Tuesday, February 08, 2005

My Strange heroes lead me on...

HOB was buzzing, Dennis McNally and Cameron were standing on the side of the stage and Santella & Charucki were moving like lightening in final preparations for the show...
And at last the lights went down and the fellas came out to the cheering masses..proceeding into a jam..I already knew the first song was gonna be "Here Comes Sunshine"...3 for 3 for me with that one...Saw it live in Sausalito as well as opening the KPFA show...The Disney version was the best...and it seemed to be the right song to start the SouthWest Mini tour up with too...Through the first set there seemed to be a few odd techy problems-not particularly bothersome to me (afterall, I was right under Bobby's nose and little except for getting bounced around because of Rambo on wheels, was gonna be a problem for me)...
I was surprised to hear Foolish Heart and Row Jimmy when they came up...Kems got her 'She says" and I was very thrilled with "Masterpiece"-A song that brings back ample tour memories...Another setlist highlight for me was the TOO jam- I've had Spanish Lady stuck in my head since receiving Sweet Ann Marie's weiracle! So sad to have it be a teaser though I was warmly rewarded with the real deal in Phoenix! Red Rooster was great! Gung Hay Fat Choy! We figured it wouldnt turn up til San Diego and were surprised.....Liberty was fantastic- big energy in the room through that one- somewhere in the middle of it, a guy danced over to the rail,balancing in his palms was a very young child...He held her out over the rail...We all just shook our heads, hoping he wasnt going to drop her-it wouldve been easy to do what with folks dancing and good old Rambo on wheels bulldozing the guys on the rail...I dont understand what is up with some of these parents? The next night in Phoenix, a mom wedged her way near me and tossed a ball on stage toward the band...then plopped a toddler on the stage and instructed him to go get the ball..he looked a little freaked out but eventually did retrieve it to receive cheers from the crowd...I'm sure there will be plenty of charming photos -just note neither child has any protective gear for their ears...
Well, dont mean to sound like such a curmudgeon...just a preschool teacher with a concern or two....
I will save particular song reflections for when the cds become downloadable (I already paid for them-but so far cant download) .
At the end of the evening, Everyone flew off in different directions so I never got a chance to find quite a few folks-like Dave & Hillary and Christine & Ben to hear their opinions....I was finally ready for a cold beer and heard the bar upstairs was still open and headed on up...I was so happy for Ratdog when I got upstairs as that was where the CDS were being distributed and it more closely resembled the line to get on Space Mountain than one for Ratdog cds!! The crew got a work out handing those things out, I am sure!!