diff --git a/cmd/commands/utils.go b/cmd/commands/utils.go
index 6e594b7fc6..13d57bd50e 100644
--- a/cmd/commands/utils.go
+++ b/cmd/commands/utils.go
@@ -85,9 +85,10 @@ func getHeaderAndCommit(c *cli.Context, height int) (*tmtypes.Header, *tmtypes.C
 	tmAddr := c.String("node")
 	clientURI := client.NewClientURI(tmAddr)
 
-	_, err := clientURI.Call("commit", map[string]interface{}{"height": height}, tmResult)
+	method := "commit"
+	_, err := clientURI.Call(method, map[string]interface{}{"height": height}, tmResult)
 	if err != nil {
-		return nil, nil, errors.New(cmn.Fmt("Error on broadcast tx: %v", err))
+		return nil, nil, errors.New(cmn.Fmt("Error on %s: %v", method, err))
 	}
 	resCommit := (*tmResult).(*ctypes.ResultCommit)
 	header := resCommit.Header
diff --git a/demo/start.sh b/demo/start.sh
index 2ab83166c6..f2b85a5812 100644
--- a/demo/start.sh
+++ b/demo/start.sh
@@ -27,7 +27,7 @@ function waitForBlock() {
 	addr=$1
 	b1=`curl -s $addr/status | jq .result[1].latest_block_height`
 	b2=$b1
-	while [ "$b2" != "$b1" ]; do
+	while [ "$b2" == "$b1" ]; do
                 echo "Waiting for node $addr to commit a block ..."
                 sleep 1
 		b2=`curl -s $addr/status | jq .result[1].latest_block_height`
@@ -94,10 +94,11 @@ echo "PACKET: $PACKET"
 echo "PROOF: $PROOF"
 
 
+# the query returns the height of the next block, which contains the app hash
+# but which may not be committed yet, so we have to wait for it to query the commit
 echo ""
-echo "... waiting for some blocks to be mined"
+echo "... waiting for a block to be committed"
 echo ""
-sleep 5
 
 waitForBlock localhost:46657
 waitForBlock localhost:36657