Last night we played the same place in Mankato that we played Tuesday, and this time only the hard cores showed up. That's not surprising, as we were just here two night ago and both nights were weeknights.
The crowd wasn't as wild as Tuesday's, but the band took up the slack. Let's just say things were very loose. Some would say adventurous, another would say occasionally sloppy. But we did whip out a new song, "Mother, Mother," that we'd never played in public before. In fact, we'd never practiced it in anything resembling the manner we did it tonight. Nancy revamped the thing and sketched it out for me before the show and then, third set, I think, we just did it. Not everyone was on the same page for certain parts of the song, but it still worked fairly well and it's obviously going to be a great song. You'll hear it on the next CD (which Nancy is now saying won't be out until March of 2000).
There were other oddities, as well. Kevin did "Iko," a rarity except in Arizona bars. And we did the Pogues' "If I Should Fall From Grace" (just how strange is it? I sing on it, backup only. We hadn't done it for at least a year.) So, this was a strange night. But they swear they aren't sick of us.
Joyce and Cleo demanded a couple of favorites and we forgot to do one of them. So, after the encore, Nancy and Catherine did a rare acoustic two-piece version of "Old Woman's Lament," aka "The Yellow Dress Song." So, those who hung around got to hear something unique.
We had a good time playing for friends who didn't mind us being loose. I'm just glad there wasn't a tape rolling. There were a few swerves across the yellow line I'd rather not relive.
It's been a good week in Southern Minnesota. We won't be back until the snow comes and goes, most likely. But we're looking forward to it before we even leave.
We head out for the On The Waterfront festival in Rockford, IL, in the morning.