SOB’s Round 2…June 17th, 2009

Photos by: Old Money

So I know many of you are wondering how the show last week at SOB’s went. Well I want to share it with you because not only was it a complete 180 from Round one, but I felt that we made an impact and gained a little more respect….

So 2 weeks before the show I had this feeling that this was going to be a very very very important show. I mean for 1, Laura Izibor was suppose to perform, 2. Eric Roberson is there and 3. because of all the buzz Laura has been getting record executives would definitely be there. So I understood the magnitude of this show. I knew that it needed to be one of the tightest shows ever. And thus the STRESS BEGAN! So a remix version of “Glimmer in the Sky” hit me as I was at the Gym and I knew that I needed horns. I went on a MAD HUNT looking for horns. Email, facebook, twitter, all of it, and was unsuccessful, up until 4 days before the show were the Horns solidified. And with everyone’s schedule so different rehearsals were VERY VERY difficult to coordinate with the horns much less the entire band. So needless to say I was getting worried and stressed about that.

Additionally, there was a growing feeling that started immediately after the performance at The Bitter End. It grew slowly but with every growth spurt the intensity of it grew exponentially. I could not verbalize it or conceptualize it so when I tried I started to think that maybe I’m feeling like this because this show was THE opportunity for me. THE opportunity to make my mark, make a name for myself, but when I thought about that and told myself it wasn’t the only opportunity and that there would be others, I still felt anxious, nervous, and worried. I then thought to myself, well maybe you just really want to impress all of the upper executives that are there? No…that wasn’t it. What about cracking? your voice? or slipping and falling down the stairs in front of everyone? NOPE…. So WHAT THE HELL because it is two days away from the show and I’m feeling as cool as a fan in terms of the performance,even though we have not had a FULL (everyone there) band rehearsal, but still ANXIOUS, worried, bothered, and most of all puzzled as to why?!

I visited my friend to sit down and talk Monday night and the conversation started leap years away from what I was feeling, but this constant stress was soooo powerful and consuming that we could have been talking about Bert and Ernie in a yellow cab on their way to Oscar the Grouch’s penthouse suite and we still would have ended up talking about this constant feeling. So we started talking about it and I said, I’m just MAD STRESSED. And too make a long story short, after going through various, but incorrect reasons, she hit the nail right on the head. And I knew this because EVERY EMOTION, WORRY, Sentiment that went along with the reason showed itself and CAME FULL FORCE! She basically stopped the conversation and simply said, “Do you know what it means for people to believe in you?”…Do you understand that it is your responsibility to become successful so that those who believe in you will look at you and in turn become successful?” Me, the smart ass that I am said, “well what if I’m not successful, what if I just suck it up on stage and just be done with it?” And she stopped, looked at me dead in the face and said, “then everyone will be pissed at you, but more disheartening YOU WILL NEVER FORGIVE YORUSELF.” AND THERE IT WAS! The pressure, the stress, the concern, the worry the reason that this show had a more intense stress than any of the others was revealed. It was such an intense moment for me, but a VERY Necessary one.

Now the show… MY GOODNESS, if you read the first post My performance at Sob\’s you know that I felt like a freshman who was lost on the first day of College. But this time around, I felt like a Junior, maybe even a senior who knew the right people, the in’s and out’s of the campus, and the ways to get that B+ upgraded to an A-. I was ready. I was not even stressed, I was ready. I was not even worried, I was READY. READY to become, “The Lance Drummonds Experience.” I was SO READY, especially after sound check, I knew that we were going to hit the stage and hit the crowd with something either they may have heard before, but never like this or something they weren’t expecting. I didn’t even care who was going on before or after us.  MAN, Celine Dion could’ve gone up and we still would have been ready! And MAN, let me tell you, from the first song to the last, I felt the crowd vibing, moving, swaying with me. The Song of the night was “Share my Heart Again” with Kersten Stevens, a phenomenal violinist that I met at Yale while I was at Wesleyan. MY GOODNESS, I literally almost teared up on stage as she was playing. I knew that everyone in the audience was feeling it, because when all the music stopped YOU COULD HEAR A PIN DROP. People were listening, they wanted to know what I was feeling, what we were saying, why we were playing the way we were playing and it felt amazing.

After the last song, “All I do,” there was a ROAR! I mean literally a ROAR from the crowd. I have never heard anything like this before in my life, well in terms of appaluse for our performance. But I mean it was beautifully deafening! The response was AMAZING! There was a moment when I was picking up a cord or something, and I said to myself ” there’s no way they are still cheering…WOW.” I mean WOW everyone, THANK YOU! Someone from my band was like, ” I felt like I was at Madison Square Garden they cheered so loud.” And They were right! All of the stress, the worry, the frustration was worth it at that one moment! That one moment was one I will NEVER EVER FORGET! Thank you!

All in all, the night was a major success. The music, the Thank You cards, the people, the vibe, the love, it was soooo amazing. And I promise everyone who has, does, and will soon support me to carry this dream right on through to reality! Alpha Honor!

LD

P.S. – Eric Roberson got up on stage and started discussing my thank you cards and what a great idea they were and said that he may even steal the idea. The most successful independent artist said he was going to steal one of my ideas….WOW that felt good.