On Friday afternoon, Jeff Stolz, of The Frightened Stag, had a grand idea. He got his phone out and recorded a little message that he posted to the band’s Instagram stories. In this message, he noted that there were a lot of good townie shows happening on Saturday, but if you timed it right, you could make it to all three.
Challenge accepted.
We (along with half the Lawrence music scene) decided to take Old Man Stolz’s advice and cram three stellar shows into one beautiful day. We started off the afternoon at 4:00 p.m. at Lucia. Indie rockers The Frightened Stag kicked the afternoon off (we will never not love hearing two organs going at once), followed by Mr. Marco’s V7 jazzy throwdown, and rockers The Scriveners rounding it out.
That’s when it was time to pack up and head a half block over to The Replay, where a special farewell show was waiting. Laurlyn, of Denver, kicked off the night with beautiful vocals. As the sun started to dip down, the patio cooled and Scroat Belly took the stage for their farewell show. The band, fronted by Wayne Gottstine, has been delivering joyful noises across the Kansas plains since forming in Wichita in the early 90’s. So not only did this feel like a kickass rock show, but it also felt like a school reunion. So many folks from all corners of the state came out for the set, which gave it a bit of an emotional vibe.
A short trot down 9th street, the town was celebrating the end of a major year-long construction project the most Lawrence way possible: with a street concert. The night included vendors, lemonade, and live music– all which gave us happy flashbacks to all the summer street parties we enjoyed during World Cup season this year. Limestone (the band, not the restaurant) brought an enthusiastic group of fans.
Just when the big yellow moon started rising in the sky, Son Venezuela fired up and everyone started dancing. Please believe us when we tell you that this party had EVERYTHING (like a Saturday Night Live Stefon sketch): cool lesbians, Venezuelans, your neighborhood florist, A DOG IN A STROLLER. Everyone was there. The night was so wonderful and bursting with 9th Street neighborhood pride, we wouldn’t be surprised if this becomes an annual event.
Photos from all the events below: