Last summer, we traveled to Red Rocks for the first time to catch one of the biggest reggae artists on the planet, Stick Figure. The show that night was special, Red Rocks tends to bring out the best in performers and Stick Figure was no different (read about that evening here). I loved the show, but the band was not an act that I thought I needed to see every summer. The closest Florida tour date was about four hours away, so the decision was easy. I’d wait for a future tour to catch them again.
But, life is fluid. At times that fluidity causes challenges. Other times, it’s opportunity.
Depending on your perspective, Tuesday was an impactfully fluid day. As Hurricane Debby zeroed in on South Carolina and a state of emergency was called, Stick Figure was forced to cancel their show. Bad news for Charleston concertgoers. The opportunity? Stick Figure scheduled a “surprise” show at a small venue in Cocoa, FL to fill the void in their schedule. They gave fans 48 hours to scoop up 2,000 tickets.
The band was coming off their largest headlining sellout just a week prior (20,000 fans in Massachusetts). The chance to see them in a cozy little waterfront amphitheater was a rare chance to catch the band up close. Thirty seconds after we heard about the new show, my wife snatched a pair of general admission tickets for the two of us. Over the years, we’ve learned to jump on these rare opportunities,
We arrived at Cocoa Riverfront Park as Soja took the stage. Due to a huge line at security, we missed most of the opener, but still arrived early enough to snag a spot about 8 rows from the stage. The Stick Figure crowd is generally a chill, relaxed audience, where most of the attendees know the lyrics to every song. This night featured the same vibe. A huge haze of smoke hung over our heads as a slew of fans lit up, waiting for the headliners to take the stage. It was a typical Florida summer evening – temperature and humidity both around 90 – it wasn’t long before everyone was drenched in sweat.
The band took the stage and immediately threw in an interesting twist. They started off their set with “Fire On the Horizon” as the sun began to set behind the stage. The tune is usually one of their two late night closers. The singalong moment was one of many surprises that welcomed the crowd. There was a high chance of thunderstorms late in the set, and I suppose they shifted the setlist just in case they couldn’t finish.
The band spun through 20+ songs over the next two hours, and the sextet on stage was tight. Scott Woodruff is the main man in Stick Figure and he’s become quite the frontman over the past several years when we first saw him live. He interacted with the crowd regularly, even standing out on top of the crowd during “Angels Above Me.” His guitar work seemed improved as well as he shredded a few solos throughout the evening.
Although Woodruff does most of the writing and creating, his band has been together for years, and they’re all stellar musicians. Keyboardist KBong was flying across the stage and interacting with the crowd constantly. He’s a talented guitarist and singer in his own right, but with Stick Figure, he’s primarily the keyboardist and harmonizer (and energetic cheerleader). Johnny Cosmic is a multi-instrumentalist who spent most of the evening on lead guitar. He also had a different type of shining moment.
Cosmic has apparently been torturing Woodruff to play “Golden Hour” live for years. On this evening, Woodruff relented, and those in the crowd were treated to a rarity. “We just rehearsed it once just fucking around. This is the first time we’re playing it live.” Then Woodruff stumbled into the right chords, and they delivered a killer version.
If you are a Stick fan, you know that Woodruff’s dog Cocoa is omnipresent in his life (and onstage). He mentioned that the timing was just too perfect to not play another rarely heard song. “We’re in Cocoa,” then he lifted up his Cocoa (a large Australian Shepherd), and jumped into “Cocoa de Rock.” The crowd loved it. We also heard another deep cut when TJ O’Neill stayed on stage and sang the beautifully tender “Railroad Shelter.”
Shortly after these surprises, the skies opened up and we had the full Florida Summer Evening Grand Slam (heat, humidity, bugs and rain). Everyone in the crowd and most of the band members got thoroughly drenched. The rain actually seemed to be the accent the crowd needed to kick it up a notch. During a meandering and sizzling version of “Smokin’ Love” half a dozen guest vocalists spent time on lead vocals. It was a raucous, drenched party. As they wrapped up the main set, they offered up another surprise, with the rarely heard “Easy Runaway.”
The band exited the stage as the crowd chanted for one more song and tried to keep their heads above water. The crowd got their wish and the band played a few of their bigger hits. During the encore, KBong dove into the audience and crowd-surfed until security pulled him back to the stage. One of many memorable moments on a raucous night filled with good vibes and great music.
As they finished their last song, the PA Announcer shared that a severe thunderstorm was mere minutes a way and the band was forced to exit before playing their typical closer, “World On Fire.” A minor bummer that was quickly forgotten by the fans as they recalled all of the special moments that were shared between the band and themselves.
We left the amphitheater drenched to the core, but with a wide smiles plastered on our faces. One of those bonus concerts that exceeded all expectations. Next time you see an unexpected opportunity like that pop up, buy the damn tickets!
Rock On!
Bob Creedon
