by Jordan Minnick

Last night I had this crazy idea that I would try to hit up every show going on in downtown Lincoln.  It's kind of temping, living on the UNL city campus, nestled right next to downtown. Technically, I guess I failed since I missed one band. But with three bands playing at both the Zoo Bar and the Bourbon (and karoake night at Duffy's…whew) and with both shows starting at nine, I had to pick between Pastel Pistol at the Zoo Bar and The Vingins at the Bourbon. From there, stage setups were able to skew the following set times.  

Overall, all the shows were a little sparse. I really don't think it effected anyone, because it seemed like all the bands and concert goers enjoyed themselves. I didn't expect to run into any out-of-state bands besides The Generationals who were headlining the Bourbon, so I was presently suprised to run into not one, but two.     

It all began about 8:30 p.m. I trekked down to the Haymarket thinking I'd catch a friend at Crescent Moon. Turns out I was late and open mic night had already started. However, I ran into touring band Regarding Fury (Denver). They played at Zoo Bar a couple nights before and "crossed this coffee shop" to play before leaving for Kansas the next day. A nice surprise. Especially when they sang a song in Spanish. You may remember them being featured on HN.  

From there I decided to go to the Bourbon where The Vingins were playing an opening set, missing Pastel Pistol's across the street. Most everyone was sitting down when the band took the stage, but after some friendly coaxing by singer Derek Ouston, everyone was nodding heads and tapping toes on the floor. 

It just so happened to be that another Colorado band was in town for the night with Fierce Bad Rabbit out of Ft. Collins. They said they had made the drive beginning that morning just to make this show.  

Back at the Bourbon, Winners (of the Best Band Name in the Universe Two Year Running) were well into their set. This is when I figured out there was no way to time this thing out. Mostly because stage set-up and soundcheck is unpredictable or leisurely at best (at least for the Bourbon that night).

Found these guys again on a street corner downtown. They had wanted to set up by Duffy's, but washboard guy was racously overbearing. Here they are set up by Jimmy Johns.

Gloworm, last up at Zoo Bar, had a decent-sized crowd. It wasn't at all packed, but it seemed like concert goers stayed for all the sets at the Zoo Bar for the long term of the night. It's always a bummer when people filter out before a show's over. The Worms even had a few dancers. People had started to get drunk by that point, I think.

I had to cut out of Gloworm's set a few songs early to catch touring band The Generationals from New Orleans. They had a badass keys player who also turned out synth sequences. It was pretty groovy. I was even grooving holding a five-pound camera, standing atop a chair (to suffice the annoyingly tall stage). All of the sets were low key enough at the Bourbon that night that I didn't feel intrusive hopping up on the side of the stage to shoot.