly what we did. This time we came back with some great tunes, “Life is a Highway” by Rascal Flatts, “Roll with the Changes” by Reo Speedwagon, “Summer of 69” by Bryan Adams, “Hard to Handle” by Black Crowes, “Steve McQueen” by Sheryl Crow, and many more. Our show was pretty awesome! That’s me below playing my Les Paul.
We played a private event and when we got done, the hotel management approached our band and asked if they could hire us to be their house band. I’ll admit that it was all pretty cool, but when we explained that we had traveled in from different parts of the country, they realized that it wouldn’t be feasible to hire us. Nonetheless, it was a great night and their offer was a great compliment. That night we played for truly the most energetic crowd that we had ever played for – well maybe tied with the crowd at the Orlando Hard Rock Cafe. Nonetheless, the crowd gave us tangible energy that night, and we gave it back to them in our performance.
That night I sang and played Johnny Be Goode. Todd and I traded licks on guitar. He took the first solo and I took the 2nd and final. The crowd went crazy. Our show was really fun, and I think our two sets were solid. I remember when we were playing “Roll with the Changes”, the crowd joined in on the chorus “keep on rollin, keep on rollin, ooo, ooo, ooo” on and on. I didn’t think we were ever going to end the song.
The band had really grown in size, and we were switching out vocalists, and drummers, and bass players. There was a lot of choreography involved. To me this was truly our best performance as a band, and that night will definitely go down as one of my fondest musical memories shared with some great friends.
— Mark Salyers