101F ? anybody else on the east coast gigging outdoors this evening ?

[banjohabit]

just got home from an early evening outdoor gig here in central va.. the 6 o'clock start was at 101F with extreme humidity and an ozone warning, not advisory.

despite the conditions (or maybe because of them ?) the whole band just took on a definite "who cares?" attitude and we just flat RAWKED!! the singer threw away the set list and as soon as one tune finished he would shout out another and away we would go. we were only scheduled to play an hour anyway so, "who cares?", we just burned thru that hour with almost solid music. and the surprisingly large crowd just made the deal with their hardly-to-be-believed enthusiasm in the stifling heat.

now i'm cooled down and fallen off the emotional high of the jam and becoming really tired. but it sure reminded me why i love to do this.

[boris bubbanov]

I am glad to hear someone got the mail delivered.

I could hardly walk the dog; that heat was relentless today.

[banjohabit]

gotta play with those young folks : ) i'm 54, the singer is 32, and the rest are about 10 yrs. younger than him. they even let the "old man" take it easy on the load in/out.

[DrumBob]

No outside gigs this weekend, thank goodness, but I am doing a fireworks gig in my hometown on the 4th. I think the heat will have abated somewhat by then. There's a pro sound company that night as well. We don't have to drag our PA.

I can relate to playing outdoors on terribly hot days. Been there, done that many times. I hate it, frankly.

[boris bubbanov]

Did you guys getting wrapped up before the Squall Line came through?

Or are you south of all that bad weather, south of Northern Virginia?

That was a lot of wind. There's a fair number of trees down around the DC metro.

[R. Stratenstein]

Glad I didn't have anything outside yesterday or today. My accurate digital outdoor thermo was reading 105.3F at about 4 PM--was 90F at 11 PM. HotLanta is finally living up to its name. Athens, about 40 miles East of me had an official weather bureau highest temp ever recorded for that city--107 degrees.

The saving grace for us is that the humidity wasn't a high as it has been normally, but its coming. Athens is in a band that runs up all the way to VA along the east coast. with that high humidity and heat stress warning

I always hated outdoor gigs--sweat all over your gear. Strings would be coated with rust the next day and have to be changed. Yuck.

[banjohabit]

the storm was really just getting started good about the time i posted this thread. just minutes later the lights flickered and i shut the computer down. lost power for just a few minutes a couple of more times after that.

i must admit to being quite used to high temperature gigs : played bluegrass for many years and that is a summer sport, usually in the afternoon or early evening.

so, yea, i've played at or near 100F many, many times. one look at the finish and chrome parts of my banjo will tell you that.

[johnnyz123]

We've got an outside gig on the 4th prior to the fireworks display at our neighborhood pool club. Set-up at 5PM, opening band goes on 615, we go on 745. The weatherman says upper 90's. Chance of T-Storms. We're on the east coast too (MD)!!!

[Fearnot]

Not this weekend, but my band played outside last weekend. Yes, it was 'only' in the 90s, but Georgia humidity was in full effect that evening. I got a little dizzy at one point, but I made it through somehow.

Later on, it did take about an hour to get all the congealed goo off the guitars. The things we do for rock 'n' roll.