Next Saturday: 07/09/11 Division Nine/Kentucky Thunder @ Brinks Beer Joint, Swift Falls, MN

(Image via: Division Nine)

Saturday July 9th, 2011
8:30pm - 1:00am
Division Nine/Kentucky Thunder
@ Brinks Beer Joint, Swift Falls, MN

06/11/11 - Scenes From A Street Dance: Division Nine @ Sugarbeet Days, Renville, MN

(Images and video: NYCDreamin Archives)

Saturday afternoon we were back on the road once again, this time for a 100-mile trip to Renville (including a rather long detour due to road construction.) to rock out with our friends Division Nine. This time the show was outdoors - on a mobile stage on the back of a semi truck in the middle of main street in downtown Renville, MN. The event: a street dance sponsored by local watering hole Shenaniganz, as part of the town's annual "Sugarbeet Days" festival.





We arrived early - not much was happening yet, as you can see in the above photo. We stopped in at a local place and had a quick bite to eat, then went and wandered around town a bit. It's a small place so it was a rather quick walk. By the time we got back the band had arrived and was setting things up on the stage. Things were still pretty quiet at this point though...



A while later one of the local businesses hauled out a few grills and set up shop on the sidewalk and began cooking up a pretty good quantity of hamburgers and hot dogs, filling the air with that familiar summertime aroma that is so hard to resist - so it looked like they were expecting some people to show up - and - lo and behold, slowly but surely began to arrive...





Around 8:30pm, with the crowd still a bit small but growing, the band took to the stage and began playing as people milled about, coming in and out of the bar, having a bite to eat, greeting friends and getting ready for an evening of rock and roll...





Once again, for those of you who don't know who the hell these guys are, these are the members of Division Nine...

Steve...


Chad...


Rob...


...and Mikey.


And as the band played on, and the sun went down, the people continued to come...







20 years from now, the kids will still talk about the night D9 rocked Renville to it's very foundations...



The band pulled out a very cool rendition of Badlands' "High Wire."





And by around 10:00pm, a few hundred people were milling about, enjoying the band and a beautiful but slightly chilly early summer evening. The adults conversed, the kids hung around trying to look cool, the food sizzled, the beer went down as it will on a summer evening, or any evening for that matter. And the band played on...















And before you knew it, it was well after midninght...and it was almost time for the Gorgeous One and I to split - a 100 mile drive at 1:00am is no longer on my list of favorite things to do in life. We decided to hang for one more tune then make a break for it...and I'm glad we stayed to film this one...check out the guy at the 2:00 minute mark trying his best to impress the pretty girls with his "amazing" dance/air-guitar moves...LOL. Like I said, a fun time was had by all and there was no trouble...and that's all it's really all about...





A full set of 77 photos is available for your viewing pleasure HERE.
More disturing video evidence is available for viewing HERE.

05/28/11 Division Nine @ Bonfire Bar & Grill, Litchfield, MN

(Images and video: NYCDreamin Archives)

Central Minnesota hard-rockers Division Nine returned to the Bonfire Bar & Grill in Litchfield, Minnesota on Saturday evening to deliver three sets of classic rock/hard rock/heavy metal to an eventually fair sized crowd who came out to rock along with them and blow off some Saturday night, holiday weeked steam.





The last time we saw D9 at the Bonfire, back in November of 2010, a late evening ice storm made our return trip home after the show a real nightmare. This time we had no such worries. The Gorgeous One and I arrived around 7:30pm, just as the Bonfire's 2nd Annual Smoke Out dinner (details on the official bar flyer below) was winding down - too bad we missed that! A rather loud and obnoxious group of ladies from what was obviously a bachelorette party was boarding a party bus to leave - we were glad to see them go.



After I crushed out my cigarette, we popped inside and went and said hello to the guys in the band - they were busy getting set up in the other room, so we went back to the bar and had a seat and ordered up a few bacon-cheeseburgers. They arrived in short order and were quite tasty, nothing to write home about, but pretty good all the same. They were served with a generous portion of golden, crispy tator tots. While seated to eat our meal, I took a few photos of "Bonfire" related items in the bar. First up, a Budweiser/Bonfire neon light...



...and this cool hand-made Bonfire Bar Rock Hawks wall plaque. They're serious about their rock and roll here at the Bonfire.



A short while later, burgers and tator tots having vanished at an alarming rate, a few more of our friends arrived, along with some friends of theirs. We had a nice little group and we all comandeered a few tables up front near the small stage area and conversed among ourselves, waiting for the band to finish their last minute preparations and begin their first set. Just after 9:00pm, the members of D9 materialized near the stage and a few seconds later, the sleepy little Bonfire Bar was transformed into a - uh, sleepy little bar with a rock band blasting away in the back room. Taking a look around, we were all hoping for the bands sake that a few more people would show up - the 9:00pm crowd was barely cracking double digits, freinds of the band making up the majority of those in the room. There were a few more people up front in the bar, but they seemed content to stay up there, glued to the TV, oblivious to the history making rock and roll event that was occuring in the other room. I was pretty sure a few more people would show up though - and sure enough, by 10:00 or 10:30, things were looking quite a bit better as several small groups of people arrived and joind our little party.

Meet the guys in the band!

Chad!


Steve!


Rob!


and Mikey!


Now...let's rock! (The videos that follow are only a random sampling of the material D9 performed and are NOT in sequence. We're not even starting with the first song here - these are just the ones I randomly decided to film...)






*[applauds wildly] Whooo-HOOOO! Yeahhh!! Skynyrd! SKYYYYNNYYYRDD!!






Sky-NYRD! Sky-NYRD! Sky-NYRD!!!






...dude, I don't think they're gonna play any fuckin' Lynyrd Skynyrd...






By this point a few more people had shown up, the drinks of those around us were going down at a, shall we say, frequent pace (J. and myself, we were each having a Sprite - because we're all harcore like that), and the band was in a groove and the ladies were beginning to get up and dance a bit...



This is Bert, D9's go-to sound and lighting guy...he doesn't mess around!


Hey! What the hell is this?!? The band takes a break and the first thing you know, Bert's messing around, yakking it it with Rob, distracting him, telling him, "Hey, man, come here and check out the pretty lights!" like some hippie acid casualty or something.



Hey, you two! breaks' over - quit staring at the fucking lights and get back to work!



That's more like it!






The band slows things down for a few minutes and play a suitably mushy number and the couples hit the dance floor. I ask the Gorgeous One, since we are indeed a couple, if she'd like to dance. She smiles and offers me her hand. I lead her to the dance floor and we have a moment...








Whoa! What the HELL was that? That was kinda freaky!

Sky-NYRD! Sky-NYRD! Sky-NYRD!

What? Break time again? Already?! What the hell?!



Thirsts quenched (well, as quenched as a Saturday night beer thirst can be quenched anyway), our heroes return to the stage once again for one more set, rocking out as if their very lives depend on it, making lots of sweet noise and strange faces in the process...

Steve!


Chad!


Rob!


Mikey!


Time for one more song then we gotta say our goodbyes and get the hell outta here...it's nearly 12:15am and the Gorgeous One has to be at work at 6:00am...and I don't think these fuckers are gonna play any Skynyrd anyway, so...






Dangerous Toys? Nice! That beats Skynyrd ANY day!

For those of you who would like to see more D9 madness from this show...and, really, why wouldn't you? Just click HERE to see all the photographic evidence of the madness that ensued.

All right, we're out of here...thanks to our friends Division Nine for keeping it Skynyrd-Free!

Next Saturday: Division Nine @ Bonfire Bar & Grill, Litchfield, MN

(Another concert flyer by NYCDreamin)

Visit Division Nine on FaceBook

Next Saturday: Division Nine @ IDK Sports Bar & Lanes, Atwater, MN

(Another flyer by NYCDreamin)

Next Saturday: 05/21/11 - 9:00pm

Division Nine

@ IDK Sports Bar & Lanes, Atwater, MN

Tonight's Division Nine Gig In Benson, MN - Cancelled

(Image via: NYCDreamin Archives)

*Due to a scheduling conflict caused by the talent booker at McKinneys, Division Nine will NOT be performing there tonight as previously announced.

Your next chance to catch the band in action will be on 05/21/11 at IDK Sports Bar & Lanes in Atwater, MN.