Hey Steemit, I just played my last gig at my favorite club. If you didn't read part 1, I suggest you check it out HERE for context. But this is still a stand alone post

Goodbye

I played my last gig at the Nix with the Stef Paglia trio. It was emotional, it was beautiful, it was a finale. For me there are so many memories at that club, see the last post, and it came to a head. I put everything I had into the last performance and I was emotionally drained and physically exhausted when we finished. Today I have a headache from all the intensity. But it was worth every single second.

The Response

The people yelled louder than I have ever heard them yell. After every song the audience roared in approval and it only dared us more as a band to take more risks, play with more emotion and throw caution to the wind, which is exactly what we did. We started the second set with an impromptu jam that segued perfectly into our first song, setting a loose and colourful tone for our second set.

The Emotions

Emotions were running at an all time high for everyone involved. The Nix let us practice at their club, the first few practices we had as a trio was at the Nix, even the first public performance was at the Nix. We owe a lot to the club in terms of our formation. It's very fitting that this is my last performance at this club with this band. We stormed through our first set but once the second set began, we began to feel the weight of our performance. Stef thanked the club and the owners multiple times and then we cut loose musically and emotionally. We threw it all at the audience, thrashing our instruments and letting go of our control. It was beautiful reckless abandonment.

Bittersweet

As we finished our last notes, we ran off stage after a thumping version of Blues in Technicolor. We were asked to perform and encore, and we finished up the night with an original version of Crossroads, Stef manning a slide and switching to a more southern sound. Then it was my time to speak. I gave my speech thanking everyone, from the first gig to the last gig, for my life in Holland, for my wife and all the music I've been so lucky to play at the club. then we jumped into our last song ,a Jimi Hendrix cover of Little Wing. At this point it was difficult to get through the song for me without becoming overwhelmed with emotions. All the gigs, all the music, all the people, it all came back to me. It was a surreal moment of beauty and actualization of a life built around one place in space and time.

The End

We walked off stage to a tremendous applause and a lot of congratulating each other from the three of us. We played as best we could, as the best the three of us could do. We gave all our heart, we gave all our passion leaving nothing left on the table. I always like to just kind of be quiet and soak in the night of music after a gig so I did that. A lot of people wanted to talk and I talked but my head was lost in thought and memory.

The night finished with the people all leaving slowly and thanking us for a great night. I thanked the people for coming and we left after a big thank you from the owners and the lights being turned off. It was a very cold night in Holland, but my heart was warmer than it had ever been.

All of these wonderful amazing pictures were taken by the amazing Marcel Markus. What a great man and what unbelievable photography.

Thank you all so much for reading as always.

-Joel