A few weeks ago I read an email offering tickets for this house show for Ike Reilly and Johnny Hickman. Ike Reilly, from Chicago, is a name not familiar to many folks here in Southern California. If you are a fan of his, though, an opportunity to see him in an intimate venue was something I didn’t want to miss. Seeing the guitarist for the band Cracker was also a bonus. For Hickman, this was also a bit of a homecoming as he grew up in Redlands. Check out Ike Reilly’s and Hickman’s wikipedia pages if you would like to learn more about them.
Unfortunately, there would be no filming at the show, so all the memories will have to stay in my head. Reilly played some older favorites of mine like “Devils Valentine”, “I Will Let You Down”, and a newer song “Took It Lying Down”. My memory is already fuzzy a few days after the show, so that is about as far as I can remember. See some versions of songs that we heard on Saturday night.
Ike Reilly video for “Took It Lying Down”. The song may refer to getting stiffed when he was a doorman by a now very prominent and wealthy politician and everything he would have said, but didn’t.
After the show, we met Ike Reilly briefly and he seemed to notice that I was the guy that knew the lyrics to even the obscure songs. I tried not to come off as the creepy super fan. Mission accomplished?? Later in the evening at dinner I happened to see his Instagram and there he declares himself as a soccer fan. I am glad I didn’t know that when I met him or I would have had to casually drop that I was an ex-college coach and Dan owns a soccer store…
Johnny Hickman is the guitar player for Cracker and is originally from Redlands. It was great to see him interact with old friends and fans. Their version of “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now) was stellar. “San Bernardino Boy” also got the crowd pretty amped. Chris Leroy from The Dangers also joined Hickman and Reilly on stage during the night.
Cracker’s Video for “Teen Angst (What the World Needs Now)”
Trail and Music 
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