I'm Killing It! Sticker Raffle #1: First Spafford Show
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Warning - this is long enough to be a short story. Haha.
My first Spafford show was in Buffalo, NY on 2/1/2017. I had been listening to the band for a few months, initially drawn in by the Live: March 2015 release, I was instantly hooked on the other official live releases too, and the 10/29/16 show was crucial early on. I joined the Spaffnerds group right away - in December, I believe, and soon after that, their tour with Umphrey's was announced. I was so excited for the chance to see Spafford (in Rochester) after just recently discovering them.
Well, as we know, Spafford didn't end up playing in Rochester with UM due to the place being very small. Super bummed to say the least, but, lucky for me, they were playing in Buffalo the next week. I had already decided I was going to the Buffalo show awhile back, I considered Spafford one of my top favorite bands by now, and there was no way I would be satisfied by just an opening set! I had been preaching Spafford to my friend Kyle ever since I discovered them, and I don't think he was completely hooked until he saw them for the first time in Albany opening for UM. I convinced him to make the 3.5 hr trek from Albany to Rochester so that he could come to Buffalo with us, and he is definitely happy he did!
We drove out to Buffalo on a cold Wednesday night and made it into Iron Works just in time to see Mike & Dave from Aqueous opening the show. I already knew that I was buying both of the Jon Rose posters that were available (tour poster and show poster), so as soon as we walked in I was eyeing the merch booth - but there was nobody there! During the opening set, I finally saw someone at the table and ran over. I ended up up meeting Sashi there, and he seemed ecstatic that I was buying both posters - he even gave me a band signed tour poster, so I was pumped! The posters came to $50, I got $60 out of the ATM, and I was like - is there anything else I can buy, I mean I've got this $10 left that isn't going to do me any good. He ended up giving me a shirt and 2 wristbands for that $10, and he even gave my girlfriend a wristband because she was jealous of mine! One thing that he said then will stick in my head - "It's nice to have fans!"
Anyways, onto the actual show - hopefully you all have listened to this one already, but if you haven't, I definitely recommend it! The Dream Jam to start off the show was beautiful, I was no Spafford expert at that point, but I was stumped trying to figure out what it is they were going to play - either way, I knew we were in for a treat that night. 35 minutes later was the first time they stopped playing, and we couldn't believe it! The band was certainly locked in that night, and I'd like to say that we were a part of that - many times throughout the night I would open my eyes and catch Brian, Jordan, or Red watching us dancing in the front. There were maybe 75 people at the show, and only a handful that had actually listened to Spafford before. It was awesome to see everyone reacting to the music, and I couldn't believe that I was actually seeing Spafford in Buffalo of all places! I'm pretty sure I shed a few tears throughout the night lol. The one song I really wanted to hear was LTLO and sure enough, that closed out the set and put the cherry on top for me. After the show, I called out to Sashi hoping he would grab me a setlist, and thankfully he did! Kyle and I ran into Brian and Jordan and shot the shit with them for a few minutes, they were genuinely nice people, and definitely appreciated us being there that night, but the pleasure was all ours! Safe to say, this show will always be one of my favorites, for the music, and for the experience!
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Ours friends were in town performing with their band, Fruition, at the Sail Inn. We arrived early to chill with the band; it had been a little while since we had seen them and it was one of their relatives birthday! We were told there was an opener, but they never showed up, or so we thought.... Fruition played a great set of music. Afterwards were hanging out, drinking beer, and taking shots of tequila, when some dudes casually walk in and start setting up. These guys got their equipment setup, got on stage and said "What's up Tempe?", then jumped right in to All My Friends. Needless to say, we skipped the birthday party and stayed for the Spafford Rage instead! It was a great decision.
Show: 2013-03-09
may be unaware of his surroundings...
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My first show was 4/13/17 at the Music Hall of Williamsburg in Brooklyn.they killed it and Let's just say I fell in love
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First Spafford show was at Connors Birthday Party! I've been hooked ever since and am so grateful for how this awesome community has welcomed me back to AZ!
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It was one of the first warm, sunny day of the spring and I had just moved to Chicago. My boyfriend and I dropped some L and had a relaxing day taking in the views of the city and the lake until we headed down town for the show. I've always wanted to see Spafford but could never make it happen until this night, so I was anxiously waiting in line at the Bottom Lounge.
Mungion came on and blew my mind and ears out so as Spafford was getting ready to go, on I knew what was coming next was going to be nothing short of special.
For the remainder of the show, I was exposed to some of the best panty-dropping, mind boggling, "holy shit did I really just hear that" music that I've seen in awhile. I honestly couldn't remember the last time I had seen a band for the first time that made me lose my breath like that, and no, it wasn't just the acid
This show was just a couple of months ago so I am new to Spaffnerds but I am so happy to have found this band and community.
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You described the feeling so much better than me. They really are something special, right?
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@dr_rock
That's a killer humble brag brah! -
My first Spaff show was earlier this year in Hamden CT, tiny hole in the wall full of locals who had no idea who they were there to see. Standout tunes from the night- Todd's tots, Sweet and Windmill. The plug was pulled on the bands performance at 1am sharp with many songs remaining on the setlist, which was given to me after the show.
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Great stories so far!!! I've upvoted everyone! So glad to hear a first hand recount of the Buffalo show from @Cody-Soule as it's one of my favorites posted on nugs.net and also that @spacejam's first show was Cranky Pat's starring the Pizza Jam!
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First show was a life-changing event! Some relatively new, but really good friends talked my wife and I into going to see a local band (which we never did). It was at the Sail Inn.
First of all, the people were all incredible. I hadn't been to a jam band concert before. We're spoiled with the all the friendly, open-minded, good natured, weird people in this scene. If you've been in it a long time you may not remember just how special it is.
The music started, and it didn't take long before I was hooked. The music was what I'd wanted without having known it. Then the lights were something else! The whole show just overwhelmed me! Funny thing is I got so focused on watching Red work his magic and so mesmerized by the spacey sounds he'd make when they started really getting out there that I remember finally noticing Brian and Jordan and how incredible they were the third time I saw them!
I saw people dancing with abandon and without concern for appearance, and I decided I could too. That was big for me. Never did that in public before. I quickly saw that this was a place people let there freak flags fly. Now I'm going to shows with glitter and lights in my beard, and my wife's a T-Rex!
I love this band.
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I wish I had a good story to tell about my first shows in 2013 at the Sail Inn, but those nights tend to blend together. I'm sure I had a wonderful time. I pretty much lived at the Sail for years before that, and was lucky to see a ton of great music. There was already hype building around these guys, having played the inside stage earlier, and right away I could tell why. Their tightness and ability to improvise really stood out to me, and I was excited to find some live recordings online. I made sure to catch them again a few more times there in 2013, and had my face melted at NYE 2013 on the patio. I started shooting photos at their shows in May 2014, saw my first shows outside of AZ soon after and I've been going strong ever since
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Ottawa 2016 on the river. Basically playing a show in the middle of nowhere on a deck on the fox river. Perfect night except I met some crazy kids from Milwaukee.
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My first show was on a Wednesday night at the Wonder Bar in Asbury Park, NJ. My friends and I plus about 20 other people raged what felt like a private Spafford show. Got the salamander song my first show and was really impressed by the jams that went down that night. Also got like 100 "Im killing it" stickers and have stuck them all since, so I need to more! ... or another Spafford show in Jersey
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My first show was at the Sail Inn inside Fall of 2012. Jordan was wearing a fedora. I am a Deadhead who had just recently rediscovered Phish. I was not all that sold on "other" music honestly but I had met this cool guy and he'd asked me so....
It felt like the show lasted 10 minutes. I couldn't believe it was over already. I was having so much fun. They had just started I swear. But it was over and I remember thinking....and I've never said this about any other local band ever...these guys are going somewhere. They are gonna be huge. Everyone will LOVE them.
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@Christian-Harnisch I love that show bro. I wish I had gone.
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My first Spafford show was this past January at Milkboy in Philly. I had been listening to the band since the beginning of last year, but living in Maryland and being unable to attend the post-Phish shows for New Years, this was my first chance to actually see them live. Looking back, I can still remember how excited I was seeing the initial show announcement, and realizing that the wait was finally over. After making my way up 95 to a soundtrack of the Pizza & Cabin jams in what seemed like no time at all, I arrived in Philadelphia and made my way to the show. As I made my way up the narrow staircase, I remember thinking how cool it was going to be to see a band I liked this much in a venue this small. Once I picked up both the tour and show poster, I grabbed a beer and waited for Spafford to hit the stage. Although I had been waiting for this concert for almost a year at this point, and had listened to the band extensively, I still had almost no idea what to expect, and was probably a little bit nervous that they would not be able to live up to my lofty expectations. Fortunately, the first 30 minutes of the show consisted of an incredible VBD>LTLO, which certainly buried any doubts myself and the rest of the audience could have possessed. The rest of the night was a blur, and I am pretty sure the majority of my thoughts were made up of a combination of "Wow this band is awesome" and "Holy shit this place is way too crowded". As I was walking out, I got to talk to Brian for a minute, who was as humble as could be, even though he had just melted the faces of everyone in the venue, and I was able to express my gratitude for the performance I had just seen and my excitement for future shows. Soaking in the previous night the next day on the drive home, I had the realization that I would need to see this band as much as I possibly could in the future, and since then I have been fortunate enough to see them three more times (Baltimore, Charlottesville & Brooklyn) and will be seeing them for the fifth come August 5th. Although I have enjoyed seeing the band in bars and smaller clubs, I'm looking forward to seeing them grow in the near future and selling out larger and larger venues.
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@Todd-Cully Awesome story man! Love the hug from Jordan. He's really the nicest human alive.
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@phokus I've listened to a bit of Fruition. Solid band. Love the sound.
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My first Spafford show... my first Spafford show. Well... I have to start off with a reference to White Men Can't Jump.
White Men Can't Hear Jimi Hendrix (Only listen …) – 01:58
— Petter AndresenYou see... I got a chance to see Spafford on 12/31/2014... but all I did was LISTEN to Spafford. I'm embarrassed to say that I did not have a moment of true awakening. The show was fun, but the venue was loud, the sound wasn't great, and I was really lamenting NOT being at MSG for Phish New Years. I brought my pouty pants and didn't HEAR Spafford.
Fast forward a few years. 12/30/2016. We hosted a gathering of Phish fans including some of the Arizona crew that are neck deep in the Spafford scene. We had a crew of a dozen or more, commonly known as the Shit Show, in our entourage and at least another dozen who would meet us at American Beauty for the after show.
We left YEMSG and wandered out into the street. Because so much of the crew was from out of town, and our fearless leader Superman was engaged elsewhere, I was saddled with the task of herding a bunch of spunions through the NYC streets. As we headed south on broadway I realized how monumental this task was going to be. The entire street was covered with nitrous tanks and used balloons and it was pretty clear the police were indifferent to this fiasco. Realizing the enormity of what I faced I reached into my pocket and found... @Mustard's blue squeeker tennis ball. It was just what I needed.
One good squeeze and half of the spunions on the block were at attention. One more and a call of "let's go" and we were on our way. Before I knew it we were in front of American Beauty and on our way into the back. Others have mentioned the opening licks, @RadiantDarkness dancing in a cage above the stage, but for me... I could finally HEAR Spafford. I was in my city, after seeing Phish at my home venue, and I was with my very own band of merry pranksters. In that moment I was completely sold. I was all in for the ride...
