The last few shows

New York show 1………

I've never really thought Madison Square Garden (The Garden or MSG as its know locally)  to be anything special to be honest, i know its a legendary venue but the inside is actually a bit smaller than most arenas these days although i guess in its day it was the venue to play at and still is really.

The first show was great but a lot of mistakes both music wise and projection wise! It was great to see a show with my friend Jason who had flown over from the UK. We were 10th row on the left hand side but right on the aisle so close to the middle block. Jason was blown away by the show, i love seeing peoples reactions during the shows and after and hearing what they think about things. I looked over to Jason several times and his face was just sheer delight!

Panorama of MSG after the 1st show:

New York show 2………

The second show was a lot better than the first, the projections were spot on  the music was better(there were still a couple of mistakes though) and i was 3rd row right block on the aisle for the first half. For the second half  Kami and i went and sat stage right right next to the wall and about 4 rows back from the stage. The crew put a plastic line of tape down the side by these seats as its where the wall falls down and covers the seats. There were 6 seats on our row and then the line of tape, Kami was sat right next to the tape and i was in the seat next to her. Just before this start of the second half they moved the tape out two more seats which left 4 seats on our row and again kami was right up next to the tape.

Our seats for the second half of the show circled in red, click on the pic for larger view

 

Just before the second half started a couple of people sat in front of us, one was Rogers girlfriend and the other was the actor Jim Carey! I hadn't recognised him till Kami pointed him out, it was fun to see him rocking out and having fun and taking videos on his iphone!

Few pics from the show                                                                     Laurie and Jim Carey.

   

Instruments coming up from the stage:

Euipment rising at MSG

Seats at the side and front are a great place to see all the equipment rising up from the stage during the second half and the band walking on and off stage.

      

So now comes the time for the wall to come down! i said to Kami were a bit too close for comfort for me so we moved over to the left two seats. I love when they start moving the wall and making it like ripple all the way across if it gets a good ripple going then you know its gonna to be a great “wall fall” tonight was the best if seen, so much that two bricks where it started rippling were teetering on and off the wall! as you can see in the video below. As you can also see had Kami and I not moved over two seats kami would have been hit straight on the head by the falling bricks!! i know Jens would pay to have that happen to him but with Kami and her back I'm not sure she would have been too pleased!!

Wall rippling:

Kami in her seat next to the wall          The aftermath after the wall came down!
       
It was the best best “wall fall” I've seen, not only because of where our seats were but just the bricks balancing on and off the top and the whole tumble down was fantastic.

Buffalo show…….

I was looking forward to hearing what Bob and Andy though of the show after they had not seen the show since the first three so i was hoping for a great show and it was! on the rail for the first half and dead centre 13th row for the second half really it doesn't get any better than these positions for the sound and seeing the band up close! The sound was the best id heard it at any of the shows, it wasn't without fault though as there were a couple of times when the projections were out of focus or the wrong thing was projected.

Couple of Kami’s pictures from the show

   

The music was fantastic though i didn't spot a single mistake music wise. The guitar solo during Comfy Numb was unreal, never heard a solo like it. Kami swears blind it was because Dave was so excited to have met her and he was buzzing from hugging her, it was however a different reason that Dave explained to us is Washington DC! (see below)

There was one thing i noticed in Buffalo, i mentioned earlier that the bricks are getting a bit worn and a few marks etc but one brick in particular has what looks like a corner torn off it!! This must have been the brick that Jens sabotaged while he was here in the US!! lol

Hole in the wall                                            Must have been Jens’s brick!!

 

Washington DC show….

Dave came out front before the show to see us (ok i know i will get corrected on this if i don't say it, so really he came out to see kami,lol) I went and sat next to Mark and Beth while Kami and Jessie had a chat with Dave, Mark & Beth then went over to say hi to Dave and took a couple of pictures. Beth said Kim was up on the sides and wanted to get on to the floor but security wouldn't let her down, i went and found Kim and got her on to the floor, led her over to Dave and told him id brought another one over for his Harem ,lol I took a few pictures of the girls with Dave but by that time people had started seeing us chatting and started to ask questions. “who is this guy” i heard one woman ask as she walked past, another came up and asked him for a picture, he agreed and posed for a few seconds. It was then that a line started to form and we all just looked at each other and apologised  to Dave, he was fine about it and I'm sure really he enjoyed the attention, in fact i KNOW he did.

The girls and Dave                          Jessie and Dave                         Dave wearing Jessie’s sunglasses!

   

I mentioned to Dave that the Comfy Numb solo in Buffalo a couple of nights earlier was the best I'd ever heard him play, he agreed! He said he made a real mess of it in New York as he had been back stage and met Jim Carey, Scarlet Johansson, Liam Neason and it had totally thrown him off and i guess he was a bit star struck!! So the next show he put 110% into it and it obviously came across ! Now someone will come along after reading this post and try tell you otherwise! Don’t listen to her!! :)

As i left and said bye to Dave i was sat minding my own business waiting for the show to start and a guy came up to me and asked if i was the person who was seeing all the shows and doing a blog, i said yeh and he said it was great to meet me and was enjoying the blog, hope your reading this George and thanks for the kind words!

Mark and Beth were about 8th row centre and i was a couple of rows back from them on the aisle on the 10th row. This show was hugely different from any of the other though, not in a musical sense or show sense but in an atmosphere sense! there was no “buzz” before the show, there was no excitement coming from the crowd and this was confirmed when  even after Roger had walked onstage for the first time at the beginning of In The Flesh the whole crowd remained seated!! WTF!! its a rock show, its not opera!!!

Sitting down during the whole show for me just kills all the excitement, its just not the same and from what I've heard in the past from band members they sense this as well. I just don't get it, not just the sitting down thing i just don't understand why this happens! its the same show, just different city and different people, surely people cant be that much more relaxed  say a couple of hundred miles away from New York ? Ok well maybe New York's a bad comparison but you know what i mean, i just don't get why this happens. Anyway, i stood up when i thought i could and didn't get anyone asking me to sit down so the first half wasn't too bad after all. The sound was incredible, i heard the surround sound a lot more than i have at any other show, maybe i was just in the “sweet spot” but whatever it was it was great and i heard things at this show that i hadn't heard the same way before!

There were a couple of seats next to me free the whole first half so i went up and brought kami and her friend Jessie down to sit on the floor, Jessie was Kami’s friend who had driven in the day before and whom id met before at Nissan pavilion show in 2006. Ok so i wasn't gonna mention this at all but what the hell, Kami and Jessie have been asking me if i think Roger is “free balling”!! i have no inside information on this and it really doesn't bother me, however it seems to be a big deal with the girls and is yet an unanswered question! Maybe Dave can help you on this Kami ?!

The crowd were a lot more enthusiastic for the second half and stood for a lot of the show, i think the three of us sat down for maybe 3 or 4 tracks but stood for the rest of the show.Its so much better being with friends at the shows and standing next to people who appreciate the music and enjoy the show and actually get into it rather than just the “casual fan” who is there for some live music.

Also want to say hi to Laurie whom i met at the pre show meetup and then at the show itself, was great to meet you and your husband and chat, hope you get the message about where to find my blog and see this :)

Day in Buffalo….

Again this is a bit back to front so read the post before this before reading this one!

Didn't do a lot today during the day, did go and use the gym in the hotel though and did a 30 minute run on the treadmill while watching the Crazies zombie movie on the TV at 10am in the morning! went for a dip in the pool to cool off after as well. felt good to run off those wings from the night before!

Just chilled out in the room and watched some TV till early afternoon before heading over to the Mall for a look round a few stores, Kami bought a few things as she had a hot date tonight!! Id pulled a few strings and she was going to meet Dave K before the show and at intermission, she was pretty excited but obviously need a new outfit! i just hung out while she went shopping.

I got a call from my friend Tony around 4 to say he had arrived at the hotel, he had driven over from Rochester with Dawn whom id last met up with in Cleveland a week or so ago. He’d brought along a couple of friends too, Keith and his friend. the six of us headed over to a TGI’s a few miles from the hotel and had dinner together. Doesn't matter where we all go there's always Floyd/Roger references everywhere, Kami pointed out the Hendrix album cover on the wall next to our table and said “Hendrix perm” i then added “its obligatory”

Bob from Toronto called while we were there and we arrange to meet at the venue after we’d eaten. Dawn, Tony and the others headed back to their hotel but as Kami and i were ready to go we drove the 4 miles downtown to the venue.There very little (if not nothing) at all at the venue itself and we parked up in the parking lot and went inside to the will call window. It was around 6:45 and the doors to get inside the venue weren't open yet but we were fortunate we were able to get in before all the plebeians,lol

 

Bob called again and he had found a bar a couple of blocks away, he was gonna walk up to the venue and I'd meet him when he got inside, Tony and Dawn were gonna do the same. At 7pm the masses were let in and 10 minutes later i took Kami round the back to the Hospitality room to meet the band. I went to meet up with Dawn and Tony and spotted them as they walked through. Same with Bob and Andy,  Chris also called my cell phone and let me know where he was with his dad whom he was going to the show with.
Was great to see Chris again and meet his dad who was really looking forward to the show. ever so sorry we didn't have more time to meet up and chat but glad you both enjoyed the show.
Partying like a rock star Kami!
 

I watched the first half of the show from the front right on the rail, i just cant get enough of seeing the show from that rail! hearing the monitor speakers instead of the PA  just makes it so much better for me! At intermission i found Kami who was 13th row dead centre and we both headed back to the hospitality area. Was great to see Dave, we had chatted on facebook and text but it was the first time we’d met up so far on the tour. Dave and i share a love of a guitarist called Michael Schenker, we went to see the guy together in London last July and that was the last time we had hung out together. Dave's a great guy and a good friend and doing a fantastic job on the tour. There were very few people in the hospitality area, probably no more than 8 which is a HUGE difference from the 160 some that were packed into a room for 70 people the night before in NY!  Mark (Lennon) spotted me and came over to say hi and he and Kipp looked as though they were the only people who had friends there! With 7 minutes left till the second half we said our goodbyes and headed back out to our seats. Roger was talking to some guy about playing Golf the next day as we walked out.

I sat next to Kami for the second half of the show, I'll make another post about the shows but it was THE best version of Comfy Numb I've heard and there's a reason for that which ill explain in my show post.

After the show we had arranged to meet up with  everyone at the bar that Bob & Andy had found a  couple of blocks away. While walking over there we spotted a guy walking down the street carrying a full brick!! How the hell had he got it out?? but more importantly for Bob and Andy how much would he accept for it! The guy was pretty trashed and everyone was stopping him wanting their pictures taken with said brick. Andy caught up with the guy and offered him $300 for it! At first the guy seemed real interested but just carried on walking and it was clear he had no idea what was going on, what he had or where he was!! i bet he did the next morning though! not many people can say they have a full brick from the wall! We had a couple of drinks before Kami and i headed back to the hotel, we were both tired, I've no idea why you were Kami as all you;d done the day before was sleep all day! id driven 6 hours!

Dawn, Tony and the others were at the hotel when we got back and we all said our goodbyes as we were all leaving early the nest morning, we had an 8 hour drive to do down to DC!

New York to Buffalo….

This is a bit back to front as this is from 5 days ago when i left NY but am catching up.

So Mark, Beth and Kami (these guys deserve their own post on here and will get it soon:) had made the trip up to New York for both the shows from just outside Washington DC. The next show was Buffalo and then Washington DC after that. I was staying at Mark and Beth's for the night before and of the DC show. Kami and i have travelled round a lot over the years seeing shows together so it went without saying that she was more than welcome to come up to Buffalo with me in the car while her mom and dad went back to DC and we’d both then drive back down to DC after the Buffalo show.

I got a cab over to Penn Station at 10am and met Kami outside, We got the train from Penn station out to Newark Airport where id already arranged my rental car pick up.

View of NY from the airport.

Picked up the car, hit the Buffalo hotel in my tom-toms favourites and set off on the 6 hour drive up there. We stopped about an hour into the trip for something to drink and a snack and then did the drive without stopping till we hit Buffalo. Kami was asleep in the front seat within 30 minutes of us picking the car up and later got into the back seat and crashed out and i didn't see her again till we were in Buffalo!

Ha, this pic serves you right for sleeping all the way!

The drive up was nice, the weather was great and the fall colours on the trees were beautiful.Its real hard to get across the colours of the trees from the pictures.

    

We arrived in Buffalo around 6pm, went straight to the hotel and crashed out for an hour. For the last few days when id been telling everyone i was going to Buffalo they al told me i had to try the wings up there. I wasn't aware that Buffalo (chicken) wings originated from there!  When we arrived i called  Chris, a good friend of Laurens and arranged to meet up with him at the best wings place in Buffalo called Duffs.

We got to Duffs around 8:30 and Chris was waiting for us in the bar, Id never met Chris but Lauren had chatted to him for 4 or 5 years online and he was a real nice guy, just a normal down to earth guy:) Once he’d explained the menu system to us we ordered 30 wings in total plus a large fries to share between the 3 of us and an order of Mozzarella stick(but these never came) I don't like real hot and spicy food so we ordered 10 plain and 20 mild.

The before picture                             Chris and the famous wings              Kami and I and my first taste of Duffs
   

Chicken wings are around in the UK but they are nowhere near as popular as they are in the USA and there's certainly not the variety of sauces available on them that you can order in the US, you just get the wings with BBQ sauce of your lucky!

I have to say they were one the the best things I've eaten while over here! i know i keep saying this but they were, really! the meet just dropped off the bone and the coating was just right and crunchy plus they were hot (temperature wise) and the mild sauce we had ordered on the 20 was just right for me, just left you with a little tingle on your lips, not too hot at all.

The after picture,                            Chris and I                                    Duffs!!

Chris hadn't seen the show yet and we chatted as much as we could about it without giving away any spoilers. Kami kept us all entertained with her stories of being such a world traveller having spent 16 months in China in 2008/2009 and 12 months in Japan a couple of years before that.

After destroying the wings and most of the fries we were all full up and kinda glad the Mozzarella sticks hadn't come, although i bet Kami could have eaten them! She wanted dessert after but Duffs wasn't really the place for desserts, they had one mina thing on the menu and that was it! We said goodbye to Chris and said we ‘d  and made our way back to the hotel, I did offer to try find a place for dessert for Kami on the way back to the hotel but we ended up going straight back. I have a few friends arriving tomorrow so am looking forward to seeing them again, Bob and Andy are coming in from Toronto and they haven't seen the show since the first 3 shows so I'm looking forward to hearing from them how its changed and if they think things have got better!