Post by michaelb on May 10, 2005 23:00:22 GMT -5
GtrPlyr said:
The venue was surrounded by gaudy turquoise and pink Disney attractions, a Virgin Megastore, and people in Hawaiian shirts with their kids seemingly oblivious to the rock icon who was momentarily about to take the stage. Inside the cavernous House of Blues stood about 450 fans, a quarter of whom seemed to have come from parts far removed from Orlando’s sunny and kitschy disposition. At 8:07, without any ado, the curtains opened and the band charged right into “Stain Yer Blood.” Paul looking resplendent in a cowboy hat and funky looking jacket, looked focused as he led the band through a fairly tight show... okay, enough with the review format. I'm switching to random notes and observations mode:
There were quite a few of us boarders at the front of the stage, unfortunately right at the start of the show Paul said something like: “turn the vocals down in the monitor, I can’t stand hearing my voice.” So this made it difficult for us to hear him clearly at times. Nonetheless this didn’t hinder the enjoyment of the show one iota.
As noted above, there were some glitches, such as Paul’s Soldano Amp head, which eventually got kicked over—along with the speaker cabinet—by Paul about a 1/3 into the show. The tech was there to quickly lift it up, and for the next half hour or so could be seen intermittently working on it. Luckily Paul had his other amp to rely on, so this wasn’t too great a problem.
In response to the amp problem, Paul says “so much for sound check.”
Tuning problems end the life of another guitar, but not before Paul gives it a quick kiss on the neck. A few fans manage to scoop up the remaining bits. Later on I see a fan with a nice big chunk of the guitar body in the bus line up.
Early in the show, a fan that repeatedly yelled for “Unsatisfied” came to the front of the stage and handed Paul a pen, and her vinyl copy of “Hootenanny.” After a momentary pause, Paul reached down, grabbed it, then leaned into the mic and said “thank you all for coming, good night.” After signing this, of course a few more people try to hand some things up to him. Obviously some people still don’t know about the whole meet and greet by the bus deal. Earlier we met the woman who handed the record up to him. She was a fan that had him sign it back in 1989, and hadn’t seen him live since the mid 90’s. Needless to say she was extremely excited to see him again. She also said something about being a teacher and having to go to work the next day.
Later on, a fan yells out the ubiquitous “Black Diamond” request. Paul turns to the audience and says something like “You really want to hear this? You sure?” Then after a pause, the band kicks into the song like they’d been playing it for the whole tour. It sounded pretty solid, which indicates some actual practicing on this one. After a couple of verses, Paul nods to Jim, and Jim takes over the singing on the track. The song ends, to raucous applause from the audience, after which, Paul says “I think we’ve been playing the wrong songs on this tour.” This gets a few laughs.
Near the end of the show, I remember looking to my right and seeing this little kid. He must have been about 6 years old. He was standing in front with his hand resting on the stage, holding a pen with a ticket stub attached to the lid. He stood like this for the rest of the show. Later we saw him exit the bus with his much sought after autograph.
Some other nice surprises were the addition of “Don’t Want Never,” a great, and spirited take on “Jumpin’ Jack Flash,” a nice solo performance of “Lush and Green” and the Besterberg version of “Once Around the Weekend.”
All in all it was a good show, without any real lulls. Just another in a line of many great shows from this tour. Luckily I’ve managed to catch a few of them.
It was also nice to hang out with some of the people from the board that I’ve met before: Kathy, FirstAveFiend, UaBH, Maybellene, as well as a few that I hadn’t: hansi, Meri, and of course Michael B who was a gracious host on the bus to a few of us boarders. What a great guy! Jim was also very cool. Great collection of CD’s on the bus too. Everything from The Rolling Stones, to Frank Sinatra, to Foghat, to the Rolling Stones, and Keith Richards (you get the gist).
I know I’m forgetting things, but that will have to do for now until I get a full nights sleep, and the ringing in my ears stops
unrehearsed......
michaelb
Your DC Buddha buddy,
