Hey everybody,
Time for another of those year-end posts. Hopefully mine won’t be too boring. As those of you who knows me, it’s basically just a few statistics on the bands I see because I’m OCD and keep up with that crap, but some people may find them interesting too.
For those of you that don’t know me, I’m that old dude that you see at EVERY show you go to. I’m usually having a good time, feel free to come up and introduce yourself. You can even buy me a Budweiser, if you want.
So, this is the first year I’ve purposely seen as many bands as I could. For the record, I count a band if I saw one whole song from them. I wanted to see if my 58 year old self could beat my previously unbeatable record of 749 bands seen in one year (which I set in 2014 at the young age of 53). And I did it so I can say “screw you, you lazy SOB” when my 30-something year old friends whine that can’t go out because they’re tired (you guys know who I am talking to, JP, TC, and BG).
I actually got to beat the record and saw a total of 777 bands this year. Not too shabby for an old dude. And an easy number to remember. This is the breakdown:
Venues for 2019:
El Rocko – 153
Jinx – 143
Barrelhouse South – 83
The Warehouse – 37
City Market Courtyard – 32
Jazz’d – 30
Bayou Café – 25
Congress Street Social Club – 24
Rail Pub – 22
Molly MacPherson’s Pub – 18
Since beginning this blog, my most popular venue has always been The Jinx, by far. For the first time, the champion has been dethroned. I saw the most bands this year at El Rocko. That’s the first time Jinx didn’t win since 2010, so congratulations to Wes and Kyle at El Rocko for a nice job of bringing in interesting acts all year.
Bands for 2019:
Jubal Kane – 17
Jon Lee’s Apparitions – 16
Damon & The Shitkickers – 14
Train Wrecks – 12
Bottles & Cans – 12
Eric Culberson Band – 11
Individually Twisted – 11
Ben Keiser Band – 11
Jason Bible – 10
Hitman – 10
The race for the most bands seen is always pretty tight (I never check until the end of the year so I can’t influence the winner). This year, Jubal Kane was my most seen band. They play every Wednesday at Warehouse at 8pm. They play juke-box blues. You will surely enjoy Ace Anderson’s harmonica stylings and Anders Thomsen’s ferocious guitar playing.
Second band was Jon Lee’s Apparitions. You will find them playing at a variety of places around town, mostly at the Warehouse, Rail Pub, and Bayou Café. He has one of the sweetest voices in town and is a damn fine guitar player too.
My third most-seen band was Damon & The Shitkickers, a Savannah institution. They play every Saturday at 6pm at the Jinx, you can’t get more convenient than that. You won’t find a better dose of outlaw country in this town.
Fourth most seen band was a tie between two of my favorite bands, the Train Wrecks and Bottles & Cans. They are both on this list every year and are two of my all-time favorite bands. You can find either of them playing anywhere there is music in town. If you haven’t seen at least one of them yet, you are probably not reading this blog anyway. If you are reading this blog and haven’t seen them, make one (or both) of them the next band you see.
The next bands were all bunched up, all being seen eleven times this year. Eric Culberson Band, Ben Keiser Band, and Individually Twisted can be seen playing at most venues in town, from the Barrelhouse South to the Warehouse. They are all guitar-based bands and you will be amazed at their ability. Culberson plays electric blues, Keiser plays blues and rock, and Individually Twisted plays rock covers.
Wrapping up my top ten most-seen is Jason Bible and Hitman. Jason Bible is frontman for the Train Wrecks and I would recommend trying to catch him as a solo artist, as well as the band. His solo shows downtown are usually at the Warehouse, Jazz’ed, or Foxy Loxy Cafe. Hitman is another well-loved Savannah institution that plays regularly at the Warehouse, Bayou Café, and Molly MacPherson’s Pub. He plays electric guitar blues and you will not be disappointed when you see him play. Looking over my list, I notice that I do tend to list bands that have been playing around this area for quite a while. Please don’t make the mistake of thinking we do not have a bevy of newer bands playing downtown, most just don’t make my list due to the fact there is more opportunity to see these older bands, as they play more frequently. There are a multitude of good bands around town that are just out of my top ten. All of these bands were seen by me more than five times each this year: Jezebel Heart (duo & band), Draucker, Ember City, Rev Bro Diddley (solo & bands), Forest Evil, Dustin Price, Basically Nancy, Anders Thomsen Trio, City Hotel, Danielle Hicks, JD Music Group, Valley Gals, The Mercers, Bero Bero, and Clouds & Satellites. I am sure many of those bands are less familiar to you and I would recommend trying to catch almost any of them this year if you get a chance. I am betting all of them will show up on my blog multiple times this year. And probably a couple in next years Year-End List.
Happy New Year’s everyone !!!
I hope to see you many times this year.