Monday, March 19, 2012
Show 7 Buenos Aires
Christian and I at the show:
At the start of the show it was instantly obvious that something was different. There were lights all around the stadium, especially at the sides and front, similar to how it was in Athens, Greece. They were filming the show and had to light up the audience. As I said in an earlier post, it’s so much darker in stadium venues when they turn all the lights off. It has a great effect. To be honest, the lights at the sides were a little too distracting for me.
Stadium lighting around the edge of the venue
The lighting changed colour from blue to white to red to orange depending on the onstage lighting. It also pulsed to the music—more so on Run Like Hell. You can see what I mean in the video further down in this post.
The show was what we have come to expect—fantastic. We were 19th row centre, and the row in front was full of vets, all of whom went to meet Roger at the intermission.
Robbie's wife Victoria was on the end of that row, and we had been chatting for the last few days about how the crowd weren't standing up at the shows. Tonight was no exception. She wasn't having any of it, though, and stood up several times. She even did a meerkat move where she stood up among the seated masses, looked left and right, then sat back down. You had to be there to appreciate how funny this was.
Victoria rocking out at the show.
The crowd did stand a bit more than previous nights in that they didn't automatically sit down after Comfy Numb and Run Like Hell. It was nothing like the shows in the US or Europe, though. I think the problem is that most of the seats on the floor are way too expensive for people in Buenos Aires, and the “real” fans are all in the cheaper seats up around the first and second tiers, which are all usually standing throughout the show. I can’t wait for the last night when it’s all standing on the floor. I think it’ll be a totally different show altogether, energy wise!
Roger once again missed the first few words in some of the lines on Nobody Home. I'm not sure if his mic was off or wasn't faded up, but Marcelo commented on it, too, yesterday when we were having lunch. He said he had noticed it at a few of the shows. One thing I do miss a little is the ad lib things that Roger would do in the middle of In The Flesh Pt. 2. It is all far too scripted now due to the video they use on the end of the wall. He has to stick to what he’s said and done in the film—sometimes he even forgets to say anything at all! These are only little things, and obviously only things that people who have seen several shows would notice. To the general public—they won’t know any different!
There's a great shot of Roger’s machine gun half way through In The Flesh Pt. 2. Just as he picks the gun up and before he starts shooting they show a close up of the gun on the sides of the wall. It’s only up for a second, so it took me a few shows to be able to catch the image below.
Machine gun video on the side of wall Big screen Roger
Lights during Run Like Hell
The second half seems to just fly by now, and before we know it, Roger’s onstage doing The Trial! One thing I have to express again is that the sound at these stadium shows really is incredible. For anyone worrying about what it will sound like outdoors, all I can say is you are going to be blown away—not only by the sound, but also by the surround sound. It works very well outdoors. Anyone that has only got a ticket for an arena show in the US is going to miss out on the surround sound. It’s just not the same at all, and I would urge anyone in a heartbeat to try to get to one for the stadium shows.
One thing that looks great with the filming lights around the stadium is the beginning of Is There Anybody Out There. They use the lights around the top of the stadium to shine small spotlights down on the crowd. Again, this is something you wont see if you are just doing an arena show.
Lights at the beginning of ITAOT
At intermission there was a cool looking young kid (with a red Mowhawk) called Jack,he was backstage and Graham had given him a paid of drumsticks, he was sitting a few seats along for Kami and i was using the drumsticks all night and having a fantastic time at the show! I have to say we have both seen a lot of younger kids at these shows and it seems to be a whole family outing for some people, a lot more than it is in the US or Europe and all the kids seem to be having a fantastic time.
Jack clapping during Run Like Hell
As the wall started to come down, we looked behind and could see the spotlight on the pig and the crowd starting to tear it to bits. Kami said she wanted to do this tomorrow night, and as you read earlier, she did!
After the wall fall, we made our way to the front to see the guys close up as they did a little bit of Ole, Ole Ole and then played Outside The Wall as they left the stage. Graham was having some sound problems with his mandolin, but apart from that, the performance was totally faultless--except Roger missing a couple of words in Nobody Home and one tiny timing issue with Dave K. during Comfy Numb where he missed a note. I think only people like us may have noticed those things, though.
Graham having problems
Thank you!
After each show, the second the band have left the stage, Kami and I have plowed our way out of the stadium and hustled the 1/4 mile or so to get a taxi. This has worked great, with the exception of the 3rd night—we couldn't get a taxi at all and walked towards the apartment for at least an hour before we found a bus to take us the rest of the way. One thing that is still cheap in Buenos Aires is taxi fare. Well, it’s not cheap compared to the bus, but it’s a good value. The venue is about 7 miles from our apartment, and a taxi ride home costs about 40 pesos, which is approximately $7 US. The bus only costs 1.20 pesos, or approximately 25 US cents, but it’s not direct and there’s more waiting and walking involved. We got back after the show and made it to La Fabrica del Taco, had dinner around 1 A.M. and got back to the apartment to sleep around 2:30 A.M.
Full album of pictures below including sound check, backstage, and the show itself.
P.S. Just a note I've remembered from the show last night (show 8) was that they have added a new graphic during Waiting for the Worms—the words TRUST US in HUGE letters are projected at each end of the wall. It’s just another sign that the show is still changing and that little tweaks are constantly added here and there! I will try grab a picture of it tonight, as it does look good and works well.
Day 13……
I had a message from Alex a couple of days ago asking if we wanted to meet up for lunch or dinner sometime over the next couple of days. Kami and I were going back to the San Telmo street market today (Sunday), so I suggested we meet up in the afternoon for lunch. We also invited Marcelo and his girlfriend (well, fiancé now, as he proposed to her at intermission at the show on Saturday!)
Congratulation to you both.
We took the 93 bus to San Telmo around 10:30 and started shopping. We picked up a few things on the street before, sure enough, we bumped into Marky Lennon, had a quick chat, then moved along. I still cant believe that even in a city this big we bump into band members, crew, and people we know all the time! We took some time wandering around one of the huge indoor markets in San Telmo, too. This had everything from fruit and veg vendors and butchers’ shops to antiques and collectors stores. We also bumped into Pat Lennon and then Robbie and Victoria. We also ran into Rogers daughter India and Harrys wife Rochelle a couple of times as we were wandering around the market stalls.
At 1 P.M. we made our way to La Brigada. This was the restaurant where Kami and I ate half a cow a few days ago! We met up with Marcelo and his fiancé, and 2 minutes later, Alex arrived. We found a small, outdoor cafe and sat for an hour chatting before noticing it was a “gay” restaurant and had a good laugh about how oblivious we were. The lemonade was awesome! We took the bus over to La Boca again for lunch.
We found an outdoor restaurant and had lunch/dinner outside under the shade of the canvas umbrellas, chatted, and people watched while a couple from the restaurant performed a tango show.
Tango dance entertainment at the restaurant
After wandering around La Boca for 20 minutes, it was already after 5 P.M., and we headed to get the bus. Kami and I had to pick up our tickets and go back to the apartment before heading out to the show. Marcelo took the bus directly to the stadium, and Alex was feeling the effect of the wine, the lunch, and the sun, so he headed back home for a nap.
It was fantastic to see you guys (and gal) again, and Kami and I really enjoyed your company. We can’t thank you enough for your hospitality and showing us around your amazing city. We’re both looking forward to hanging out again at Harry’s show.
Day 12
We had a bit of a lazy morning and headed out of the apartment around 2 P.M. Robbie Wyckoff’s wife, Victoria, had flown in from LA yesterday, and Kami and I became good friends with her last year. We’d arranged to meet up with her at 3 P.M. for drinks before heading out to tonight's show. Robbie had a radio interview at 3, and Dave K. had one, too, but would join us after. Pat, Marky, and Kip also had interviews, but said they would catch up with us at some point.
Kami and I headed over to the Four Seasons hotel around 2:30 and met up with Victoria and had afternoon tea and lunch. It was great to see her again, and we were all looking forward to seeing the show. We chatted for a couple of hours before she headed upstairs to get ready.
Lunch and tea Kami writing postcards Empanadas were amazing!
Robbie and the guys came over to have a quick chat with us. Marky asked me if I was going to the show tonight, and Jon replied, “Is the Pope Catholic?” The guys headed up to get changed and ready, and Dave came over to join us for half and hour. The band were leaving at 5 P.M. I had a bag with me, and I needed to go back to the apartment to get changed and pick up some things, but I left Kami to go to the stadium in the van with the band and said I'd meet her at the venue. I laughed as I said goodbye and waved at her--Dave, Jon Carin, Victoria, Snowy, and the others got in the van, and I realised I was letting my girlfriend get in a van with blacked out windows with a guy who had the bag in the picture below! Would I ever see Kami again ? Would she run away with the band? Who knows!
Dave's bag, (Dave's nickname is Killer!)
Below are a few pictures from the sound check and as you can see, there was a film crew tonight filming some of the sound check and testing the angles for the coming nights show where a full film crew would be in the stadium!
An empty stadium Seats waiting to be filled! Roger
Sound Check Film crew Empty Spaces!
10 minutes before show time! Are all these your guitars ? Roger stage chair!
I met up with Christian and Angelica at the show whom we had seen at the show before. I chatted with them for an hour or so--ever such nice people, and I'm so glad we got to meet you both. We’re looking forward to seeing you on Monday! Kami came out just before show time, and we took our seats, which were 19th row dead centre. We sat and sang the 6 pre-show songs as we do before all the shows.
Day 11…
I have to say that we have done a LOT of walking the past 10 days. It really is the best way to see Buenos Aires. The buses are great for getting around but usually packed, and if you don't get a seat, you don't see much at all, as you’re really only concentrating on not falling over and keeping your place! When you have so many shows in such a short time frame and a new country and city that you've never seen before, it really takes it out of you! We haven't been having dinner till 1 A.M., and by the time we get to sleep it’s past 2:30 A.M. We were waking up at 9 A.M. the first few days and out at 10.
We didn't leave the apartment till 3 P.M. today. We just chilled out, as it was a free day with no show. In other cities, everywhere would be closing up in a couple of hours, but a lot of the stores here don't even open till 1 in the afternoon and close at 1 A.M., so it didn't really shorten our day at all.
The 2nd day we were here, Kami and I walked past a really nice cafe that did afternoon tea with sandwiches, cakes, etc. We both enjoy going to tea. We didn't, however, make a note of what street it was on. Ever since we’ve been trying to find it with very little luck! Today we set out to find it, but failed. The area of Palermo Soho is in a grid. There are about 11 streets widthwise by 15 streets lengthwise. We said we would walk one street then the next and the next, but after three, we gave in and found a place to have “lunch.” Neither of us were really hungry, so we just stopped by the cup cake store that we saw earlier in the week.
My lunch Kami’s lunch What Kami really wanted!
We then decided to catch the same bus we caught the other day—the 168—and head out to find the shopping centre that had the huge screaming face mural on display. I couldn’t remember what the shopping centre was called, but the day before we saw a shopping centre with lots of screaming face banners around it and thought it would be worth a try going there.
Our luck paid off, and as we entered the centre, I showed the guy behind the information stand a picture on my camera of the face and asked him if it was in here. “Up one floor and turn right,” he said.
It looked really cool and was set up in front of the indoor cinema in the mall. I'm not sure how many of the people who stopped to have their picture taken with it knew what it was, but I'm sure most must have seen the promo posters and pictures on TV, in magazines, and everywhere else--it really is everywhere here in Buenos Aires. We sat and had a drink in the cafe opposite the display, and Kami continued writing her postcards.
We tried to find a post office to get some stamps, but gave up after asking a few people who had no idea at all what we were talking about! We carried on walking down the bus route, then turned right as the bus had done the previous day. This was the street we’d observed full of locals selling anything you can think of! I’m not sure how the guy selling just colouring books and monkeys goes on, but you are definitely in a very unique market place for those!
Video of waking down the main market street
We walked for half an hour down one side before crossing over and walking back along the other side. As good as we have been at getting around on the buses, I've been forgetting to look at how to get back. As most of the streets here are one way, too, it’s kind of difficult to work out which streets which buses go down to get back where we started from.
Strange building with vinyl records for a window! Local bus station
I looked at the map, and neither of us were tired, so we decided to walk back to the apartment. It took us a good hour of walking, but it was great to wander around streets and not know what to expect down them! We got back to Palermo around 9:30 P.M., went straight back to the apartment, chilled out for a couple of hours, and then went out for dinner. Originally we were going to go to the Mexican taco place we went on our 1st or 2nd night—La Fabrica del Taco—but there was a line and a wait time of about 30 minutes and we chose another restaurant nearby.
Full album from today:
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