Opening Bands: Spring Heeled Jack
Date: August 13th 1998
Venue: Tinks Scranton PA

It’s been awhile since I saw the Pieguys; I think the last time I saw them was in November at Sea Seas.

This was also the first time I saw Spring Heeled Jack USA or advertised by Tinks “Spring Hill Jack.” So we get there like around 7pm and the doors were supposed to open around 8pm. My friend John and his friend came up to us saying that they had to meet some people at this house up in the hill section of Scranton. So we went with them and we get inside the house and I see my friend Josephine and her brother sitting there (which we were supposed to see them at Tinks) and I didn’t know who her brother was and he ending up being a person that I played ice hockey with. Small world huh? So we were all amazed that we all meet up at this apartment and it was strange. So we walked down to Tinks and there was a line (There wasn’t a line at 7:30pm when John showed up) but the line moved fast surprisingly and we got into the freakish club.

I’ve been here once before at the Reel Big Dicks show but I never really noticed how much everything is glowing in this place. I felt like I was in Batman with all the street guys with their glowing chains and stuff. So we waited for SHJ to come on for like a hour and the crowd was being entertained with South Park and MTV. So Spring Heeled Jack came on and they started off with a song that I can’t remember off hand but I think it was “All My Own”. There was many little teeny boppers there stepping on my shoes and I wanted to kill them. They played a lot of old and new songs like “Man of Tomorrow,” “Pigeon Holed,(I think)” “Pay Some Dues,” and their single off the new album “Jolene.” During their set, our friend Frank from school showed up and he were trying to talk but we couldn’t really hear each other because of SHJ playing.

It was cool with Spring Heeled Jack because they would switch singers, like both singers play the guitar and sing on different songs so they would switch playing the guitar; plus the t-bone player sang a song called “Freedom” on their first cd on Moon Ska. They finished off with one of my favorites from them “Running Man.” I was really impressed with their performance. Then after that, We chilled in the back and talked with friends.

Then the Pietasters came on and started off with the usual, “Freak Show.” Then they played songs like “Girl Take It Easy,” “Little Engine,” “Tell you Why (I think),” and “Pleasure Bribe.” I wasn’t really paying attention to them that much because I was talking with Frank, but they played a lot of old songs which was good. They also played a swing-like version of “Movin On Up” which sounded awesome. I was swing dancing with myself but I guess you wouldn’t call it swing dancing since it’s just me. They played newer and slower songs like “Ocean,” and I think “Bitter.” They got off and came back on for an encore and they played a Burial(?) cover called “Sheila,” which is a really good song and they finished with a Business cover of “Drinkin and Drivin.” Overall, it was a good show but for two bands for 10 bucks , it kind of sucks but oh well. I still had fun I guess.