St Louis show…..

After having dinner with Chris and heading into the venue Kami and i again both sat with Dave K, had a chat and i then left her to find my friend Chris and his dad. They were about 15th Row dead centre and Chris hadn't seen the show since Chicago, his dad and two friends hadn't seen the show at al yet so i was looking forward to hearing what they thought of it after.

I like Chris a lot, he's a great guy and we always have a laugh whenever we meet up, earlier tonight had been no exception when we were talking about tattoos and his Wal-Mart obsession! He asked earlier if i was able to get a picture of him, his dad and his friends with Dave K, i said id see what i could do and just before Dave went back to the dressing room to get ready for the show i was able to get the following:)

Chris and i at the show                               Bobs, John, Ted, Dave K and Chris

  

Kami and i were on the end of the 14th row,  the guy next to us actually gave us tickets for the seats!! he was a friend of one of the truck drivers and had being given four comp tickets to the show but there was only himself and his friend so he gave us the remaining two tickets  so we could sit in the middle of the row together! I was beside myself that someone whom we’d never met would do such a thing, i offered to buy them a beer but they were fine and politely turned the offer down. We chatted a bit before the show and  Kami and i agreed it was just Karma coming around and we had to do something to help someone to keep the karma going later on. When i met kami in Baltimore yesterday she told me she had been sat next to a girl whom had just broken up with her boyfriend and wasn't too secure with her travel plans in Chicago and wasn't sure where to go, Kami actually walked over from her terminal to terminal F with her to make sure she was ok with where she was going, She then walked all the way back to her terminal for her flight, that's Karma being returned i thought to myself :)

The show was great tonight, the band were tight the sound was good and the atmosphere was just how it should be. The crowd were up and down a touch early on but stood mainly for most of the show which i was glad about.

   

I headed back to have a quick chat with Chris at the intermission and then returned to my seat for the second half.

These are the random pictures i took from the flashing images on screen tonight, again they came out pretty well!

     

Dave Comfy Numb solo just doesn't falter now night after night, its hard to even pick a single flaw up in the shows from the last couple of weeks even!

The wall fall was pretty good tonight, Kami and i both felt the wave of wind brush past about 5 seconds after it fell, the crowd goes wild when they see the wall falls, I'm pretty sure even though most of the crowd are aware of the wall  music not many of them know about the production of the wall and how the wall actually comes down at the shows until it actually happens!n Its always great to watch peoples faces at this point in the show.

   

We stayed in our seats tonight for outside the wall but could still see the facial expressions of the band and were still able to see how much fin they had had and were having y the looks they gave each other.

After the show we made our way back to the hotel, we followed a guy dressed in Floyd clothes and wearing a plastic wall mask, it made me laugh seeing him just walking along as normal texting on his phone with not a care in the world! not only did we follow the guy back to our hotel where he was obviously staying ut noticed he was also staying on the same floor and corridor as us  and then in the room directly across!!

   

We headed to the bar  and Kami went to chat to her boyfriend on Skype for a while, most of the hotels I've been in have wireless in the room but the the hotels out in the Midwest don't seem to have great internet connections and the hotel in St Louis only had wireless in the hotel lobby which made things a touch difficult having to go down to the lobby to check things out on the laptop. Kami came back and joined Chris and the guys later on and ordered a tequila shot and a glass of ice water. I came back from the bar with what was the biggest shot I've ever seen, in fact I'm sure everything thought it was the glass of ice water there was that much of it!!               

Post Tequila shot!                                   The first Tequila shot!

 

Not content with one she ordered another but i think that was the max! I'm pretty sure drinking those two shots was the equivalent of like 6 regular shots! i had a couple of Long Islands which made a change! i hadn't had one for a few weeks, they weren't the best but they were ok. We all then called it a night, i said my goodbyes to Chris, Ted, John and Bobs and made my way up to bed.

St Louis show pics:

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St Paul show…..

 

So after driving  for 6 hours from Omaha we hit St Paul with only a couple of hours to spare before show time we checked in at the Super 8 (glad it was only one night there! ) wish i had taken a picture of the “inevitable pin hole burns” on the bed sheets! Headed out to the show which was a three mile drive back into the city, parked the car and walked over to the venue. It was a strange place, with corridors going from the parking lot to the venue but not many signs to actually show you which way to go or where the venue was! We arrived around ten minutes to seven and i was fortunate i didn't have to line up very long outside with the plebeians, unlike certain people!

Arriving in St Paul                                      Kami being a plebeian

  

The venue was another typical arena inside, kami went to have a chat with Dave K while i had a look round the venue and toll a few pictures of the place.

     

We were sat 13th row dead centre tonight and the quad sound was really noticeable in this venue and from this position, its strange how you can sit in  more or less the exact same seat night  after night but the quad can sound so different!! There were a few glitches tonight but nothing major, most of the show went without any hitch at all.

Tonight's plane crash was definitely the best so far on the tour with what looked like a double shot of flames as it crashed and a few of the bricks getting stuck on the plane as it went through the wall.

The kids that come on during “Another Brick” just get funnier and funnier in their action onstage. tonight's kids were all Asian, they were great!  about 4 of them broke out form the others during the track and did their own dance routine, they have really stepped the dancing part up  now and at each show the ids look like they are having the time of their life dancing around onstage and enjoying themselves. Roger comments after the track each night now that this part of the show is his favourite one!

 

For the first time i actually sat and read a lot of the fallen hero pictures and comments that appear on the wall during intermission, i have 4 friends all of whom have a fallen hero on the wall and tonight i wanted to catch the picture of my friend Greg's relative whom he had sent in on Rogers website. Took me a while to spot it but it eventually came up.

 

Again Roger is getting more and more into the fascist character onstage, not only with his machine gun but also what he’s saying and his actions. After “gunning down” most of the crowd tonight with his machine gun he pointed out to the crowd and said “ did i get anyone?”

Run like Hell just gets better and better, its really a huge highlight of the show and certainly gets everyone off their seats even if they have been seated for most of the show! one thing I've meant to mention is to watch the pig as they return to the back of the stage as Run Like Hell finishes, Sometimes they have problems getting it over the wall and this looks to be due to the air flow that around the top of the venue and that must change every night depending on the venue.Some nights just when it looks like the pig has gone back over the wall it comes flying back out due to hitting some flowing air, they then try turn it around and reverse it in but this doesn't always work and takes  a while to work out the best way to get it back! nothing special but just something i noticed and picked up on.

After the wall fell we made our way to the front of the stage to watch Outside the Wall being played close up. Tonight was funny though as when the band came out Roger tried to be clever on the trumpet and play a little different, it didn't work though and Snowy and Dave K just looked at each other in horror as Roger was trying real hard, they just burst out laughing as a few bum notes came though, Roger couldn't help but laugh as well when he lowered the trumpet from his mouth.

   

After the show we headed back to the car and drove back to the hotel, it was freezing cold outside the coldest place I've been so far on the tour, i was again  just glad we were only here for one night!

Neither of us had eaten much today but i wasn't too hungry. We went through the Taco Bell drive though just down the road from the hotel and i ordered some food and a water for Kami. I asked if they did water in my thick north Yorkshire accent but the guy just didn't understand what i was saying, after twice asking if they did “wartur” i then used my American accent and said “ Do you do Waaaater”  “ahhhh Waaater was his reply” he knew exactly what i was talking about now!

St Paul pictures:

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Omaha show…

 

Beth and Kami were sat half way back on the left side of the venue tonight, 3rd row raised off the floor. Sue and Mike were in the same section but nearer the stage and on the first row. I was floor 13th row dead centre on the aisle, my favourite place. Kami and i had a chat to Dave K  and i introduced a couple of my friends Mark and Rusty to him before going back to our seats. Before the show when we had dinner with Sue and Mike i gave them a rough outline of the wall, told them about Rogers angst, how he had built a wall around himself since the Montreal spitting incident and just a few pointers to watch out for and what the whole concept was about. I think this helped a lot when they came to watch the show!

My friends Mark and Rusty pre show          Mark and Rusty with Dave K

  

The first thing that was evident tonight was that the sound was going to be amazing! this was before a single note had been played! Usually when the pre show warm up music and talking comes through the speakers about 15 minutes before the start of the shows its actually quite hard to hear it over the noise of the crowd. Tonight was different though, you could hear every single word!! the clarity was crystal clear, i think this was due to a few things,  mainly the venue but also the quietness of the crowd when they started to hear the speaking, they were very respectful and actually listened to what was being said!

Kami and Brent the “homeless guy”

Sure enough when the band started the sound quality was amazing, definitely one of the best sounding venues id been to! The crowd were a bit hit and miss with standing and then seated and then standing again they couldn't make their mind up what they wanted to do! All the nuances were present tonight, the machine gun, Roger holding the mic out for the crowd to sing “thirteen channels of shit” etc etc

Tonight's plane crash

Omaha plane crash

 

I was also able to watch out for the shadow figure coming out and spray painting “ we don't need no education” on the wall as i knew this was coming now after seeing it for the first night at the Detroit show a couple of nights previous.

   

I took a few random pictures during the part where all different images flash on the screen for a split second and here's what i came out with! not too bad tonight.

     

There were several seats spare  on the floor tonight and specifically three or four next to me. At intermission i went up and brought Beth and kami down to the floor and we all sat together for the second half. I really enjoy seeing the show with friends, especially ones who are as passionate about the music as myself and both Beth and Kami are exactly that!

After the show we met up with Sue and Mike whom had loved the show and we made our way back to the restaurant we had had dinner at a couple of hours before. On the way “we” had to experience the slide that was in the park in downtown Omaha, this was a huge long stainless steel slide that you take a plastic bag and sit on it and go down the slide. I offered to take pictures and video of Kami first before going down it myself, however after seeing and hearing Kami grunt and scream i decided my back wouldn't be up to it and was happy just to have the thought in my head of going down it,lol

Kami on the slide

Mike, Sue, Kami and Beth, post show glow            The slide!!

 

We had a couple of drinks at the restaurant, talked about the show and all watched in horror as Kami ordered a shot of Tequila and got what was the biggest glass of Tequila I've ever seen, well until i wrote about he St Louis show! After a couple of drinks we headed back to the house in the minivan.

More Omaha pictures:

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The few posts below….

Sorry they are a bit back to front but you get the idea if you read the titles and then read them the way they should be read! Will try do a short review on the last 4 or 5 shows over the next day or two and especially on the Kansas City show from a couple of nights ago which was once again a great show.

St Louis to Kansas City…

Woke around 8am and had a workout,  i asked the concierge last night if they had any details about going up the arch and was given a pamphlet saying the times, directions etc We had to check out at noon so packed all the bags so we could go see the arch, head back and then checkout straight away.

We went for the buffet breakfast in the hotel at 9ish, i just wanted a bagel and Kami wanted some hash browns and bacon. By the time we had added it all up it was cheaper to do the buffet breakfast at $15 a head, however i commented to the server that it would be an expensive bagel for me and she said she would only charge us for one buffet and to help ourselves!

After breakfast we walked the mile or so to the arch. It was early Saturday morning and the roads were real quiet not only with people but cars as well. I have to say i was surprised how nice St Louis was, the building were beautiful all around the city, i would have loved to have stayed longer and  had a better look round but it was the KC show tonight so we had to leave around midday and make the 4 hour drive to at least be able to check in the hotel before the show tonight.

Few buildings in St Louis.
     
     

I was  real surprised just how big the St Louis arch was,i had no idea till we got to the bottom of it that it was that big!! (yes i know if i had a nickel,lol) Id seen pictures of it online and when we drove into the city yesterday but the sheer size doesn't hit you till your stood at the bottom, it was nigh on impossible to take any pictures and fir the whole arch in the pictures when you were closer than 1.4 mile away!

Stainless steel arch                         The arch                               Kami pretending to be roger During Comfy Numb!
   
     

We made our way down to the entrance to go up the arch. The entrance was like going through airport security with x-ray and metal detectors. I was fine is tripped off everything that was metal and went through without a problem. However Kami was special!! She has a few plates and screws in her back due to surgery a few years ago and depending on the sensitivity of the the metal detector depends on whether it goes off when Kami walks through! This one must have been sensitive as the noise sounded and she was asked to go to one side to be searched!

Kamis back X-ray from a few years ago!!

We bought a ticket to go up the arch but out trip times wasn't for another 45 minutes, it said on the ticket that the trip was approximately 45 minutes to an hour long, it was then i realised it was gonna be way after noon when we got back to the hotel so i made a cal back to them to check we were ok with our bags in the room till we got back, it was fine with them. There's a couple of gift shops, an exhibition and a couple of other things all underground where you go to get to the top of the arch. Today they also had a few tables set up and around them were the actual people that built the arch all those years ago! They were selling large posters for a $ each and you were able to walk round the tables and get them to sign them! Had i been able to get a cardboard postal tube i would have gone and got one signed however i didn't like the idea of carrying the poster round me till we found a tube so i didn't bother.

Arch exhibition, pictures from the building of the arch and kami in a replica of one of the sections.

   

I had no idea at all how they've got visitors to the top, id been thinking about it the day before and didn't know if they had a lift that went half way and you walk the rest of it there was like  just steps that you had to climb! When i finally saw how you get to the top i was amazed! I've never seen anything like it before, not even sure if there is any other lift type thing like it anywhere else in the world!!

We were given a number and told to walk down to the door with that number, it was then that i saw the size of the door! it was no bigger than 4 feet high and probably about 18 inches wide! i had no idea what to expect when the door opened and what i did see was certainly not what i expected!

     

When the door opened there were 4 people inside that had come back down from the top, the exited to their right and i was then able to see five small white seats inside a white pod type enclosure that must have been no bigger than 5 feet by 5 feet!! i had to duck my head when i went through the door and keep my head ducked down in the pod for the whole four minute trip to the top!

The 5 person pod!            Kami getting in the pod.

 

The ride to the top of the arch!

It was ingenious how it worked, each pod was on a roller type system and as it went upwards it also rolled backwards to keep the pod level i was loving watching out of the small window as were going up but the couple who were in the pod was us were  a touch worried to say the least!

Once at the top there were a couple of steps to walk up before you actually reached the middle of the arch at the top, obviously the floor was slanted as you walked up to the middle and once there  there was very little head height for someone as tall as me!

At the top of the arch

 

The lookout windows although very narrow and small were cool as it actually gave you not only a great look outwards but they were angled downwards so you laid down in front of them and looked down toward the bottom.

The windows from the ground below     And from the inside                            St Louis through the lookout window

   

Looking straight down below!                Arch shadow                                     Bottom of the arch

  

The ride back down only took 3 minutes but was just as cool as coming up. we were in pod 8 both coming up and going down but with different people.

Ready to go back down      Kami in the pod!                                     Back on the ground

   

I loved going up the arch and it was definitely a highlight on my trip so far. Its something i would most certainly recommend anyone does if they are ever in St Louis, i would go up it again in a heartbeat and spend a lot more time up there than we were able to due to time constraints.

Few more pictures from the arch and around St Louis.

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Panorama picture from the top of the arch.


I just love these pictures i took when we were back on the ground as well.
    

We headed back to the hotel and checked out around 1pm, we had a four hour drive ahead of us and Kami wanted to stop on the way at a mall to pick a couple of things up from the Lush store. we did this and then headed out towards Kansas City and got there around 5pm without stopping at all on the way.