Six hours driving in a car is a good amount of time to spend letting your mind drift. That was the duration of the commute from my home base in the Cleveland area to meet up with Ady in Lancaster for the Felice Brothers show at the Chameleon Club.

On the way there I probably spent too much time pondering, among other things, why no one goes to smell concerts (after all we travel to hear music, people flock to see movies, and frequently obsess over the best foods, what about scent events?) Oddly, once I approached Lancaster on Rt 283 I was bombarded with smells. Lilacs or maybe honeysuckle? For at least a mile or two. Then the smell of cows, which lasted a little too long, then industry. Finally on my approach into Lancaster the air was filled with the smell of hot dogs. So there you have it, I got my olfactory joy.

On the return home it wandered again and I thought about what I wanted to say about my travels and the show . . . I wrote about 7 different versions of this post in my mind’s eye, but the prevailing thought was how it was most definitely worth the maniacal 12 hours on the road. Not a bad price to pay to spend an incredibly fun and relaxing 24 hours with my sister in Lancaster, going to see one of the few bands in existence right now that I would travel far and wide for. Our accommodations were awesome and alone worth it. And I saw a few other strange (fascinating?) sights to break up the solo drive—the two old guys chatting away and peeing on a fence along the side of the road on I-76 is a visual that will stick with me for some time.

The Felice Brothers show at the Chameleon Club was of course the reason for making the trip (always an excuse for Ady and I to get together) and was the highlight (except perhaps our hotel bathroom, which we tried to figure out how to pack into an overnight bag and smuggle home. It really was a the best bathroom! But I digress).  I’d been reading about the shows leading up to this one and everything I read was in agreement—the band is tight, in great spirits and a force to be reckoned with right now. And it was true, the guys were in tip top supercharged form. For us, it all culminated into the most wild and crazy “Helen Fry” you could ask for.

Ian Felice and “Helen Fry” at the Chameleon Club

Other highlights of the evening for me personally were several songs I got to see live for the first time (“Marie,” “Her Eyes Dart Round,” “Where’d you Get the Liquor?”); two sweet covers (Woody Guthrie’s “Cumberland Gap” and Townes Van Zandt’s “Two Hands”); and a goofy, playful version of “Loser Takes All.”

I took a couple videos (linked above) and Ady took some photos during “Loser,” “Ponzi,” “Helen Fry” (check the series of photos at the end of the set when Ian bashed away on his guitar laying on the floor!) and other points along the way. Good show, yes! They always make me happy as hell to be a Felice Brothers fan—and between that and all the fun I had hanging out with my sister, it made driving all that way feel like it was nothing.

Follow the link below to be taken to the full photo set of the Felice Brothers live at the Chameleon Club 2012 via the Sisters Dissonance Flickr account.

Video can be found in the posts immediately preceding this one, and on our youtube page where you can also find the third video taken, “Her Eyes Dart Round.”

PS – Cheers to Meghan and Amy, who we met after the show!