The Pat McGee Band reunited for another night of music, humor, friends and fun at the Birchmere last Saturday to a sold out crowd. (See post from the first night HERE). I had not originally planned to attend but Friday’s show was so good and so much fun with my wife that she encouraged me to return with our son (a teenage rock guitarist) to show him what a truly polished band and great sound system/venue looks like and to inspire him to reach for his dreams. Through the power of social media (Pat’s Fan Page) and my new PMB fan/friend Jeff Dennis, I was able to score some tickets. So off we went to see a great show. We sat up front stage left. The Birchmere is tight and not really conducive to scooting around with your camera. I shot from my seat all night….and I DO try to be discreet and not interfere with other’s views of the band. I had no problems walking in with my Canon 7D and lots of fast glass! Made for a much more fun evening and better images. Enjoy!
Man of the hour…..er….the next 4 hours; Pat McGee
John Small on the Big Bass.
Big Al Walsh smiling all night long. He would treat us both nights with a solo James Taylor hit.
The highly energetic Chardy McEwen on the Bongos.
Step aside Bon Jovi, its the San Antonio Rose……Jonathan Williams.
Drummer Nate Brown kept the beat all night and then some….treating the crowd to a heart pounding solo/duet with Chardy towards the end of the evening.
Can you feel the love? Michael Ghegan melting hearts on the Sax.
Pat is known for pausing at times to share a humorous story or two about early life on the road with his bandmates. Sometimes he digresses into stories of his early youth and life growing up in Northern VA. His stories ring especially true for me as I ran around some of the same streets as he in my youth. I am roughly 9 years older, attended the very same Catholic School (my baby sister was in his grade), and many of my friends went off to O’Connell High School as I entered the public school system at Thomas Jefferson (now a magnet school in Nova – Pat’s sister Darcie was our soccer team manager – 30 years later I would make the connection they were brother and sister). His stories of CYO basketball, swim team in Fairfax, or driving around looking for the elusive keg party could have been written from my own story. I’ll bet ‘ol Pat even spent an evening or two with his friends on top of the old Pinecrest Golf course (before it was developed). Being younglings with no place to go we would drag our coolers up there and stay late into the evening rolling around on the green like something out of a John Cougar Mellencamp song. On a clear July night you could see the fireworks surrounding the Washington Monument! Oh to be a kid again.
No shortage of attractive women, young and seasoned, enjoying PMB. Many were obvious long time fans and new every word to every song. I swear at one time I saw a gentle tear roll down this fans face. A moving performance.
Please, no cameras or video in the venue : ) How times have changed.
Patrick McAloon joined Pat on stage once again for two different tracks from Pat’s new album. Towards the end of their set they seemed to engage in a sing off trying to best each other on the high end of the scale. Despite McGee’s terrific range, I believe McAloon bested him in the end….but only by a little. I spent a few minutes in the lobby talking with this delightful young man, very appreciative of being part of the music scene.
The very talented Tony Lucca, who performed a terrific solo set of his own prior to PMB, returned for the encore performance, Rebbecca, to a standing/dancing/shouting crowd.
For the ladies.
(my son: “why are you taking a picture of his butt?” me: “leave me alone, I’m an artist and its a cool shot.”)
Proud brother Hugh looks on.
You can almost hear that bass resonating.
I greatly enjoyed how each member plays off the other. Many times improvisation would take over. What starts as tuning your guitar might turn into a Prince intro……or even a fun rendition of Eye of the Tiger. The second to last song of the night was Paul Simon’s Diamonds on the Soles of Her Shoes.
Pat made sure he expressed his appreciation for everyone’s support along the journey…..and once again thanked his parents, dancing in the front row, for their belief in his dreams.
After the show, my son was adamant about meeting Pat. I did not think it was possible figuring Pat would be mobbed as any successful front man would be. But he was in the lobby, and graciously spent just a moment speaking with a star struck young guitarist with dreams of his own….a moment in time that just may influence my son’s own musical journey. Kinda sounds like a youthful Pat McGee story don’t ya think?
Pat McGee and fellow band members remain a class act. I’m hooked….what the heck took me so long?
(more photos can be found on my FB Fan Page HERE)
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