So this weekend was the long-awaited A Flock Of Kobolds party. It was a completely awesome time, and I want to thank everyone for coming, because I definitely needed the good time. And, of course, I apologize for all the swearing and yelling. ;^)
I’ve been struggling all week with trying to write a blog post about it. I wanted to go over the history, because I was trying to explain to a couple people at the party how we came to be playing a bunch of Irish music, but I don’t think I did a very good job. Luckily, a Behind The Music series about A Flock Of Kobolds has recently begun internet-broadcasting (thanks to me), so you can just watch these short videos:
(the series continues here)
Anyway, as I said, the show was fantastic. It was really laid back, and I think, we, the band, got to let loose and have a lot of fun with it. Also, it was kind of like having two parties in one, because my sister’s whole family came, and Ben’s wife & child, and Lukas’s wife and child, and all of them stayed through the first set. So the party up through the first set was like a family get together, and then, after the children left, it turned into an old-fashioned all-out kegger. The band got ridiculous and played some awesomely bawdy songs, and everyone had a whole bunch of fun.
The party itself even had an encore of sorts, since five of us stayed up until 5am, long after everyone else had either gone to bed or gone home. I couldn’t have hoped for a better party.
For the record, here’s the ridiculously complicated setlist of the first A Flock Of Kobolds official gig:
Set I: Dark Streets Of London*, Haul Away Joe***, Fathom The Bowl***, Hanging Johnny***, The Son Never Shines (On Closed Doors)**#, Finnegan’s Wake***, The Wanderer*****, Streams Of Whiskey*##, The Wild Rover***, Whiskey In The Jar***
Set II: Alice > Swagger**, Hands Of Fate****, Death Valley Queen**#, Mingulay Boat Song***, Baltimore Whores****, Mariner’s Revenge Song*****, The Blarney Stone******, Drunken Sailor***###&, Good Ship Venus***, Boys From County Hell*, What’s Left Of The Flag**
Encore: The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald*******###, Cape Cod Girls***, Haul Away Joe***&&
* – The Pogues
** – Flogging Molly
*** – trad
**** – original
***** – The Decemberists
****** – Ween
******* – Gordon Lightfoot
# – T-Rav on vocals
## – Ryan on vocals
### – revolving vocalists on the verses
& – guest verse by Lukas
&& – guest verses by Kristian
And if you want to become a superfan, you can download the soundboard recording of the show here. Although, I must warn you, listening to the second set sober can be hazardous. ;)
[...] my work week last week consisted of me finally venturing back downstairs and cleaning up after the Kobold’s party, whose remnants were still lurking in the shadows of our house’s most forgotten room. [...]