Last night Mike, HP and I went over to the Beachland Ballroom to see the Mike Doughty Band in concert. We haven’t been out to see many shows lately (except for our recent trip to the Happy Dog to see Chittlin’ and One Way Rider, which was an excellent bluegrass show).

With my Skinny Moo responsibilities most of my weekend evenings have been filled with gigs for the last six or seven years, which makes it a little tough to see other bands. This time around, we lucked out with a concert that we really wanted to see taking place on a Tuesday night.

We got to the Beachland a little before 9:00 and had plenty of time to get our ticket and mosey in to the half-full auditorium. The building that houses the Beachland was built in 1950 as a social hall, so it has this sort of “high school gym” feel.

Mike Doughty came out to introduce the opening band, a trio called the Panderers. The main Panderer is Scott Wynn, and we had a chance to chat with him briefly after the show. He was very cool, and that came through when he was performing his set, backed by bass and drums from the Doughty band. I highly recommend checking out his myspace page to hear some samples of his stripped down cool tunes.

The auditorium filled up during the short break after the opening set as the Panderers’ gear was moved offstage. The headliners came out at ten, and treated everyone to a great selection of songs from the new Doughty record Golden Delicious, some older solo material, and a few Soul Coughing nuggets thrown in. Doughty is a funny guy, too – at one point someone shouted out a request for “Screenwriter’s Blues”, to which he responded, “Dude, go and get your money back. Your best bet is, if you have the CD, to go out and listen to it in your car.” Did you hear that? That is the sound of you getting smacked upside the head Mr. Song Requestor Guy. But it was delivered with love, I’m sure.

It was great to see some live music again as part of the audience. As usual it gives us some inspiration and makes us want to get up and play, or write new songs. It’s always cool to find new music and rekindle interest in old stuff that we dig. Perhaps it will all translate to lots of energy in the studio tomorrow…