28 degrees – The temperature in Dallas when we awoke on the thinly covered concrete floor of a south Dallas warehouse. The previous night, The Drowning Men opened their first show on the Flogging Molly Green 17 Tour. It went well.
1300 miles, 5 cases of Budweiser, and a couple hundred cigarettes earlier - an eastbound departure from Oceanside, CA. A quick show stop in Phoenix… megh. Goodbye Arizona. See you on St. Paddy’s Day.
Now the real driving begins. Phoenix to Dallas in a single over night shot. The scratching hiss of an AM radio broadcast spit out inaudible portions of the Super Bowl as we passed through New Mexico and into the vacant plains of west Texas. It’s a big state. The sun rose behind downtown Dallas as the sleepless wheel man pressed on. The sleeping tallied their kinked and aching muscles. This marked our arrival to said warehouse and its impending floor. After an 800 mile push through the night, groggy contemplation led to questions like “what are we doing?” and “do we have to do that again?” After a cigarette reload, skateboarding, and a game of HORSE on a disintegrating basketball hoop, all seemed to be right again. Seemingly, muscles ached less and the eye crust was shaking loose. In 36 hours the Green 17 tour would officially begin, here in Dallas.
The venue was larger. The stage was larger. The crowd was at capacity. For The Drowning Men, the anticipation and uneasy excitement was also larger than ever. Their performance – flawless. The notoriously raucous Flogging Molly crowd embraced the new sound that flooded over them. A good first show. Our new friends, Moneybrother followed, and without doubt, Flogging Molly demonstrated why the house was sold out. Amazing.
Then we drank. Inevitably, crash landing all of us back on the warehouse floor, some harder than others. While our minds tried to sleep and our bodies processed booze, snow and ice was blanketing the ground outside. Houston in the morning? This is going to be tricky. We’ll see how that pans out in the next one.
A big thanks to our warehouse floor sponsors, Slim and Anthony. Check out Slim’s band, True Widow. They’re really good.
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