ZO2 - Showz 19-21
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03/31/07 - Dudley's, New Rochelle, NY
By Paulie Z
As always, it's a pleasure to play with Facelift (Alice In Chains tribute). Not only am I a huge Alice In Chains fan but all the guyz in the band are good buddies of mine. It was an instant good time. However, it was also an unusual show. The club set up was possibly the oddest one yet. The club was very small and there was no stage so we had to set up on floor level. Not so weird yet, you’re thinking. Okay, how’s this? In order to get to the bathrooms, people had to walk right through the "stage area". People were constantly walking through us during our show! However, in spite of that (or maybe partially because of that), it was a good show. It was like we were in the audience at one of our own shows. The sound was surprisingly good and the crowd had a lot of energy.
One of the cool things about this show was that we were pretty relaxed. Since it wasn't a typical venue, we had a little bit of fun with set. On a whim, we busted out Hopelessly Gone which caught everyone by surprise. We also jammed with the Facelift boyz on a couple of KISS songs after their set. It was so much fun...
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04/5/07 - The Crazy Donkey, Farmingdale, NY
By David Z
It’s been a while since we’ve played The Crazy Donkey and it was nice to be back. It’s always fun to play a club where the staff knows you and takes care of you. We played with the Queen tribute band “Almost Queen”. We “almost” went on stage on time. Wait a sec, come to think of it, that’s not even close to being true. We went on “almost” an hour late. But, hey, that’s to be expected at a rock show, right? The day we actually hit the stage the time we’re supposed to, is the same day that we won’t have to lug our own equipment to and from shows. Hopefully both of those realities are in our near future. Because it was VERY late on a Thursday night, there wasn’t a crazy amount of people at the show but it’s always great to see how no matter how few the numbers, when they’re ZO2 fans, they create volume loud enough to make it seem like the place is packed and they stick around until the very end. It’s those shows that give us a look at who some of our real fans are. They’re like mailmen: through rain or sleet or dark of night. And we couldn’t appreciate them more.
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04/6/07 – The Chance, Poughkeepsie, NY
By Joey C
The Chance is always a great place to play but this time was even better - we played with our good friends, KISSNATION. We couldn’t ask for a better gig. Bob over at the Chance always treats us like family and the crew there is one of the best around.
The show went off without a hitch. It was one of those charmed night when we packed the house and made a lot of new fans. Those kinds of shows are always amazing for us. It’s hard to describe what that feels like. It’s not that it’s an ego boost, it’s more the real wave of appreciation we feel that so many people came out to see us (some of them actually fly in to see our shows) and the excitement of making new fans and meeting our friends from myspace that we didn’t know before. It’s such a hard feeling to capture in words and in writing.
Then, after the show, in the high of adrenaline that we always get after a great show, things started to feel very surreal. KISSNATION does the obvious start to their show, “YOU WANTED THE BEST AND YOU GOT THE BEST…” We were busy loading out and, hearing that, for a moment it was like we went back in time. It really felt like we were back on the Kiss tour all over again. And, since that was one of the best things that ever has and ever will happen to us no matter what happens from here, it made that night even better for all of us. It’s funny how some things can just instantly bring you right back to moments in the past. And it made us look at how far we’ve come and all the lasting friends we’ve made. It was a great night!
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Stayed tuned for next week’s journal.
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