Last night I went to see Chappo playing at a venue that I’d never been to, 6119. The name is also the address. My friend and I finally found it by the small logo on the door. “It doesn’t look open,” she said. “This is the loading door only, it says,” I explained. So, we took a stroll around the block to the other side of the building and alas, there was the entrance (though still quite hidden).
We went up some steps and there were two guys sitting there taking money and checking ID’s. I saw there was no credit card machine, so I asked, “Is this place cash only?” They said yeah, but there was an ATM upstairs. Perfect. “Is there alcohol up there?” “Yeah,” the guy laughed. Perfect. Okay, so we had enough cash to get us upstairs and then we could get more out of the ATM.
When we went upstairs, it was pretty cool. It was a long hallway with the stage at the end. We went to the bar and tried to figure out what to get to drink. The bartender described the place as a “glorified house party,” which I liked. After our first or second drinks, I noticed the ATM had no shine to it. It wasn’t plugged in. I asked our bartender friend if it was available. “It’s broken,” she said. Well, that ended our alcohol intake. Despite that, we had a really good time. One of the people working there told us that the place hasn’t been open for quite a year yet, but it’s set to shut down shop next month. Good thing we made it just in time! Someone bought the buildings on the block and so the venue will be looking for a new home.
Chappo was better than I expected. When I listened to their album, not many of the songs stuck with me, but hearing them live made me LOVE it. I also know the drummer from about 5 years ago when he played with a different band. He said that this show was a little bit different because it wasn’t really a “rock club” and there weren’t as many people as they’d had on other legs of the tour. Regardless, he assured me they’d play with the same amount of gusto. And gusto they had. Alex Chappo passed around a huge ass dreamcatcher and encouraged us to put our dreams in it, which was really cool. He also talked about stuff like ghosts and shapeshifters, which I thought was also really cool. Surprisingly, they played their hit “Come Home” three songs in. It may have surprised me, but I like the unpredictableness of it. Towards the end of the show, he asked us to stand around in a semi-circle where we all danced and clapped along.
I heard they’re working on a new album at the moment, too.
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- Chappo Tour Dates (musicallyamusing.com)
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