Cherry Pie Journal

Monday, July 4, 2016
Whitewater 4th of July Festival
Cravath Lakefront Park
312 Whitewater St
Whitewater, WI
[View all Whitewater 4th of July Festival shows]

Sound: R&G Productions
Operated by Matt Wobst
Lights: R&G Productions
Operated by Shane
Assistants:
Bon Ganzow,
Chad Ganzow and Mark Russell
Stage Tech: Kevin DeWitt

SET 1:
Turn Up the Radio - Autograph
Working for the Weekend - Loverboy
Bad Medicine - Bon Jovi
Let's Get Rocked - Def Leppard
Take It on the Run - REO Speedwagon
Animal - Def Leppard
It's My Life - Bon Jovi
Rebel Yell - Billy Idol
I Love Rock N'Roll - Joan Jett
Wanted Dead or Alive - Bon Jovi
Rock of Ages - Def Leppard
Walk This Way - Aerosmith
Shakin' - Eddie Money
Cum on Feel the Noize - Quiet Riot
Here I Go Again - Whitesnake
Love in an Elevator - Aerosmith
Talk Dirty to Me - Poison
I Wanna Rock - Twisted Sister
We're Not Gonna Take It - Twisted Sister
Metal Health - Quiet Riot

SET 2:
Living on a Prayer - Bon Jovi
Pour Some Sugar on Me - Def Leppard
Separate Ways - Journey
Sweet Child O'Mine - Guns N'Roses
Gimme All Your Lovin' - ZZ Top
I Hate Myself for Loving You - Joan Jett
Fat Bottomed Girls - Queen
Round and Round - Ratt
Rock You Like a Hurricane - Scorpions
You've Got Another Thing Coming - J'Priest
You Shook Me All Night Long - AC/DC
Enter Sandman - Metallica
For Whom the Bell Tolls - Metallica
Fade to Black [excerpt] - Metallica

A Word from Josh:
Tonight we concluded our unprecedented stretch of shows four nights in a row. As showtime approached it was already clear that we had managed the situation well. John's overworked voice was feeling pretty good and we anticipated another good show. The venue is new to us and proved to be quite spectacular. The 4th of July fireworks in Whitewater is a pretty big deal apparently. We were told that over 10,000 people attended the festivities. I have no idea how many of those people saw us play or enjoyed our show but, yeah, there were a lot of people. This was an open air show taking place on a nice concrete stage facing a scenic grassy hill alongside Cravath Lake. At the top of the hill was midway with rides and food vendors. Clouds filled the sky for most of the day but rain was never in the forecast. Our show was preceded by a performance from a quirky Celtic-type band called Andrus & the Mariners that did mostly original material. They were very inventive and I enjoyed them a lot. Our first set began as dusk settled onto the park. As the darkness grew so did the crowd that was gathering to watch the fireworks show which was to take place over the lake during our break. It was a strange experience toward the end of the set as nightfall along with stage lights in our eyes generally prevented us from seeing clearly what was going on more than a few yards from the stage but we would catch an occasional glimpse of the immense mass of humanity that was coming together in front of us. Of course not all of these people cared about the music, the fireworks were the main attraction, but it is still exhilarating to perform in front of so many people. The set went well, except for the fact that I broke a string on my acoustic guitar toward the beginning of "Wanted Dead or Alive." That kinda sucked. Finally our break came and we joined the thousands of other people enjoying the impressive fireworks display. When it was over we quickly launched into our second set in an attempt to retain as much of the crowd as possible. But, hey, it's a Monday night and most of the crowd headed home as soon as the fireworks were done. We played the rest of the show to a very truncated but enthusiastic crowd. We finished the night feeling pretty good about the gig. Little did I know that, for me, the excitement wasn't over. On my way home the back right wheel on my van partially broke loose at the ball joint as I was heading up I-43 going about 55 miles per hour. It stuck out at a 45 degree angle as I carefully brought the vehicle to a stop on the left shoulder of the road. Wow, it kinda reminded me of Joe Theismann's broken leg. So I ended up having an all-night adventure dealing with a tow-truck and unloading my equipment at my neighborhood mechanic shop. Hey, it could have been much worse. Nobody was hurt and it happened after the four show marathon was over so I have a few days to deal with it. Life is such an adventure. -Josh

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