Holy cow! This was a good one. Friday night held a much anticipated show for me. Ed Gray, Wolf Wars and Miracles of God, whom I had not seen live before this (despite chronically singing along to Honeyham Cunningham a trillion times this year.) This was another great lineup courtesy of the .
Local icon, Ed Gray, performed what he claimed would be his “o-n-l-y-s-o-l-o-s-h-o-w-t-h-i-s-y-e-a-r” so naturally I dropped what I was doing and got my ass down to the Blue Moose. There are many moods of Ed, and this set was overwhelmingly the crooning, wailing Ed that I love so much. He played for a solid 50 minutes, no doubt getting it all out of his system so he can attempt to make good on his claim not to play again for awhile. Oh, and I am counting on that not being the case at all.
Wolf Wars, of course, put on a ferocious set . This Cedar Rapids rock band is always fun to watch. As fan Tim Krein proclaims, they are “Real Rock n Roll!” They have a solid sound that is brought to life by a fierce front man that tears all over the stage. Fan Joe Derderian describes Wolf Wars as “chugging”, and indeed they are…like a train, picking up tremendous speed and force before crashing into a mountain. I can’t find any of their stuff online, which pains me greatly, so if any of you know where I could get my hands on some, speak up already!
And then….drumroll…came Miracles of God. I have been listening to MoG for a little while now, but this was my first time catching them live. It was every bit as good as I expected it to be. They have a very talented lineup, great songwriters and they are relentlessly energetic all through the low-fi explosion that is their set. Their lyrics are sometimes ridiculous, rarely relevant and always fun. Watching Sam Locke Ward scream til he’s cross-eyed is always a good time in my book. I am not sure when they’ll play again, but I recommend you check ’em out.
