Charlotte, North Carolina…

As i said in my last post, my friend Greg was going to tonight's show in Charlotte and lives and works half way between Raleigh and Charlotte so we arrange to pick him up at 2pm and then carry on driving to the venue for tonight's show. We’d bumped into my friend Hassan’s brother Amin last night at the show and chatted for a while at intermission, he later sent me an e mail lrecommending a bakery to go to for breakfast just outside Durham. I googled it and it was on the way to Greg’s place so Kami and i headed over the for breakfast and arrived at 10:30ish.

It was an artsy type place, full of young people drinking coffee and eating cakes while sitting on their laptops.

  

 

After breakfast we hit the road to Gregs place and arrived around 1:30

Greg had a party for Col, his wife and a few friends a couple of weeks ago at his place of work. The whole warehouse was done out like a live music venue! Lasers, smoke machines, couches etc plus a wet bar and a full set up of band instruments and stage! Greg sings in a band part time and him and the band put on a show at the party which by all accounts went down a storm! Kami went to freshen up in the bathroom and came back out to ask Greg if he had a pair of tweezers. Greg’s business is staples and fasteners, the whole warehouse was as you would expect….. a warehouse with racking, stock, forklift truck etc, Greg turned to Kami and with the straightest face just replied “no, but i have a pair of needle nose pliers” kami took these off to the bathroom and returned triumphantly showing me what appeared to be a single hair that the “tweezers” had removed!! (i didn't ask where from!)

The drive to Charlotte was about an hour and a half, traffic was good and the rain held off till we got there. My friend Ron was leaving his school at 4pm and would be there for 6:30 i also had another friend Dianna who would be at the show and she and her friends were taking a limo to the gig and offered us a ride, one we declined though as the bar we were meeting in was a stones throw from the venue.

Greg wanted to try meet Roger and get his wall album signed, i said the best bet would be to wait outside the hotel as he usually always signs things for people that wait. We parked the car at 4pm and the band were leaving their hotel at 4:30 so Greg wandered over to the hotel while Kami and i went up Connolleys, the Irish Bar id arrange to meet friends in.

Greg meeting Roger                              Greg with his signed Wall album.

 

After having a bite to eat, my friend Ron arrived, was great to finally meet face to face and we chatted for an hour before Kami, Ron and i walking down to the venue. Dianna was stuck in traffic in the limo and i said I’d see her inside. Greg held back to have another couple of beers and Stuart, John and Tommy would also see us inside the venue.

Tonight's venue was another basketball arena, slightly bigger that last nights in Raleigh but even so, the wall looked so short and small compared to what we had been used to seeing in the outdoor stadiums. We hung around on the floor for a while chatting and i pointed a few things out to Ron. He hadn't seen Roger since the 2000 In The Flesh show and i knew he was in for a huge surprise compared to how small scale shows those were. The three of us were 13th row centre on the aisle, John and Stuart were front row in front of Dave and Tommy and Greg were the left block a few rows back.

Guy outside the venue                                                                              

     

                                   Ron and i at the show                           and at the bar post show

     

I saw my friend Dianna for 5 minutes before the show started, we hadn’t seen each other since she came to the Dark Side shows in VA in 2006, she and her friends were 3rd row dead centre and were also in for a shock as she hadn’t seen the wall in 2010 so this was her first time. We also bumped into Angelique, the girl dressed as Vera Lynn, had a nice chat with her. She also came over at intermission and pointed out that her boyfriend had spotted Rogers face “in” the wall !! A friend has also just yesterday sent me another picture with what appear to be more faces, see below and make your own mind up.

Anyway, make your own minds up as to what you see!

The shows itself was great, i got a lot of fun watching Ron’s face as he was stood next to us, the gig was loud but not as loud as last night in Raleigh.

After the show Kami, Greg, Ron and i headed back to the bar for a quick drink before saying goodbye to Ron and the three of us starting the drive back to DC. We dropped Greg off around 1am and Kami and i arrived at our hotel just outside Raleigh around 2:45am.