Wilson Gil fires up the crowd.

Last night, Melissa and I decided to attend a concert we saw advertised on a poster in the baby DFAC (the smaller of the two chow halls on Victory). The rock band Wilson Gil and the Willful Sinners was in town, courtesy of the USO/MWR, and we decided to see what they were all about.

Well, we were certainly pleasantly surprised! We arrived at the Victory outdoor stage area, and there were no more than 20 spectators there waiting for the show. The band was already set up and finished with their sound checks. One of the members, the bass guitarist, was off to one side chatting with the Army MP's and their dog, and the rhythm guitarist/lead vocalist, Mr. Wilson Gil himself, was finishing up some business on stage. His path toward the bleachers intersected ours, and he shook our hands and asked if we were staying for the show. "Heck, yes, Wilson. We came to rock."

The show kicked off in a swirling dust storm, and the indefatiguable band members rocked their hearts out from start to finish. Melissa and I were greatly amused to see Wilson's cowboy hat predictably fly off of his head at the start of each song, when his uncontrollable guitar groove movements would cause his back to arch, his neck snapping backward as he bounded into the air to make the most of his first chords. He was awesome. I took photos and made MPEG movies of him and his band so that I might be able to study his style and memorize some moves for the next time I play Guitar Hero on our XBOX 360. Kick A!

Wilson Gil were an awesome act, and it was super cool of them to come all the way to Iraq from Northern California to play for the troops. They have been in-country for more than a week, touring around to the different FOBs so that the weary troops can relax and rock out. The only reason we didn't have too many people in attendance at Victory was that it was a last-minute addition to the tour circuit, their flight to another FOB having been cancelled that day due to dusty conditions.

At the end of the show, Wilson invited us all out to Bakersfield to see a show, hang out, or even just drop in on them to say hi and talk about "all the crazy $4i+ we did when we were in the Middle East", even going so far as to give out his home address. Haha. Cool guys.

I encourage you all to visit http://www.wilsongil.com/ to learn more about the band. Melissa and I will be emailing them some of the pictures we took (btw, they stayed after the show to sign autographs for everyone who wanted them), and I hope to maybe see them play in Cali sometime. Our favorite song is "Dirty Mattress."

Thanks for coming out, guys. You made our night!

Melissa with lead vocalist/rhythm guitarist Wilson Gil.

Nancy and bass man Barry Spry.

Nancy with drummer Tom Rockwell (great surname for a man of his occupation!).

Autographs for Nancy and Dave.