Best posts made by Cody

Find the setlist and available recordings here: https://spaffnerds.com/shows/2017-08-05

Night 12 was my first and only Baker's Dozen show - it's no coincidence that Spafford was playing a headlining after show at the (apparently) famous BB Kings. We filed out of MSG just after the encore of a really amazing Phish show and made a b-line straight to the venue. The walk was as weird as could be as we tried to navigate through the twenty thousand phans that were unleashed on the streets of Manhatten mixed with the usual tourists. Food was in the back of our minds as we rushed over to BB Kings, but luckily, there is a McDonald's right across the street from the venue. It was the busiest McDonald's I've ever seen, and I'll leave it at that..

We walked across the street to the front door of BB Kings, passing a rather long line on the way. No way that's the line for Spafford.... 'the line for Spafford is back there'.... fuck. We walked literally a quarter mile to the end of the line at around midnight. We met a lot of new faces in line - people looking for extras, people that had never seen Spafford before, people that had never even heard their music before - but, one thing was consistent, everyone was highly anticipating this show. Whispers of Spafford went up and down the line, you could just feel the excitement in the air for this show. We didn't end up getting into the venue until 12:30 - I picked up some Spaffnerds.com stickers at the merch table and then we were on our way underground.

If you've never been to a show at BB Kings, the Playstation Theatre, or similar venues in NYC, you are brought down some stairs to a chamber underground where there is magically a concert venue! This was a pretty cool place to catch a Spafford show, it had an old school. theatre look, complete with a full bar and a lot of reserved seated booths. The place filled up quick, and we settled in to a nice open spot on the rail right in front Red. It was after midnight, so it was officially Delaney's (my girlfriend's) birthday. When the band walked out on stage, we made sure to let Red know that, he gave us a double 'rock on' gesture and told her happy birthday.

The band was welcomed onstage by a roaring crowd, who evidently had a lot more energy to give even after the Phish show. Personally, I saved up my energy for the night so I could give Spafford the 1000% that they rightfully deserved! From the opening notes of All My Friends I was just giddy with excitement, the usual segue into Bee Jam followed, with an impressive extended jam before segueing smoothly into Todd's Tots. Ain't That Wrong had me jumping around at 1 in the morning, breaking into a wonderful jam with some 'untz' flavoring from Cam that had the whole crowd cheering. This was my first time seeing the band with Cam behind the kit (second time overall), and I was sold by this point, his work back there is seriously impressive - he definitely brings a special punch to the sound. You can tell that these guys have been hard at work practicing together, not to mention the mysterious Abaculus release that was just announced prior to this show. By the time Brian started playing the opening notes of Leave The Light On, you could tell that this would be a special show. This version of the song is exceptional, and featured two separate jam segments, one before the third verse and one after. Salamander Song is such a happy song for me, and this one was perfectly placed. A majority of people hey'd at the wrong time, but the band seemed to love it anyways! Backdoor Funk is always welcome, and this one was great (just like every other song this night)! During a Red-driven people jam, Brian goes over to Jordan and says something along the lines of "Want to walk off?", then went over to Cam and motioned for him to come off as well, leaving Red on stage by himself to finish his solo. When the rest of the band came back out, they started up Legend which gave way to a nice jam that brought us back into the People ending, pretty cool stuff!

I've been dying to hear Mind's Unchained since they started playing it, and it seemed popular among everyone else in the crowd too. The Weasel > Palisades > Red's Jam > Weasel segment was really special, the setlist called for Weasel alone, but the improvised middle section of this part of the show made the way for itself. This also featured some more 'untz' flavoring from Cam. The Beautiful Day may have just been the pinnacle of this show, the crowd swayed in awe as Red commanded the crowd, and he even snuck in a Bakers Dozen (tee) reference. When the rest of the band walked off stage for the ending of the song, Red started a sing-a-long with the crowd that had every single person in the room belting out 'Its a beautiful day'.

The crowd brought the band back out on stage with a loud chorus of applause for the encore - America - a perfect ending to this show, I thought to myself. I'll admit, I was extremely thrown off by the Reprise fake out after America, but once I realized that they had started to play Galisteo Way, I was yet again jumping up and down (this time, close to 4am), this is one of my favorites, and I've been highly anticipating getting to hear it live! I didn't think that I would ever hear as many people singing along to this song than I heard that night, and I think the band was just as surprised as I was. The Reprise closed out this amazing show, and was just the icing on the cake. Throughout the whole show, the band was all smiles, at times they even seemed in awe of what they were doing here that night. For all of the people at this show that I know had never seen Spafford before, they were all brought to that transcendental place at this show, eyes closed, spinning around into the wee hours of the morning. This band is something special, and this show was a big one, marking just the beginning of what is still yet to come for these guys.

• special thanks to @ronskiiiii for taking these awesome shots

Hey all,

There seems to be always be questions regarding the "I'm Killing It" stickers and how you can go about making your own. This thread is here to simplify the process, and to allow everyone to make their own stickers even if you don't have the tools to do so. Now, everyone can get the design they want and get the stickers printed for your next show!

Here's how it will work:

• Think of an idea for a sticker design.
• Post an image, if you can find one, that contains your rough idea. Otherwise, describe it in great detail.
• Include other details of your request such as font color, etc.
• Give me 2 to 3 days to create the design.
• Take the .pdf file and order the stickers here - change the quantity to your desired quantity, and change the paper to white vinyl sticker to make it waterproof.
• Get your stickers in ~9 business days, bring them to your next show and tell everyone that they are killing it!

Eventually I will make a tutorial that will help you to do this process on your own, but for now this will do!

If you have access to Photoshop, here is a .psd file with the layers for the text included. The blue guides indicate the 2x2" square for the sticker, and the .125" border on all sides that is required by the printing company. You want the background of the design to extend all the way out, but keep the important stuff within the inner borders to ensure that it doesn't get cut off. The font is SF action man. Please help us out and keep spaffnerds.com on it

So I hope everyone has had a chance to check out the setlist from last night (it is on the home page now). This show has a bunch of highlights, and better yet, we have two great AUD recordings up on the show page as well.

The show started out with Brian on acoustic guitar and Jordan on the djembe (hand drum) with an introduction from Don Cheek who announced them as Officious Tortfeasor, which kind of simulated how they had originally started playing together at open mic nights (hosted by Don Cheek). I'm sure not everyone knows what the hell that's about, so I dug up an interview (or two) that I remembered talking about the story.

"Song with meaning, and good lyrics and vocals, can really drive it home. It’s always been a huge priority for us, even since the beginning. Brian and I, at open mics nights with a hand drum and an acoustic guitar, we had good harmonies and we could keep people dancing (laughs). That’s how the whole thing started." - Jordan

"Is there any meaning behind the name Spafford?

Well, we were doing these open mic nights and we already let everyone know we were doing New Years. Then they were kind of like, "So what's the name of your group?" And that's probably the hardest thing to come up with. We didn't know what to do. One of my buddies was going to law school and he called me up one day and said, "Hey Moss, I got a great name for a band. You guys should use it! It's called Officious Tortfeasor. It's a law term for a general wrong doer." And I was like, "oh man that's so cool like we are kind of wrong doers some times and that's really awesome." So we go to the next open mic night and there were all these people who had been coming to see us for weeks and we were like "Alright everyone we got our band name!" And they were like "Fuck yeah! What is it?" and we were like "Officious Tortfeasor!" and the place fell silent. There were so many moans and murmurs. They said it was the worst band name they had ever heard. So on the mic I go, "You guys don't like that band name? Fine. The name of the band is Bob." They were like "awe fuck you're killing us! No, just no." My buddy was in the crowd and I was looking at him and I ask, "Chuck, what do we do?" And he was like "I don't know!" Well Chuck's middle name is Spafford and we always thought that it was the coolest name ever. So I just decided in the moment that the band's name was Spafford. " - Brian

The whole show was excellent and the recordings are great, so make sure to go give it a listen, lots of highlights for sure!

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!

Hey everyone! We are officially less than a month away from the beginning of Spafford's Fall Tour and I hope you are as excited as I am! This will be a momentous tour - their first with Cam on the drums, and their first completely-headlining trip out East fresh off of some great performances. There are so many chances to see them (http://www.spafford.net/tour), so buy your tickets, get out there, and bring your friends with you! (Plug for Spafford Street Team here - you can get rewarded for spreading the good word of Spafford).

Countdowns are fun, so I thought - Let's do a countdown!

Get acquainted with the most recent Spafford shows (link below) and have some fruitful discussion about how excited you are about the tour!

https://spaffnerds.com/shows/2017-08-05 (BB Kings, NY)
https://spaffnerds.com/shows/2017-08-12 (Peach Fest, PA)

So now that we have every release in SBD form from the Northeast leg of this fall tour, it's time to go give it a listen on nugs.net and see what everyone thinks are the best jams from this leg of the tour. These are shows from Charlottesville (09-27) to Albany (10-08). We can do this for every leg of the tour and match them all up after the new years run. You each have 2 votes, use them wisely!

If you don't have a nugs.net subscription, you can head over to their site and sign up for a free 30 day trial, and make sure to keep an eye out for future giveaways from the site for more free nugs subscriptions!

Vote until Saturday, 10/28!

Unfortunately, I can't link to the shows in the poll, so here is a linked version of the list for everyone:

• Lonely > Parody from Charlottesville
• Mind's Unchained > Ain't That Wrong from Baltimore
• America > Space Gadget from Philadelphia
• Red's Jam > Weasel from Philadelphia
• Ain't That Wrong > On Fire > Ain't That Wrong from Brooklyn
• Parody > It's A Bunch > Parody from Ithaca
• Leave The Light On from Burlington
• All In from Hamden
• Hollywood > Phone Booth > The Remedy from Northampton
• Sinclair Jam > Todd's Tots from Cambridge
• Plans from Cambridge
• Lonely > Weasel > Palisades > Weasel from Portland
• Dream Jam > All My Friends > Bee Jam > Alternate Ending > Ain't That Wrong from Albany

• How did you get started doing these types of prints?
• What was the first Spafford poster that you made, and how did that come to fruition?
• What is your favorite Spafford print that you have done?
• What is your favorite Spafford song?

Like I always say, I love your work!

Setlist, Recordings, and Attendance for: 2017-10-01 - The Haunt, Ithaca, NY

Another day, and another adventure - but this was one that I have been looking forward to since the fall tour announcement. We pulled into our campsite at Buttermilk Falls State Park (less than 5 miles from the venue) on a chilly fall day in western New York after a 3.5 hour drive from Canton, NY where we saw Aqueous the night before. I get to see two of my favorite bands in the same weekend? Unbelievable!

Delaney got a fire going, and we hung out in the hammock and relaxed until it was time to get ready for the show. @Kyle-Burbank arrived just in the nick of time to head down to the venue (he drank way too much Jameson at Aqueous), so with Delaney laying down in the bed in the back of our car, and Kyle riding shotgun, we drove out of the campground and only a few minutes down the road to get to the venue.

We pulled down a side street where "The Haunt" appeared out of nowhere, with the band's giant RV sitting precariously out front. There were maybe 10 cars there, with just about 10 people outside waiting for the doors to open up. We were let in just as Space Bacon was wrapping up their soundcheck. I had been listening to these guys for a while and was pumped to get to see them opening up for Spafford of all people! They finished their soundcheck, so we went outside on the deck to "get fresh" as my aunt calls it. We were surprised to see that the venue was located directly on the inlet to Cayuga Lake, with little docks for people to pull up to on their boats and everything!

While we were getting prepared for the Space Bacon set, Brian happened to wander outside right where we were! We introduced ourselves all as Brian, something we did after the BB Kings show for whatever reason, and reminded him that we were those same people. He was happy to talk to us, and we had a great conversation with him to start off the night. Brian wasn't familiar with the geography of the Finger Lakes Area and claimed that had only seen Cayuga Lake on the map. He called it the Noodle Lake!

Anyway, we headed inside for the Space Bacon set and got down with a very small crowd (~30 people or so) for a great opening performance that featured a continuous flow of music. I'll definitely be going to see these guys again, and I recommend you do too! With the opening set over, the anticipation was even greater - we passed the wait by sparking up conversations with others there and handed out a bunch of "I'm Killing It" stickers. There was a sense of excitement in the air, I think that only 1 or 2 people that I talked to had seen Spafford before.
Everyone knew that they were the real deal, but I don't think they were fully prepared for what they saw this night! Right as the band took the stage, I gave the guy behind me a sticker and he was both amazed and confused with the message that it carried - he loudly said "I'm Killing It?" - everyone laughed and the band kicked in, a perfect way to start the show.

The Mind's Unchained opener set the tone for the rest of the night with patient, focused, and inspired improvisation... we were in for a special performance. The jam that evolved mimicked the feeling of being there. With less than 100 people in attendance, this was a HUGE change of pace from the sold-out 600 person crowd at Brooklyn Bowl the night before, and certainly had an intimate vibe. As early as it was in the show, I looked around at everyone else and could see that they already grasped why Spafford has so much hype.

I'm 3/3 with Backdoor Funk and I totally love it. This version is no slouch, a Brian solo turns into a sick jam that shows how well these guys are communicating right now and I definitely recommend giving it a listen. Hollywood has come to be one of my favorite Spafford songs, and I was so happy to hear it tonight! They didn't take this one for a ride, but check out this one and this one where they do and you'll appreciate it a little more.

Windmill was up next, and at this point, I knew that everyone in the room had completed their spaffnerd transformation with hoots and hollers jumping out of the crowd throughout the song! I only heard one negative thing all night, which was some drunk woman saying something about steam and harry hood... I'm not so sure that has any relevance to the performance, but some people have to realize the awesomeness of Spafford in their own way.

I'll take this moment to point out and fully appreciate Cam's skills on the drums - he puts a special touch on all of these songs and really drives the jams to some interesting places. His interactions with Brian, Jordan, and Red are exciting to watch and show that they really are having a great time up there! Brian in particular seems to be entranced with Cam and his abilities. He watches Cam almost as much as the crowd does and gives subtle cues in his playing that lead to some magical moments. After Windmill, I could hear some murmurs in the crowd for requests... Salamander Song and Sweet among the few being shouted out and I couldn't blame them. Then someone yelled Tweezer Reprise - Jordan shook his head, definitely not going to happen anytime soon! Instead, they broke into Soul to Squeeze, which had only been played 7 times at this point, featuring some awesome Jordan vocals with the crowd and the whole band singing along and smiling. I thought the band was reading my mind when Red broke into The Remedy. An already amazing set just got pushed over the top with one of my favorite songs. Could this have been inspired by a friend gifting Cam one of my Remedy pins at Brooklyn Bowl the night before? We'll never know! Regardless, I recommend checking this version out. This band fucking rocks!

Set break featured some great conversations with many newly converted nerds who were pumped to receive some "I'm Killing It" stickers. The great thing about these small venues is that they allow reentry! Going back to the car to refuel is an opportunity that I will never take for granted!

The band walked out onstage for set 2 to a crowd that was hungry for some more Spafford! Parody was one of the last songs I was expecting to hear as the set opener, but I was surely happy to hear it! This version features a great jam that gives birth to It's A Bunch out of seemingly nowhere. I really love Cam's approach to this song. The jam out of It's A Bunch is excellent, with the band in no hurry to get anywhere anytime soon - eventually we find our way back into Parody to finish off the song. What a start to the second set!

In The Eyes of Thieves is another one of the many great Spafford originals, it even has a studio version from the self-titled Spafford album, along with Parody, which I've given a lot of play time lately. The band jumps off after the lyrics into a nice little Jordan-fueled jam that had all four of them firing on all cylinders for yet another time in the night. We heard the opening notes of America, and knew we were about to get into some deep jam territory. The LD even threw on red, white, and blue lights for the full effect during the lyrics! The Reprise was the icing on the cake of this show, and the Plans encore was the other piece of cake that you know you needed to eat. This Plans featured a nice jam that sent us dancing the whole way home!

We stuck around after the show had ended and surprisingly enough, Kyle and I were the only two in the building who were interested in getting a setlist! That goes to show just how small this crowd was - in comparison. The guys on Spafford's crew told us that at Brooklyn Bowl the previous night, people were jumping on stage trying to grab setlists! I sent back a few of my Remedy pins with him as well to give to the band, so hopefully they received and liked them! It's the least I can do for these guys as thanks for creating such amazing music.

Overall, this was a kick-ass show - my first Spafford two setter, and the first of three shows I'll be seeing on this Fall Tour.

Catch them while you can at these small venues, because I'm telling you, it's not going to stay this way for very long!

Ready?

2017-01-24
2017-01-25
2017-02-01
2017-02-08
2017-02-12
2017-08-12
2017-09-09
2017-09-29
2017-10-01
2017-10-08
2017-10-19
2017-10-31
2017-11-08
2017-11-10
2017-11-11
2018-01-12
2018-01-18
2018-01-19
2018-01-20
2018-01-25
2018-01-31

Setlist, Recordings, and Attendance for: 2017-10-08 - Lucky Strike Social, Albany, NY

The morning found us at a rest stop somewhere in Massachusetts on the way to Albany, NY from Portland, ME. We had an amazing time at the Portland show the night before. We met a bunch of awesome people and I got to hear the Lonely I'd been dying for! We had driven eight hours from Rochester, NY to Portland, ME so after the show we decided to head back down the highway toward NY and stop whenever we got tired. My hometown is close to Albany so this was essentially a hometown show for Delaney, Kyle and I, as well as the last northeast date of the Fall Tour. Kyle had been following the band ever since the Ithaca show, so it was great to meet up with him in Portland and bring it back home for the grand finale. After refueling at my parents' house, eating some pizza and taking a nap, it was showtime before we knew it!

The written location of the venue is deceiving, I'm sure you're thinking it's some club in the middle of the city, right? Exactly opposite. The venue is actually in Crossgates Mall, inside of an adult arcade that also has a bowling alley, arcade games, a bar and a restaurant. We met up with Kyle and his parents in the parking lot before the show (they are deadheads and had a great time at the show BTW!) We don't return home that often and get to see Kyle's parents even less, so it was a nice little reunion to start off a great night!

We walked into the mall to see Spafford, something I didn't think I'd ever say! We saw a bunch of people headed into the venue at the same time, sporting moe. and dead gear, and I could just tell that it would be a great vibe inside. We wandered down a hallway and opened two huge doors to walk into the room that they were playing in. It was surprisingly nice on the inside. It was built just this year and had a bar, a bunch of couches on a tiered section of the floor, and a lot of open floor space. We wandered to the front to find some friends that we had seen at the Ithaca show exactly a week ago, and passed the time talking about Spafford, of course! I went around the room and handed out stickers, dishing out the last of the northeast ones since this would be my last show of the tour. Everyone was appreciative of the stickers, and just like at the Ithaca show, I could sense the excitement of everyone seeing Spafford for the first time.

The show started off unexpectedly with a Simon & Lily opener, which was nice to hear live for the first time, and started off the show with a great upbeat vibe. They haven't jammed this one out yet, but I'm just waiting for the day that they do! Once Brian ripped into the opening chords of Galisteo Way, you knew that they meant business tonight. The room had filled in nicely, the floor was populated, there were people lounging in the couches, and there was even a taper there! This Galisteo Way packs a bunch at just over 11 minutes long with a nice jam section, but I may be partial because I love this song.

Mind's Unchained slowed the pace down a little bit and brought out a patient jam with great playing all around and some special sprinkles from Red in-between Brian's licks. This is a song I'll never get tired of hearing. If you're listening to the SBD of this show, listen closely at the end of this track and you'll hear Kyle and I asking the guys if they went shopping today. Brian showed off his brand new shoes and was like "We're at a mall, yeah! I went to a shoe store!" People is one of the Red songs that I love - every time he sings or stands, you know you're in for a treat!

Soul To Squeeze-- I didn't even really know the original song, but I've come to love it after hearing Spafford's version. Brian gave us a quick solo here that shows off his skills on the fretboard. It was a feel-good follow up to the heavy hitting People before, and brought us nicely right into a Windmill set-closer. This song is a masterpiece and had Kyle's parents yelling out with the crowd. One of my favorite Spafford lyrics come from this one - "Through this riff my troubles' lost..." This is one of those moments where you know all of the first-timers just converted to Spaffnerds, and it was a perfect way to close out the set. I actually lost my voice the night before in Portland from yelling so much with an already sore throat but I couldn't help but yell some more tonight and completely destroy it!

Setbreak featured a run-in with mall security and 50 or so people from the show hanging out and smoking outside the mall. The mall property is actually smoke and tobacco free, adding to the weirdness of the venue. We talked to a bunch of people who were amazed at the performance so far. Most people seemed to have never listened to Spafford at all , which definitely makes for a surprise when they actually hear the music and fall in love with it! We walked through a maze of arcade games and bowling lanes to get to the bathroom in the venue, and got back just in time for the set two opener.

The second set intro jam puzzled me for a minute before Jordan sung out the familiar lyrics of Catfish John. Catfish John is one of my favorite songs in general, and the way that Spafford performs it is really something special. I have been geeking out over this one for awhile so it was really great to hear it live and sing along with the crowd to this classic. Cam started to tap out the rhythm of Dream Jam, and I don't think I could have been any more excited. The stage had a bunch of TVs on the wall behind the band, and they had been turned on for the second set, adding to the intensity of the light show and fueling the jam through the crowd's excitement and wonder. This Dream Jam covers some ground in its 10 minutes and was reigned nicely into All My Friends - a fitting song for the experience, which dropped right into Bee Jam as expected. However, this is where the show takes an interesting turn. I'm turning the keys over to @Kyle-Burbank for a little bit to help fully explain the next part of the show...

Flashback 12 or so hours and it's 10 AM at another sketchy rest stop. I'm groggily rolling off of the air mattress and out of the side door of my parents' Honda Pilot. My bare feet hit the wet asphalt and I'm greeted by a mountain of empty Bud Light cans that seem to have accumulated next to my car overnight...I'm not going to miss sleeping at rest stops. It's my last morning on tour and my first time seeing rain all week. Fitting, I guess. Having been raised by a flock of Deadheads I have naturally always dreamed of going on tour. My family had brought me along to shows since a young age and I spent my teenage years fantasizing about life on the road. Well, this time last year I hardly knew the band Spafford. They were just one out of a hundred bands Cody was recommending to me at the time. But this fall, they were the band that finally helped my touring dream become a reality, if only for a little while. I was incredibly blessed with the opportunity to go to a large majority of the Northeast run of this tour-- from Ithaca 10/1 through Albany 10/8.

During this time I was lucky enough to spend a decent amount of time conversing with Spafford, band and crew alike, and had the chance to tell Brian the entire backstory of my tour run. So, after the show in Portland the night before, @jaredsusername and I ran into Jordan and his girlfriend Lizzie outside of the venue and talked for a few minutes. Before long, Brian materialized and said, "Tomorrow night, Albany, that's your last hurrah right? Is there anything in particular you want to hear??" At this point in the week I had heard A LOT of songs, and there was only one thing left that I was still dying to hear. The elusive Alternate Ending. I told him this and admitted that "I knew" we weren't going to get that because they had just played a fire version of Electric Taco Stand > Dis Go In 5? > Electric Taco Stand the night before in Cambridge. He replied, "That probably isn't going to happen. There's like a two percent chance. But hey, there's still that two percent!"

Flash forward to Albany, mid set 2, and we find ourselves amidst a ferocious Bee Jam. I've always loved the intense energy this song carries. Brian shouting at me with his guitar just makes me want to head bang or jump up and down. Spafford is an improvisational monster and in this Bee Jam the monster digs its feet in the sand and rears its ugly head. Starting with a classic funk jam that is mostly lead by Red, it morphs promptly into some deep dark territory. The darkness moves and the tension grows until Brian shreds his way through an aggressive peak. And just like that, they break through the clouds and the light shines through. The key changes and the ever so blissful sounds of Alternate Ending begin to pour into my ears. "I can't believe they're really doing it," I exclaimed aloud to myself! I hugged a stranger. I hugged Cody. I hugged my Mom, who was lucky enough to be experiencing her first Spafford show that night, and she told me, "This is one of those moments you will remember forever." I get the feeling that she was right. Alternate Ending has always evoked an incredible emotional depth in me. Something about that screaming melody takes me to a place that few songs have the ability to take me to.

I think it is important to note that this particular version was the first version played without an accompanying Electric Taco Stand. Brian's beautiful bends had picked us up out of that blissful Alternate Ending and dropped us hard into a super danceable funk groove that I could have sworn was going to be the second half of Electric Taco Stand. But then out of the blue come the fast-paced lyrics of Ain't That Wrong. This was the quintessential type 2 jam of the night. Clocking in at just under 25 minutes, it took us through multiple moving parts with varying keys and time signatures. This roughly half-hour segment was the ultimate display of Spafford's improvisational abilities. Beyond the jam, I love the lyrics in this song: The second set of the last show during my seven-show run ended with the words "Take that home!"

The boys came back out to encore with a classic, super-bluesy rendition of Shake You Loose. This was a good choice to calm everyone down a bit before sending us off into the cool October night. As soon as the show ended, I made sure that Brian heard me thank him for giving me my Alternate Ending. He chuckled a little, held up two fingers like a peace sign, and said, "Two percent."

And with that, the Northeast run of the Fall 2017 tour was over as quickly as it had came. These shows represent Cam's first proper tour with the band, and if the performances indicate anything, we have a long and bright future as Spaffnerds. With that being said, head over to This Thread to vote for best jam of the fall tour.

Setlist, Attendance, and Recordings for: 2018-01-11 - Iron Works - Buffalo, NY

Thanks to Sugar Foot Media (Tim Merrill) and Strawberry Island Dweller (Matt Shotwell) for the great pictures.

So every review begins with a little backstory to the show - how you got there, what you did before, etc. This introduction will dig a little deeper into the backstory here at Buffalo Iron Works...

This story begins back in February of 2017. Spafford had just embarked on their first trip to the east coast supporting Umphrey's McGee, with a few headlining dates thrown in for good measure. I was a newly converted Nerd, joining around December 2016, but seeing the buzz and excitement in the Spaffnerds group made this tour all the more special. Evan even organized a fundraiser to raise money for the band to load up on frozen burritos while out on tour. These hometown fans had an unspeakable love for this band, one which I understand all too well now, and I couldn't wait to get to see these guys (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 too small. I was super bummed to say the least, but, luckily for me, they were playing a headlining show in Buffalo the next week. I had already decided I was going to the Buffalo show a few weeks before, I considered Spafford one of my top favorite bands by this point, 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 managed to convince him to make the 4.5 hr trek from Albany 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!"

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. Safe to say, this show will always be one of my favorites, for the music, and for the experience!

It was almost a year and 5 shows (at the time) since my first Spafford show at Buffalo Iron Works, and I couldn't help to think back on that experience here, because the stories run in parallel. This Thursday night was much like that Wednesday night a year back, Kyle was in tow yet again, and the energy around this tour was arguably greater than their first tour out east. They knocked their NYE run out of the park, and were tearing down a path of destruction across the midwest with a target on Buffalo, NY.

We missed the opener this time (but Goose is great, check them out), and alas I missed out on the Jon Rose Buffalo show print this time, but we did get there just in time to cozy up right behind the rail riders before Spafford went on. This place was PACKED tonight. There must have been over 400 people, just under the venue's capacity, and here's another reminder that we won't be seeing them in rooms this small for much longer! The word of Spaff has travelled far and wide since the year before, and it was impressive to see all of the nerds in the crowd. The crowd was buzzing with excitement, anxiously waiting for the band to take the stage.

On the car ride to the show I said "Ya know what, I'd really like to get The Postman tonight", and that's just what they gave us! They walked out on the stage and immediately commanded the room throughout the composition. As soon as a little room to stretch shows up, the band takes it by the reigns and shows everyone how this night is going to go. This Postman is one to take note of, even called "the best Postman I've ever heard" by George Reichardt (@crappygeorge) , the jam has a nice flavoring of untz from Cam, and gets the show rolling past the 20 minute mark.

A great version of Backdoor Funk comes next - I never get sick of this song, even though it's my most seen. The band is obviously comfortable up on the stage and the improvisation is flowing out of every member of the band throughout each song. To my delight, The Remedy was up next, and if you listen closely to Cam's playing during the lyrics, you'll see what I mean about the flow of improv. No song is safe, these guys are ready to take the ride with the crowd and go where the music wants to go. Now, this Remedy has been dubbed "the best ever" by Kyle Burbank. With the reigning Remedy being from The Wonder Bar in 2017, I'm inclined to agree with him.

Up next, Red starts to Feel Like A Stranger, and gets the whole crowd amped up singing along. "It's gonna be a long, long, crazy, crazy night" and they pull the Spafford chain and launch into their take on how this song should be jammed out.

Spafford is known for their willingness to honor fan requests, I decided to try my luck and ask for Diana tonight on Twitter. Looks like they got that request! I f*****g love this song. It's super catchy and I'm just waiting for them to take the song for a funky ride. The set closed out with a great performance of People, always featuring a band walk-off/Red piano solo ending.... "We'll be back in a few minutes." The crowd erupted in appreciation of that killer first set, obviously hungry for more Spafford!

Set 2 is where things get fun. The band comes back on stage and busts right into the near-peak of a jam. "What is this?" "What are they playing?" "Oh shit it's STILL PEOPLE!" That's how that went. The crowd loved it too. Awesome idea paired with Red's solo ending from the first set. Now warmed up from the set break, Plans is up next! This song has become a huge jam vehicle, combine that with an enjoyable upbeat composed section (I'm a sucker for Jordan songs) and it's up there as one of my favorites. Listen to this version! Now! The crowd was locked into the band (besides your typical chompers), and every soaring peak was met with cheers from the packed crowd. I get so locked in on the band that I rarely notice the crowd. Especially with earplugs (highly recommended). Even so, I could feel the energy in the room, even with my eyes closed. That energy helped to bring this plan to a level where I was left wondering what song we were even in. After the show, Jordan talked about it as throwing a ball back and forth with the crowd, building up the jam and winding the peaks and valleys through the interactions with the crowd. When they stopped playing I looked at Kyle and went "Was that still Plans?!" Yes. Yes it was.

Wondering how they would top that jam off, they broke into Virtual Bean Dip, another first-time-heard for me. Even with no lyrics, this song speaks volumes, and the crowd ate up every single word! Just when you thought they were done, the key changed and they shifted into another direction. This masterfully carved soundscape dropped us right into a high energy Galisteo Way. The whole crowd was jumping around chanting to the song's chorus with the band. It was crazy how many people knew the lyrics to that song, and so the band decided to gift us with a smoking version of Crazy. With an average show gap of 47 shows, this is a rare tune. I've sung along with the studio version of this one while road tripping across the country that it felt great to belt out the lyrics with Brian live for a change!

The show could have ended now and I would have been happy, but they weren't done yet. Plucking the feeling of a deep jam right out of thin air, we were off to rage-land! A few minutes into this jam I picked up on Brian's Mad World lick. This jam was excellent, and this cover choice was the perfect way to close out the set! Pretty much any song that Spafford chooses to cover takes on a life of it's own within the band, and this one is no different.

The crowd erupted as the band walked off the stage. High fives and "fuck yeahs!" all around, the love for Spafford had grown by hundreds tonight. You can't help but feel excitement for the future when you see shows like this one. The crowd knows it. The band knows it. We all know it. Spafford is fucking awesome. As if the band could read the crowd's mind, they came back out and sent us home with a whipped topping of Salamander Song. Buffalo does NOT know when to "Hey!" let that be known. This sing-along had everyone dancing the whole way home after a night of Grade A electro funk therapy. I am amazed at how much these guys keep improving, Buffalo and Syracuse were a pair of the best shows I've ever seen. The huge crowds and sold out shows are inspiring the band and the band is inspiring the crowd right back. This continues to be an exciting time to be a Spaffnerd, and I look forward to reliving these moments with all of you 20 years down the road. See you at the next one, right?

They just came in! Shipping out the first batch tomorrow

Did everyone get a chance to check out the setlist?
https://spaffnerds.com/shows/2017-10-03

Check out a snippet of You Don't Know How It Feels here:
You Don’t Know How It Feels - Spafford Tom Petty Tribute – 02:34
— Ryan Garvey

@thewperry let me know what you think - if you want any changes or anything, and then I'll send over the final pdf for ordering!

https://i.imgur.com/i7rvC8i.png

We are delighted to have the opportunity to give away 2 free tickets to Spafford's Halloween show in New Orleans: https://spaffnerds.com/shows/2017-10-31

The first person to respond here will have 2 tickets with their name on them at will call! It goes without saying that you must actually be planning to go to the show to recieve these.

and 2017-10-19 definitely has the best version of Bee Jam!

@Darbidoll said in I'm Killing It! - Sticker design requests:

My idea for the new years run will be simple.. Some party hats and streamers with neon pink lettering for the I'm killling it, and a royal blue background.

@damian said in I'm Killing It! - Sticker design requests:

How about we put party hats and streamers on THE FONZ!

Sounds like you wanted something crazy, so I just did whatever I could think of with this one lol. Let me know what you think!

@RadiantDarkness said in Best Jams FAO Tour '18:

honorable mention to 1/19 Lonely. They didn't just go straight into rage mode like they have been with it recently. Brian starts bending strings like a madman and hands us a beautifully composed jam filled with bliss. Will it be the jam of the year? Nah, but it's showing that the band isn't just going through the motions up there, they are indeed flying with the wind and whatever catches, they go with it!

Disclaimer: I dance with my arms so when Brian catches these moments of undulation, it freaks my body the fuck out and they always leave a deeper impression in my mind.

@Kyle-Burbank and I totally thought they were about to bust into Alternate Ending during that Lonely jam. Brian was just feeding off of the energy in the room that night. He went all rock star and got out on the very edge of the stage in rage stance at one point! That Lonely may have been my favorite part of the show, but I can't even say that for sure. I am very impressed with everything these guys are putting out right now!

I would say YES because they finished it last night at the end of the encore. It has been updated

@RadiantDarkness a definite on that Slip and Squander with Rick from Goose, I really enjoy that one.