New York 3rd show….

Headed over to the Local West bar around 5pm, met up with Matt, Wes, Franz and Jane, Couple of others joined us as the night went along and i was already getting De Ja Vu from meeting up here  only 4 weeks previous for the earlier New York show.

I love the Local West bar, unfortunately the bar loves me too and just wont let me go once i get in there! After having memories of been there several years ago and having slightly too much to drink i held back a little and took my time, didn't rush my Long Island Iced Tea’s and made sure i didn't go all out before the show!

Franz, Matt, Wes, Myself and Jane      Rick and i                                           Myself and Robert (such a great guy!)

   

Finally managed to meet up with my friend Rick whom had been a regular on the Roger Waters message board for over ten years and had been in touch by e mail before the show to arrange meeting up. Little did we both know the problems he would have getting into the show!

We hung out at the bar for a couple of hours before finally making our way over to the venue. It was great to be around so many friends at this show and i especially want to thank, Franz and Jane and John and Lesley for being such good friends. It was great to meet Ron's friend Robert and also to meet Kimberley and Valerie both whom had been following my blog and added me as a friend on facebook:)

Lesley and John                               Myself and Lesley                           Kimberley and Valerie

    

I was 12th row centre on the aisle for this show, my favourite place yet again however during In The Flesh i got a text from Rick to say he was downstairs and the tickets he had bought had turned out to be fake and could i help! i made my way down to the box office and after a few words with a few people was able to bring Rick and his friend up to the floor and help them out:) Glad you guys made it and hope you enjoyed the show!

Id missed a couple of things while trying to get Rick and his buddy into the show but when i got back i could see there had been problems with the schoolteacher puppet during Another Brick 2 as the teacher was still down and they were unable to retract it back, there was a roadie with a step ladder trying to sort the problem as the show went on. The venue was packed and totally sold out, the crowd were great they stood for the whole time and the atmosphere was far better than some of the shows the previous week where a lot of people remained seated!

 

The second half started and within minutes i was tapped on the shoulder by a girl and asked if i minded is she could stand next to me where there was a spare seat. Of course i said, she had a union jack T shirt on what else was a going to say:) I could tell she wasn't just a “general” fan as she knew every lyric to every track. We got talking between the tracks and it turned out she had driven down from Connecticut for the show, was a HUGE fan of the Wall album and had been introduced to her Floyd by here father.  After the wall came down (and in spectacular fashion!) we both made our way to the front rail and enjoyed Outside The Wall within feet of the stage and the band. Dave’s now taken to making a pose at me with his banjo after he sees me at the shows but i wasn't quick enough to take a picture,  I laughed and Jamie couldn't believe how close we were to the stage and seeing the smile on her face was just a perfect picture, i love seeing peoples reactions when they stand on the rail and the band come out after the wall comes down. After watching the band onstage under the red and coloured lighting and then seeing them come out after under the bright white lights they appear to be so much closer and look so much different!

Jamie and i after the wall falling

 

We chatted for a while after the show and i invited Jamie over to the Local West bar after to meet back up with Matt, Franz, Wes, Robert and the others. We had a great post show time, in fact tooo good a time and once again the Local West bar had dragged me in and wasn't letting go!

Brad, Wes, Jane, Matt, Franz, Robert and Jamie.               Jamie, your second glass of wine didn't go to waste! lol

     

   

We all had a fantastic time after the show, it was a great end to the NY shows and i know Matt, Wes, Franz and Jane were not be seeing any more shows and it was a great send off to the last show for them Honestly, i cant remember walking home or even getting back to the apartment, thanks to Brad for making sure i got back safe!

Jamie, it was fantastic to meet you and the way we met was made it even better! Its a shame about Philly but looking forward to you coming out to one of the other shows, keep reading the blog and keep in touch:)

 

More pics here:

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Sunday, New York to Philly….

So after a difficult day yesterday, the show at the garden and then a night at the Local West bar i woke feeling VERY hung over! (Will type up the pre show, show and post show details in another post)

Id arranged to pick up the rental car from the parking garage at 10am, i looked at my watch after waking and is said 9:15, ugggghhh i was late! fortunately the clocks had gone back the night before so it was only really 8:15am! nice!

I struggled out of bed, Brad and Julee had ordered breakfast and ordered me French toast with a huge container of syrup, this was exactly what i needed to soak up the remaining alcohol in my stomach! I then showered, packed, said goodbye to Brad, Julee and Milla and walked the couple of blocks to pick up the car.

I was driving down to Philly today, a short 2 hours drive compared to some of the trips id been doing. Getting through the Lincoln tunnel took nearly an hour! it was the New York marathon this morning and although id planned my route to avoid the East side of the city i think everyone else had done the same! once through the tunnel i got on the highway and traffic was great all the way till i hit within a mile of Philly.

Took me a good 45 minutes to drive one mile once i hit downtown Philly!! for some reason all the main highways into the city had been closed by cop cars parked across the freeway entrances. I finally made it to the hotel around 2pm, parked the car and went to check in.

Kami was on the Chinese bus up from Washington DC to Philly and would be getting in around 3pm, i was unable to check in till 3 so sat in the lobby and relaxed for a while. I got in the room around 3, unpacked and headed down the street  to meet up with Kami, her Chinese bus ride was an experience in itself by all accounts as I'll let Kami tell you below:

As an eternally impoverished college student, I’ve had to discover interesting ways to save money over the years—this has led me to reach lots of new lows. The Chinatown bus is one of them. For $14 one way, you can get from D.C. to Philadelphia, New York, or Boston in record times. I remember my first ride on the Chinese bus up to New York several years ago- it was crowded and loud and smelled like… well… China. The drivers barrel up and down 95’ reaching unprecedented speeds and changing lanes like a tiny sports car, stopping to spew people out at the next Chinatown (or anywhere else—if the diver feels like it). The D.C. office/waiting room is a tiny little cave in the basement of a townhouse in the heart of D.C,’s Chinatown about a block away from the Verizon center. I waiting there until the driver came and yelled at us, herding us into two unmarked busses—one for Philly and one for N.Y. I loaded my own luggage into the bottom and had to shuffle and nudge my way onto the bus—they’re first come, first serve. I also wanted to sit in the front of the bus, where it smells less, and it doesn’t bounce me as high when we go over bumps at 90mph. As we pulled out of D.C. the driver kept changing lanes solely to get up next to the other Chinese busses, role down the windows, and yell at them in Chinese. The busses now make pit stops out of Baltimore, and when we got there, the bus driver disappeared for about 5 minutes and just left the bus sitting on the side of the road. From Baltimore to Philly, we seriously made record time—if there had been no traffic, the trip would have been two and a half hours, even with a few random stops—as it was, it still took less than three hours. The last few miles of the journey, we flew into Philly going God-knows-how-fast—definitely faster than all of the cars we cut off—as the Chinese driver was screaming at some in Chinese over his radio. (Now they have Bluetooth pieces, but they used to have hand-held radios which they’d juggle in one hand as they drove.) I got there before Simon could even make the short walk from the hotel to the bus stop.
We celebrated with Chinese dumplings!

 

We ate at a small Chinese dumpling place when Andy arrived which was probably as near to genuine Chinese food as you can get in downtown Philly, Then headed back to the hotel, dropped Kami’s bags off and intended to go out and have a look around Philly. I was actually just coming around by this time, after driving to Philly with a hangover and going through the “I'm never going to drink again” phase. The food had done me good and kinda brought me round a bit but i was totally shattered so the three of us just hung out in the hotel lobby, chatted about stuff for a couple of hours and then headed up for an early night.

New York, Saturday…..

Not the best day since I've been out here in the USA, just a difficult day, probably best left at that to be honest.