A mid-week beach retreat

Biscuits for dessert

The quartet, consisting of John "The Barber" Gutwillig on guitar, Marc Brownstein on bass, Allen Aucoin on drums and Aron Magner on keyboards, played two sweaty sets, but what really impressed were what felt like two of the longest continuously-played songs I'd ever heard at a live show.

The night was highlighted early on by "M.E.M.P.H.I.S.," from their 1998 album "Uncivilized Area," and later, a sonically booming cover of "The Safety Dance," by Men Without Hats. With strobe lights flickering at a seizure-inducing pace, the crowd around us spun into a noodle-dancing frenzy as the Biscuits played and played and played.

After approximately 22 minutes of jamming, without a single lyric, they finally requested that audience members look at their hands, after which most of the crowd did so and clapped along with the "Safety Dance" chorus. This would be followed up by one last encore appearance for an extended-play version (go figure) of "Onamae Wa," which the band debuted in 2003.

Our foursome headed out the front door of the bar just before 1 a.m. with a ringing in our ears, heading back down the highway to my buddy's house before catching the Jolly Trolley (which was at its jolliest) at around 1:20 in the a.m. on Thursday morning.