On December 5th I had the privaledge of hooking up again with my friends in The Waiting. The Waiting was the first band I toured with. They hired me as a monitor engineer and stage manager. I started off making $700 a month and just couldn’t imagine life getting any better.( Of course this was way before I met my wife). Out of all the bands I toured with, which I love very much, (with 1 exception who shall remain nameless) the Waiting was the band that was most like family. We had an incredible time together touring through wins and losses. For much of our time together we traveled in a 24 foot Isuzu box truck that we bunked out. Half of the truck was equipment and the front half was our living space. we built 2 bench seats and 5 bunks and had a dorm fridge and a TV and VCR for entertainment. We laughed a lot and tried to figure out how to survive in the music business. The one thing I loved about the Waiting was that they never played a bad show. They worked the hardest out of any band that I toured with to entertain the fans. I never saw a Waiting show where people were not on their feet dancing or pogo’ing. They were not the most naturally talented band I toured with but that never stopped them from working hard for their fans. They were also the most engaged with their fans. It was great to reunite with them. This was the first show they played in maybe 6 or 7 years and it was a lot of fun.
WJTL was very kind to ask these guys to get together for one more gig for their 20 year anniversary. When we were touring the band always looked forward to playing in Lancaster and had many friends from the Lancaster area. It was fun to see so many of them out that night. Of course The Rainchildren opened up for the Waiting and if you have followed this site you know my love for those guys too. I will try to refrain from fawning over them even though they played another amazing set. Seeing them play is like going to school. I just take notes. Steve Bridgeman was even better than the last time I saw them. The whole band was so good together. I honestly cannot get enough of them. I hope they can overcome the challenges and bless us with new material some time soon.
Do yourself a favor and look up some of the Waiting’s music and see for yourselves what a gifted band they were.