here's Nancy's account of the Polaris show, which I just ganked from her Live Journal. http://www.livejournal.com/users/voxaria/

Polaris: The Musical
It rained.

But before that, everything about it was great- we were waved in at the gate and parked right next to the stage. The stage itself was huge- it was a football field compared to what we’re used to. We had three people helping us set up. The helpful and competent Shannon brought us a cooler of pop, water, and Coronas, with the promise of pizza on the way.

As Poison’s sound check bumped along nearby, we spent nearly an hour setting up, checking levels, etc. It was laid-back but very professional (and very easy to get used to). Shannon graciously positioned Todd’s camcorder in front of the sound booth to capture everything for posterity. We were told we’d be patched in to a radio station, and there were rumblings of possible backstage passes. The banner was duct-taped to the front of the stage within an inch of its life. I took a lot of pictures. All was well.

Finally it was time for our sound check. We ran through “Guacamole Dammit” a time and a half, then got ready to officially start the set. The skies were graying, but we remained hopeful.

We were into the fourth song when our main contact dude (Doug, of the chaw-filled lower lip) began heaving large rolls of plastic into position around the stage. The wind had been steadily picking up, and visions of the opening scenes of “Still Crazy” were dancing in my head. He told me to be ready to shut it all down as soon as he gave the signal.

At 5:15, barely into the opening bars of “I Want a Big Mac,” we had to pull the plug. With the tarps whipping in the wind, lightning flashing all around, and rain pelting us, we finally got everything shrouded and headed for a nearby structure to wait and see.

The rain stopped soon and we watched as steam rose from the pavement, wondering if we’d get to go back on. Some amazingly good (unfortunately anonymous) pizza appeared and was summarily devoured. Strains of classic rock wafted over from the VIP party right next to us, followed by the opening numbers of Faster Pussycat’s set which began as scheduled on the main stage.

Doug returned from an inspection of the stage to inform us that rain had gotten the connectors and various other electrical pieces and parts too wet to power up. Disappointed as we were, not playing was preferable to almost certain death by electrocution. The load-out took longer than the “set” we’d been able to play.

Doug was very apologetic. In a way, the whole incident probably did more toward helping seal the deal for booking us at Shocktoberfest than if we’d played the full evening (so mark your calendars now). Doug carried on the tradition of announcing his fear for his mortal soul after booking and mixing us. Hell yeah!!

We passed out some CD’s to the crew, who really seemed to dig us. After some entertaining moments watching the freak show that was the Polaris hair-metal-fan crowd, it was time to go. Most of us didn’t feel like hanging around to hear songs that we could have covered better in Darrin’s basement. And the stoned pre-teen asking for body autographs just added to surrealism of the entire experience (maybe she wasn’t, but she sure looked it- both stoned and pre-teen).

It wasn’t even 7:30. The let-down was complete. As we exited the parking lot, the bulk of the crowd was just arriving to see Bret and company crank out their (insert your own adjective here) “product”.

We watched the video at Darrin’s and it was pretty wild to see how fast the sky darkened in the short time the camera was running. It was short but highly entertaining, if only for Ian’s drum-riser jumps and hellraising vocal stylings. Gourley was as into it as ever, which is saying something since hardly anyone had made their way back to our neck of the woods yet.

The concession stand and Polaris staff were privileged to hear the following:
• Guacamole Dammit
• Guacamole Dammit (sound check mini-mix)
• Weinermobile
• Sacrificial Leg of Lamb
• Pie Hair Pie
• I Want a Big Mac (storm edit)

We’ll be back.