Holy pier show, Batman!

After two months of cancellations due to weather, we made our triumphant return to the Galveston Pleasure Pier this weekend, and we had an interesting special guest.

We almost thought the gig wasn't going to happen, though. We looked at the forecast in the morning, and it showed some slight chances of rain during the day, but a 60% chance smack in the middle of our sets. So, we checked the radar.

The radar showed a big storm system stretching up from the Valley into Central Texas, but the road to Galveston looked clear, and there didn't seem to be anything developing in the Gulf, so we figured we had the all clear. So, we hit the road. And we ran into this more than halfway there:

We started to get a little bit worried, but we pressed on. Sure enough, when we got to Galveston, it was clear skies. This was our view from the stage when we arrived:

Look at that sky! Beautiful. So, we set up and got to rockin'. The first set we had shade, which was a relief, since that's our longest set at this venue. The subsequent sets were shorter, but were smack-dab in the direct sun. And let me tell you, even when the temperature is low on the pier, it's hot on the stage when the sun shines straight on it.

I'll do another post sometime about how we manage the heat at gigs like this, but the thing to know for this gig is that it was not only hot in the sun, but it was very, very humid. That not only makes it feel hotter, but you sweat like crazy. So, you can imagine the sympathy we had when we spotted a guy who was probably even hotter than we were - because he was in a full-body costume!

Luckily, he's a superhero, so heat is not an issue for him. And since we are really just big kids ourselves, we got this Caped Crusader up on stage. That's right, ladies and gentleman, Batman!

We're making him the unofficial fourth member of the band, so that means he is always welcome on our stage. Batman, bitches.

Much as we loved our special guest, though, the real superheroes of our gig were these two:

They had a whole pier full of rides and games and entertainment, but they chose to spend the afternoon hanging with us at Stage 25. They even went home with swag packs to share the Staylyns love. Thanks, guys! It makes the whole show when you have people in the audience who are digging what you're doing.

When our show was over, we cleared the stage as quickly as we could so they could set up for an evening movie. Can you guess what it was? I'll give you a hint: the pier is doing a superhero film series this summer.

WRONG! It was Spiderman. I'm not sure why it was Batman and not Spiderman whipping up the anticipation of the crowd, but I suppose that's why the kid in the photo above wants to be Batman instead of Spiderman. Clearly Spiderman is a slacker, while Batman goes the extra mile.