Written by & Photos by Carson So

June 24, 2010

Summer solstice is officially upon this week, according to what I’ve read in the news and confirmed with Wikipedia (my unofficial source of infinite knowledge).  Walking over to the 100 block of E. 3rd St, I head over to 8.0 in Fort Worth.  It’s an early Thursday evening and I get the pleasure of spending it with friends who have trekked over from Dallas to catch a Bob Schneider show.  Luckily, my friends arrived early enough to grab a great spot on the patio while I was at work and makin’ that dolla dolla bill y’all.  I get there and start socializing with my friends as we wait for the 1st band.  Someone in control of the house speakers decided it would be best to play the best of Collective Soul…THE WHOLE TIME! (don’t get me wrong, I like Collective Soul but a mix of music would have been nice).  As we were chattin’ it up, it’s starts to drizzle even though the sun is still shining just behind a skyscraper in the distance.  The summer breeze felt nice but the potential thunderstorm I heard roaring in the skies didn’t sound so good.

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Ah, finally the opening act Luke Wade and his bandmates take the stage.  I for one am not much for country music, and thought I was getting myself into a country show.  (I assumed this from three performers on stage holding a violin, acoustic guitar and a stand up bass.)  I mean c’mon, Luke Wade sounds like a country singer’s name, right? Moving on.  (Side note: I just now checked out their Myspace page, looks like the violinist was not in their group photo, so I am going to assume the show was probably not the usual format that Luke performs his song.  The profile name is “Luke Wade and No Civilians.”  The No Civilians must of have had the night off.)

As they start their set and I realized I was completely wrong, according to their Myspace page, their genre of music is “soul/folk rock/tango.”  (Slippy? Slappy…..Swanson? Samsonite!) I was way off!   As the first song continues on, more of my attention is diverted to the band.  The sound of their stand up bass was appealing to my ears.  Nothing says awesome like a standup bass, this rule can be applied to pretty much all genres of music; well, maybe except death metal .  The band gets a few songs in and the drizzle gets a little heavier, the band continues to play even though they’re starting to get a little wet and ½ way through a song, a string snaps on Luke’s guitar.  They finish the song and then he looks over at someone in management and asks “What do you want to do?”  At that point I turn around and look at the crowd, and a ¼ of the patio had taken shelter.  Luke exclaimed that the rain was cool and you could tell in his voice he wanted to play on.  Management decided to let them keep playing after a quick string change and pushing the band further back under the stage awning to keep their equipment from getting wet.

After a short wait, the band jumps back on stage and the drizzle starts to die down with no signs of thunder.  People are returning to the open air patio where the smooth sounds of Luke Wade take the night.  As I was snapping photos, another fellow photographer decides to walk over and have a convo with me.  We talk about nerdy camera stuff and then he asks if I know of Luke Wade, I replied that this was my first time to see him, and he said, yeah we just bought his CD at the merch stand even though we’re here to see Bob Schneider.  Obviously Luke Wade is doing something right.  Luke later mentioned that the CD was released a few weeks ago and according to the all knowing internet, they had a CD release party at the Bass Hall recently.  FANCY!

Overall, the set was an excellent listen.  I observed a good crowd diversity spread across the patio, enjoying good times and good music.   Luke Wade was the right choice to start it off and his acoustic set was a perfect mix to go with the warm summer night.

You can listen to a few songs on the Luke Wade and No Civillians Myspace page (http://www.myspace.com/lukewadeandnocivilians) or listen to samples of the new album on iTunes.  Luke Wade will also be performing over in the new West 7th development at the SW corner of 7th St and Norwood (http://west-7th.com/events.php) on Wednesday, June 30th at 7 pm.   Be sure to take advantage of your summer and check it out.