Newport Blues Cafe

We met Lee and Emily in the lobby, then headed into town.  Newport was only a few miles down the road from out hotel.  We found a pay-by-time parking lot to leave the truck, and started walking through town.  It was dark by this time, and many of the shops were closed, but we were scouting out where we were going to go tomorrow.  We weren't sure where to go for dinner, so we stopped in one of the bars to have a few drinks while we decided.  Since they had food there, we wound up getting a light dinner right there at the bar.  Nothing too big, we were still feeling the pizza! 

After dinner, we walked a little further until we came to the Newport Blues Cafe.   Dawn noticed by a poster in the window, that a band she was familiar with, Antigone Rising, was headlining there tonight.

  Since we had no concrete plans for the evening, we decided to go in and check them out!  After a nominal cover charge, we grabbed some seats at the bar.  We had to endure a few non-exciting warm up acts, but Dawn assured us it would be worth the wait.  We were there for a few hours before Antigone came on, and Lee and Emily looked like they were ready to go to sleep...it had been a long day traveling for them!   The bar and dance floor were starting to fill up as we got later in the evening.

The bar itself had been converted from a bank, and the original vault doors were still there...the band passed through them coming to the stage from the dressing room.  When Antigone Rising finally came out, the place erupted!  They had a good following there, and this was the last show on their latest tour.  They did not disappoint!  They put on a great show with a lot of energy, and really worked the crowd well.  I just wish we could have done without the warm up acts!  After the show, they spent some time with the crowd, hanging out and signing autographs.  By the time the show was over, it was into the wee hours...so, back to the hotel to go to bed!   Plenty of exploring to do tomorrow!   One bonus... it was so late by the time we left, the parking lot was closed and we didn't have to pay!