So after a late ish night last night with Dave and Wendica i didn't wake up till around eleven and didn't get up till noon. I went for a workout in the hotel gym and then chilled out in the room for a couple of hours. Spoke to Jim who had arranged a pub meet up tonight called the Dark Horse for dinner with him and Chrissy plus Greg, Phil and a few others.
Left the hotel around 3:30, in fact that was the first time id been outside the hotel today! We headed down to the Dark Horse in the car, wasn't far, a short 15 minute ride away, parked up and headed in to the pub. Jim and Chrissy arrived five minutes later and then Phil, Greg, Laila and Linda and then a Ccouple of Jims friends arrived
Myself, Greg and Phil Linda, Myself and Laila
We had a few drinks and a bite to eat and then drove down to the venue. The drive took us 15 minutes and we were fortunate tonight to have a VIP parking pass so drove straight in the parking lot next to the venue and positioned the car right near the exit so hopefully we wouldn't get caught up in much traffic on the way out.
If you read my blog yesterday then you’ll have seen the details about Coleen and her mom and dad, when i read the comment from Coleen her story really touched me and i had a chat with Dave K during the day and showed him her message, he was really touched as well and said he would come out to meet them before the show started tonight. They were sat 2nd row centre and as Kami and i went in the venue we made our way down to the floor and waited for Coleen to take her seat. Ten minutes later and i spotted Coleen and her mom but unfortunately her dad wasn't at this show and had only seen the second show! I explained about meeting Dave K and Kami sent a text to Dave to tell him we were here. he came out to have a picture taken with them and a quick chat, it was quick though as he had a few guests tonight and was also spotted by the “gay guys” whom we’d met in the Four Seasons a couple of nights before.
Elly, Dave and Coleen Myself with the guys! Friend, Myself and James
As i was stood talking to the James and his friend another guy Erik came up to me and told me we had met briefly in London in 2002!!! I vaguely remembered Erik and we had a quick chat before heading back to our 13th row centre seats. Kami got a couple of pics with Brent while he was going past with about 10 minutes to go before show time.
Erik and I Kami and Brent
We sat next to a couple of guys who had received complimentary tickets from Roger. They worked in a restaurant one was a waiter and the other a bar tender. A couple of nights before Roger had been in the restaurant and was so impressed with their service he offered them two comp tickets to the show! Today was also Veterans day and there was a whole row of Vets tonight slightly off to the right side off the floor.
Roger has again been working on the visuals and has the last couple of shows added even more animation and changed the projections about a bit! During the lyrics “ a snapshot in the family album” he’s added a picture on Mr screen of Roger with his mom and dad, its the old black and white pictures that's been seen online for years but they have coloured it red to match in with all the other graphics for Another Brick! There's also a nice subtle change to the camera animation that's on Mr Screen during Mother, the camera now gets covered by the red animated “blood” that covers the whole of the wall. Its a little thing but works really well.
Last night there was also a change in the animation at the end of Goodbye Blue Sky, normally all the symbols (shell logo, $ sign, Mercedes logo, cross, Star, ) that are shown coming out of the B52 planes usually fade in and out and fall all over the wall around, however last night they all “bounced” down from the top of the screen and bounced around at the bottom of the wall. Similar to before but different, you have to see it to know what i mean. Roger also spoke of the veterans at the beginning of Mother and thanked them all.
The crowd tonight were better than the 2nd show but still not as good as the 1st one, they all remained standing up but the energy just wasn't as good as the first night. There was a lot of “action” around our seats as well, a lot of people coming in and out and changing seats and moving around which kinda took the edge of a couple of things for me.
Few random images from the show.
We’d spoken briefly to Robbie before the show and he had asked us if we were coming backstage again tonight, (i cant stress how much of a nice guy he is, he remembers things!! peoples names for one!) i said maybe and we decided at intermission to go back and see him briefly. He had some guests here tonight who were Chinese and Kami felt like she was back in China again rambling on to them in Chinese!
John Joyce and the Kipp brothers came to see us and again they had a few guests around so we pretty much left them to it and sat and had a bottle of water. I had to laugh when we were talking to John Joyce, he had remembered us from a couple of nights before when he joined us at the Four Seasons for 10 minutes, we were chatting away and he had his earpiece monitors dangling around his neck when i noticed the small crossed hammer logs on the side of each one!!
We headed back out to the floor and watched the second half from the right side, about 5 rows from the stage. we had a great vantage point to watch Jim try grab the armband from here too!
I'm still not liking the little “oohh ohhh oohhs” that Robbie is doing in the Show Must Go on, it just doesn't sound right to me! I am however really liking the new graphics for the Comfy Numb, as we couldn't see Dave on top of the wall due to being so close i watched Roger and the new graphics all the time. They just seam to fit perfectly. Made me laugh when Roger changed up his normal line and said “ are there any paranoids in the city of brotherly love tonight” i didn't quite catch what he said at first till Kami heard it also and heard what he actually said.
After waiting for the Worms we watched the scramble on the floor around Jim as Roger threw his armband!! It was hysterical, there were people everywhere scrambling to get it! Jim later on told us that i seamed like everyone knew tonight that it was going to happen and even though everyone around them were different people from the nights before they still knew where and when Roger was going to throw it.
Security started moving people early on before the wall fall, the whole of the right section was full of people tonight, even though the yellow caution tape was still there and had blocked off about 4 seats from the stage all the way down the section they started to tell people to move out of there seats in the first 5 rows. Kami and i were right on the border where the wall would come down and moved back a row and in towards the arena a couple of seats. Had we not done we would have been pleasantly hit on the head by falling bricks!! oh if only!!
Roger thanked the crowd again and said how much of a music town Philly has always been and how much the crowd have always been appreciative, he then introduced the band as normal and they all left the stage once again for a final time in Philly.
Jim, Chrissy, Kami and i hung out for 20 minutes after the show just for a chat as this would be the last time we’d see them till Milan or the UK shows. Jims a great guy and it was a pleasure to meet Chrissy this time round as well.
Kami and i headed back to the car and managed to make a quick exit out on to the highway, 20 minutes later we were back at the hotel!
Its been a fantastic five nights in Philly, and three great shows that i will remember not only for the shows themselves but for the people i attended them with and the people i met. I'm actually sat on a plane at the moment between Philly and Ft Lauderdale typing this blog entry and ready for the next section of the tour, the south US. The captain has just said the weather at our destination is 78` and clear and I'm looking forward to wearing shorts and t shirts for the next couple of weeks till i get to Denver, then back to the shorts for the last 3 weeks of the tour in California!!
I think Kami had a great time this week too and i wanted to say thanks to her for been such a great friend and hanging out at the shows and of course for ordering some great Chinese in Chinese!!
More pics from Philly 3rd night
Oooh, if you get the chance to talk to Jon J. again, tell him I said "Hi!" He's such a dear man and a legend in his corner of the industry. And everyone seems to love Robbie, they all say he's such a down-to-earth chap, so that makes me even more happy he has this opportunity, nice guys finish first!
ReplyDeleteHopefully it's going to be warm when you get here, at least during the day. The nights and the mornings have been COLD!
Julie :)
Hi, Simon. I want to thank you from the bottom of my heart for being so kind to us and for doing something so thoughtful for someone you just met. My mom and I won't ever forget meeting Dave K. Although my father wasn't in attendance, he was over the moon that you thought of him and he was super excited when he saw the picture of us and Dave K.
ReplyDeleteI thought the third night was the best of the Philly nights musically and in terms of the energy coming off the stage, it was the best of the four shows I saw. Roger was so animated on Thursday, dancing and smiling more than ever. And Dave K absolutely killed the Comfortably Numb solo!
My mom and I started getting sick on Friday from over doing it all week, so we decided we have Rogeritis. Symptoms include the loss of your voice from singing every word at each show, a maxed out credit card, and the insane urge to go to another show and another show and another show...
I hope we can keep in touch. My e-mail is wldechld@gmail.com. Keep enjoying the shows and, of course, we'll keep following your adventures on the blog.
I did have a good time, and glad I could go. After my weekend at the convention here in DC, though, I can safely say I am totally exhausted from the whole thing. What a crazy week...
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