Matt Wessel Music.com
Matt's Journal
Jun 5 2005

If nothing else, my first outdoor show was an “experience”.  With weather reports calling for “scattered thunderstorms”, my musicians and I were thrilled to have a dry (albeit humid) day for our “Cancer Survivors Day” show in Barrington, IL.  We were playing outside some barns at Good Shepherd Hospital on an old, rustic stage.  The entire area had been converted into a very friendly and inviting setting that included a large tent, tables, chairs, benches and, to top it all off, haystacks.  My sound guy, Larry, was on site when we arrived, dressed in a very appropriate ensemble that included suspenders and a hat.

It seemed like a perfect setting.

Until we tempted fate. 

First, the event’s organizer, Lisa Spencer, commented on how lucky we were to have such nice weather.  Then, one of the speakers that gave a talk before we performed went on and on about how great the weather was and how grateful he was to Lisa for keeping the rain away.  But I did them one better.

I got on stage and decided to open the show with “Beautiful Day”, which essentially means we played for five minutes singing, “It’s a beautiful day in the world … it’s a beautiful day in the world … it’s a beautiful day!”

I think that’s when the clouds started forming.

Two songs later, I was informed that, behind me, there was a very dark sky with quite a bit of lightning.  We decided that doing one more song would be okay and then we’d have to go seek shelter.  We couldn’t have ended that fourth song any sooner.  As soon as we played the last note, the heavens opened up and groups of people were fleeing for their cars while others were running into the nearby barn.  Some just ran for the tent. 

We stood on stage and said, “This isn’t good.”  I think my sister, Beth, said, “You shouldn’t have opened with ‘Beautiful Day’.”

Thanks.

While we scrambled to keep our equipment dry (we were under a roof on stage, so we just had to put everything towards the middle of the stage), we noticed that some people were leaving altogether.  Apparently they weren’t about to wait out the storm.  Lisa came up and said it was our discretion as to what we wanted to do.  We were in somewhat of a dilemma.  We had so much borrowed equipment that needed to be back to St. Paul’s for 5:00 Mass and some of my musicians had places to be.  Waiting out the storm was not an option.  But since we were being paid to be there, we couldn’t just take off.

Then my guitarist, Dan, recommended that we go in the barn and play an acoustic set.  We all kind of looked at each other and said, “Okay.  That could be cool.”  So after confirming that the “Corn Barn” (that’s what it was called) had a working outlet for my keyboard, we made a dash through the rain with our equipment into our new venue.  We quickly set up to one side of the long, empty barn.  Chris (drums) and Seth (cello) to my left.  Beth (vocals) on a stool to my immediate right.  Dan, Molly (flute) and Kelly (violin) to my right.  We did set up microphones for Beth and I, just in case people in the crowd had a hard time hearing.

Once people found out that we were going to play in the barn, they all teamed together to set up chairs in front of us and to bring some of the food inside.  We played “Kate’s Song” while the 30 or so people that stayed found their seats.  When we started playing, people were still shuffling around.  By the time we were done with the song, we had their complete attention.  Molly and Kelly play that song so beautifully, it's only natural for it to catch people's ears.  And I knew right away that the next few songs would be special.

And I was right.  The 30 minutes that followed were simply awesome.

We played a brief set, starting with “See Them”.  With Dan on guitar, Seth on cello and Chris on percussion, we filled the room with a very melodic sound.  I was getting goosebumps.  While I was singing the first few lines of the song, I almost became too emotional to sing as I looked out and saw the faces of so many survivors, my family and some friends.  It dawned on me how cool this was.  To be playing such an intimate set.  No expectations.  No preconceptions.  Just pure, heartfelt music.  And when Beth took over the vocals on verse two of the song, I was able to pull back a bit and soak in the moment.  She sang the song perfectly.

We followed with “Be With Me” and God’s Chosen One”.  Then “Falling”.  Then “The Baseball Song”.  We did “Symphony of Survival” again.  It’s an upbeat song I wrote just for this event and not many people were listening when we played it on the stage (the would-be tornado was seconds away and most people had already started to relocate).  So we did it again.  And we closed with “May The Lord”.  Seth did a great job of converting would-be bass music into cello parts. 

It was probably the most enjoyable set of music I’ve ever played in my performing career.  We didn’t have to worry about mixing or balance or any other aspect relating to sound.  We didn’t have to worry about how long we were going to play.  We had no play list to go from – we were deciding what songs to do on the fly.  And we were playing to an audience that was close enough to touch.

It was amazing.

The rain, I’ve come to decide, was a blessing.

I hope to play at this event next year – and I’d be more than happy to return to the “Corn Barn”. 

There was a fellow there named John who was taking a bunch of pictures of both the stage-portion and the barn-portion of the show.  He’s going to be sending me a disc in the mail.  As soon as he does, I’ll post some pictures.  Dan took some photos of the storm as it approached, so we’ll try to get some of those up, too.

Thanks to all who came out.  Thanks to those who stayed through the rain.

Thanks to my sister, Amy, who helped me out that day by transporting much of the equipment to and from the grounds.  Thanks to my twin sister, Kim, who thought well enough of my music to bring in my CDs out of the rain (despite my mom telling her to just "leave them under the table") and for selling them after our short set in the barn.  And thanks to Paul Schnepf, the father of a friend of mine from Marquette, who was on hand to enjoy the show, but was forced into action when the rains came.  It was great to have an extra set of hands to help us more stuff. 

Thanks to anyone who helped bring in chairs, food, equipment, etc. out of the rain.

It was certainly a unique event, and one that I’d be honored to do again.

My musicians and I (and Larry) simply had a great time.