Okay, so I have some time to kill while these photos unload.

I got down to Mike & Molly's about the same time the Madeira arrived. I did not know it was going to be an outdoors show until I arrived in Champaign and read this thread. Mike & Molly's is a small bar in an old building, but they have an outdoor beer garden in the form of a missing building next door. I was truly impressed at the stage and the giant Tiki head mounted above it when I first saw it.

It was great seeing old friends the Madeira and Phil & Steve from the Cocktail Preachers. Also Surfabilly Matt had just arrived, apparently barely due to automobile trouble. I also met Kristen, who drove down from Milwaukee. She was apparently the original Space Cossacks super fan from back in the day, and has seen the Space Cossacks tons of times.

I got to meet Jet again. I saw him last a few years ago in Chicago. I had forgotten how tall Jet is. He literally is 10 feet tall and he towers over everyone like he is on stilts. And he was truly a king among men for the show he organized that night. More on this.

So the Madeira, Matt, myself and Kristen wander in search of food, and there are many cool and trendy hip restaurants in the area. So we ended up at a Mexican place called Cowboy Monkey. We ate outside under an umbrella, and had a lot of fun talking. But then the feared rain hit, and soon it was absolutely pouring. It started coming through the umbrella, so we had to scurry inside. Luckily the rain soon subsided, and just in time because a blues band that Zak would have loved was about to start playing at Cowboy Monkey. Next time guys.

The Cocktail Preachers and Surfabilly Freakout crew had put tarps over their gear, and the radar said no more storms were coming through, so the show went on outside.

Now about the stage. As I said, there was a giant "Corn Tiki" above the stage, and his eyes lit up and smoke bellowed forth from his mouth at opportune moments. Awesome! And the stage was lit with these really cool LED light panels, so they got a ton of nice effects going. Everything looked and sounded so freaking great. Nice job to Jet and crew!

Phil told me the Cocktail Preachers were doing something different tonight. My first clue was not seeing Bruce (Vitamin-B). In fact there were 2 new faces. Apparently the drummer and bass player from Phil's side project Wraygun were sitting in tonight. I missed the drummers name; I think the bass player was Larry. These guys were great! Larry was quite impressive actually on the bass. Anyway, the Cocktail Preachers really put on a killer set and had the crowd going nuts. I got a lot of photos and will hopefully post them soon.

The Cocktail Preachers played a slightly different set than when I had seen them last, which was a few years ago. It was a really raucous set, and the highlights for me were Quiet Surf, Black Sand Beach, and their originals Highball Holiday and Jimmy's New Board. But I really, really dug their version of Moment of Truth! Oh and Yuzo's Twist!!! Larry was really great on this. (BTW: what is the original name and origin of Yuzo's Twist? I know the Ghastly Ones covered it, and it is a Yuzo Kayama song of some kind). The crowd would not let them go without an encore. Great job!

A word about the crowd. Apparently the Surfabilly Freakout crowd has quite a devoted following (including, gasp, women), and in addition there was a bachelorette party in attendance, so it was wild crazy fun ALL night. I was actually somewhat worried how the crowd was going to react to the Madeira. The CP's were playing lots of fun danceable tunes; would they actually dance to the sonic onslaught of the Madeira?

Well the Madeira took the stage and being the big surf geek that I am, I parked myself front and center. Within minutes of Sandstorm starting (aptly described by Matt as an assault) I am surrounded by drunk happy party goers. They danced to the whole Madeira set! It was amazing. They LOVED them! It was hilarious to see people slow dance to Tangaroa. Corn Tiki was pleased!!!

And it was indeed a great set by The Madeira, they were having a lot of fun up there with the smoke, the lights, the crowd. Stand outs in their set for me were The Saracen, The Victor, Burning Mirage, Transatlantic Orbit, Tsar Wars, Planet of the Apes, Dilmohammed, Wreak Havoc, Rogue Wave, and well, pretty much the whole set actually. They ripped it up on the Fender IV's Everybody Up!! YES!!!

One of the inebriated girls wanted Ivan's guitar pick, so he gave it to her after the last song. But then the crowd demanded an encore, so he had to ask for it back! Ha-ha. Ivan only carries one pick? Who knew? But he did give it back to her after the encore of Dick Dale's Nightrider...!!!! AWESOME, AWESOME, AWESOME.

What a fantastic night, certainly one of the best shows I've seen. It was so great seeing everyone again. The friendship and camaraderie are so great. It's nice to actually be so shockingly reminded why I like surf music and bother with this website every once in a while

And Jet!!! Jet my man! You are the man! You should be very proud of what you and your posse did! THANK YOU. THANK YOU.

Pictures and maybe some video soon!

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
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Last edited: May 31, 2009 17:19:38

Hey, thanks for all the nice comments, everyone! We had a legendary time! Thanks so much to Jet and Andy for putting together the best stage that I think we'd ever played (it was truly stunning! so freakin' cool!!!), and for organizing one of the best shows we'd ever played! Jet in particular really put in a ton of work - and we deeply appreciate it! An unforgettable show!

Great to see all the old friends again - thanks so much for coming, Brian and Matt! There was also Corey from Oshkosh, Wisconsin (in addition to Kristen from Milwaukee, Winsconsin!), and he checks in here once in a while (he posted some reviews of the Indy show from last month). That's a long ways to drive for a surf show! But we really appreciate it. And so great to see and hear the Cocktail Preachers again! They truly have a knack for getting people into the fun mode and on their feet - few other surf bands can do it anywhere close to this well! (Really, only Los Straitjackets come to mind right off the top of my head.) We're very grateful for getting the audience into that vibe for us!

T

Ivan
Lords of Atlantis on Facebook
The Madeira Official Website
The Madeira on Facebook
The Blair-Pongracic Band on Facebook
The Space Cossacks on Facebook
The Madeira Channel on YouTube

Introducing, CORN-TIKI:

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
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Nice! Great review Brian. This sounds awesome. I'm totally envious.
... Ready for pictures!

Awesome videos Brian! Thanks for taking them. I've also been watching those things numerous times and honestly can't get enough! Ivan's playing is very inspired and I love their version of Everybody Up. The Madeira sound fantastic. It amazes me how great they sound with very little rehearsal time, shows etc. Its a real testament to all the players' incredible skill and devotion to the band. Very inspirational indeed

Ryan
The Secret Samurai Website
The Secret Samurai on Facebook

Loving the videos Brian! Here are a few stills that I took...sure they are dark, but it seemed to anger Korn-Tiki when the flash went off too close to him.

The ominous set from afar...

The Cocktail Preachers

Mad Scientist Phil Tiki of the Cocktail Preachers on the theremin!

Steve Martini and Larry (of Preachers/Wraygun) on bass:

The Madeira:

Jet Sterling, Cosmic Spy
www.surfabillyfreakout.com

One of my favorites:

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
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Ruhar

Brian
The Madeira: Intruder:)

My only reaction to that video is a 666 representation of :

wow that Smoked, oh wait that was the tiki.
well the band rocked hard.
was so cool to see Patrick head banging and jumping around.
him and Bob from the Pyronauts could have a competition for that.

Jeff(bigtikidude)

tonybologna
But seriously that ruled. If I'd been there with a few beers in me, I'd be bouncing off the walls.

You and the rest of us amigo :wink:. Here is some video taken from within the crowd (also corroborates the guitar pick story):

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ovDPrxZZw5E

For those of you who have heard the Surfabilly Freakout radio show, the chica with the flower on her dress is Chelsea Bandita.

More videos (shot by the club owner)...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YckKln_DpoY

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zusVy7a12AI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-0Y1bVF740M

Sorry about the tall guy that seems to get in the way in a couple of these videos. We try to get him to stand in back...but he's a total jerk and insists on jumping around up front .

Jet Sterling, Cosmic Spy
www.surfabillyfreakout.com

Cocktail Preachers Videos!!

Long Ride

Taco Wagon

Crazy theremin action:
Deep, Deep Space

Site dude - S3 Agent #202
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