What a night of music. And our hotel breakfast goes ’til 11am.

Hi, all. Russ here. Man alive, it was a fun show tonight… the support band, Pancho and the Contraband, were absolutely unreal. One of those nights where there’s a bill and you’re not sure what the other musicians will be like (personality-wise and music style), and you come out of it thanking your lucky stars that it all came together as it did. I can’t remember how many people were on stage, but it was at least 8… with 5 and sometimes 6-part harmonies, incredible rhythm section, great horn section, and talking with them afterwards, it turns out that most of them are related (cousins, brothers, etc.). A bit ska, a bit indie rock, a bit reggae, a bit folk… all around excellent.

The venue itself is awesome, too… really cool room, good sound, super nice staff, super receptive people… and the crowd singalong during Nightlite Jesus was absolutely epic. These people had pitch, let me tell you, and this was the first time ever that we tried singing our 3-part reggae harmony over the crowd’s “Niiiightliiiight Jesus!” harmony… and it worked GREAT. Kudos to any of you who were there singing your lungs out, we love you for it.

Here’s how the setlist panned out:

Eoghan, Late Saturday
Story Of…
Sister, Brother
September
Obey –>
Life During Wartime*
Park
Hazel
Diggin’ In The Dirt**
Emil
Marula Binge
IIOKYN
Nightlite Jesus (with sick crowd singalong)
View From Way Up Here
Turn My Egg

Encore: Relief

* Talking Heads
** Peter Gabriel

Oh, and before the show, we went to The Oven, a phenomenal Indian restaurant in downtown Lincoln that we discovered a few tours ago. We went in and they sat us at the exact same table we had years ago, and the food was as tasty as we remembered. Nice little Tuesday in Lincoln, Nebraska for the SoundRabbits.

We hung out after the show for a while at the venue, enjoying some beers and the gorgeous night air out on their patio on the street, then headed to our hotel. Tour – as in life – is sometimes about some big things, but largely about the little ones. We found this hotel randomly online, and we’ll be back again the next time we play Lincoln for sure… super nice people, affordable suites (2 Queen Beds and a pullout sofa in each room, meaning I don’t have to spoon with Fred), a 24-hour pool and hot tub (no one does that!), late checkout, and breakfast that runs until 11:00am. Talk about a setup.

Tomorrow we have an 8 hour drive to Chicago, mostly on cruise control through farms, so it should be easy. We’ll grab breakfast here in the morning and then hit the road… the World’s Largest Truckstop is on our way, which is always exciting for us.

More from the road tomorrow…