Tonight’s summer outdoor concert was in historic downtown St. Charles and featured Serapis, a St. Charles garage band. They really started in a garage more than 30 years ago and bill themselves as a “classic American band.” Wikipedia told me the cult of Serapis was introduced during the third century B.C. on the orders of Pharaoh Ptolemy I as a means to unify the Greeks and Egyptians in his realm. I doubt if the band is a cult trying to unify the people. I think in this case it means “old guys with guitars, drums, and a keyboard.”
The music included rock, blues, reggae, and cover hits and was really nice. Because St. Charles has noise ordinances, they could only play the music loud, not at ear-splitting levels. Personally, I liked it better than the tremor-inducing volume of Superjam last week. The weather was beautiful for outdoor music, and the music was good, with lots of variety among the band’s different musical genres. It was another wonderful summer evening with Ted.
This. Is. Serapis. Look behind the guitarist on the right to check out the drummer’s beard. It was more than halfway to his waist.
Two blocks of the street were closed to traffic and the entire space was filled with people–a good crowd.
At a street concert, this is what front-row seating looks like–footrest included.
Security was pretty casual. The horse on the right probably had to rest his feet and his back after the concert.
The restroom sign pointed to the next block. Ted thought that might mean “use the river” which borders the next block.
During the band’s break, it was time for the groupies to chat with the band members. This is a St. Charles band–they probably all went to school together, and the band probably plays at every class reunion.
It took an hour and a half of the two-hour concert for the band (or the beer) to loosen up the crowd enough to start dancing.
When that wooden suitcase-type thing was open, it was a small picnic table with four attached seats. Cool!
After the concert, Ted and I went out for dinner and had another summertime favorite for dessert: Fritz’s ice cream. Ted splurged on a banana split.