November 20, 2003 - Upper Darby, PA
Welcome to the DECEMBER Tour! On The Road With MaggieMay... I love being on the road! SueC and I rouse slowly and spend the mornings in simple pleasures. We read the papers, check our email and drink coffee with Bailey's. sigh It's exactly how I spend my mornings back home in Indiana, except there I drink coffee with my Golden Retriever, Lucky. SueC's a LOT like Lucky - quiet, companionable and always in a good mood. Lucky however, has never figured out *how* I like my coffee! LOL In that regard, SueC is MUCH better. I was excited to read that P.D. James is in Philly this week and was giving a talk today at a local library. Unfortunately, her talk was scheduled for 8pm. sigh Choices, choices. The mysteries of Adam Dagliesh will have to remain just that. We retired to the hotel lounge so that I could get Wicomico out of my system and allow the poor hotel staff to finally service our room. They seem to get anxious about the amount of time we spend in our room! LOL I put our Salisbury ordeal on "paper" and left it behind us. Writing can be a cleansing experience; it allows you to deal with whatever issues you may have and emotionally move on. We've become dubious about MapQuest's ability to get us where we want to go and asked one of the hotel bellmen directions. I had thought we'd try the concierge, but she magically disappeared, probably ducking under her desk when she saw us coming. The drive through downtown was nice but the neighborhood gradually became more grim with every mile. I looked around us at one stoplight and said to SueC that if we were in Indy, I'd be afraid. She turned to me with a glare, and said I AM! We locked and relocked our car doors, and tried *not* to look like out of towners. It was rush hour and police here actually stand in the intersections managing traffic and do not approve of cars blocking the intersections. One policeman who had drawn intersection duty made it interesting for himself by DANCING in the intersection. He pointed at us when the light changed and then did an entire set of robot dance movements, receiving our applause which he acknowledged.  Our
directions were true and we soon were circling the Tower Theatre like vultures,
looking for a decent parking place. I saw the crew bus and the truck
next to the theatre and felt a happy surge of anticipation. SueC
picked out our parking place like selecting a nice pepper in the Kroger
produce section.
We headed to the Waterford Restaurant and Bar, remembering it from our last time at the Tower. Service was fast and we had finished before the mad rush before the concert. I looked over the fact that the elderly man who cleared chastised me for not finishing my rice pudding. We had scored a SWEET pair of front row center tickets from an old friend and were left with our first very decent pair. Hmmmm What to do! There was no way I was going to try to sell them in front of the venue. I did not want to go through our Youngstown experience again. Hearing ONE promoter's problems was enough for one tour. It was a lot like hearing a very thin woman bitterly complain about how HARD it is to find nice clothes in a size 2. Hey, cry me a river! It just breaks my heart that those backstage passes leave residue on your jacket. We had to find a good home for those seats. SueC and I walked over to the Tower with that project in our minds and with no good idea how to carry it out. We were distracted by security demanding cameras. (Me? A camera? What?) As we made our way in, I poked SueC in the ribs and reminded her of our problem. It's not that I mind seatjumpers, having done it ourselves a few times (and ONLY a few), but we wanted to give someone an unexpected thrill. I looked around the lobby in confusion and found our Grand Prize Winners. LOL Giving stuff away, especially great stuff, is hard! We walked up to an older couple and I asked them politely where their tickets were located, and would they like to sit up close. They didn't BELIEVE me! LOL I started thinking, Boy, I'm never going to try *this* stunt again when it dawned on them that we were serious, we were sincere, and we were really offering them two second row center seats. Trudie and Pat were GREAT people, big fans and think that Justin Hayward is the most polite, DARLING and dear gentleman in the whole world - the result of a chance elevator encounter in Atlantic City some years ago. Ah! That Hayward charm! ; ) I only hope they think as well of me and SueC!  THE
VENUE
The Tower Theatre is run down and unimpressive, both outside and inside. Still the marquee shines brightly and it was good enough for The Rolling Stones. LOL It reflects the appearance of the entire neighborhood surrounding it; an aura that can only be described as "dingy". SueC's comment on the interior was "Try vacuuming"! LOL Well-used might be a better way to describe it. The floor is divided into 4 sections, the left numbered even, the right, odd. The balcony is straight back with little overhang, no boxes. No center lighting fixture, but Mick lit it up before the concert, making things look more festive. The area flanking the stage was decorated with a white and gold box design. The most striking feature in the place (and the use of the word "striking" is a charitable stretch) are the large gold columns on either side of the stage, followed by a procession of ten columns from front to back. I later asked SueC if the columns were Ionic or Doric (hey, she had a 50% chance!) and her reply was: WHAT columns??? LOL!!! The stage was on the small side and something about the arrangement forced The Band to enter and exit on the Nordaside rather than their usual habit of stage left. It was a comfortable waist high (40 inches to be exact) and painted red on the front. I LOVE small stages! Heheheh The mikes were about 4 feet from the edge of the stage, and the distance from my seat (three from center) was around four feet. The front row curved slightly so that the center seats were the farthest away from the stage. It was very close, but also a great view. The Tower uses nice chairs with arms in their temporary pit. For ONCE, I could reply "yes" to Justin's question. The speakers were someone else's problem tonight! LOL Two big boxes were on stage on either side, with a flying set of 2x3 overhead above them. Two front fill speakers on either side were also used at the Tower. The sound at my seat was very nice, not distorted, but loud enough to require ear plugs for the rockers. A theatre employee told me the Tower sat 3000, but I didn't get a number for ticket sales. It looked pretty full, though prolly not a sell-out. It was a great crowd, very appreciative, moderately standing. Security was lax about cameras, but it didn't seem to be abused. I'll have to check online for that. LOL No guards were posted in the center aisle or in front of the stage. That's a big mistake on the east coast! There was a rush of Flower Girls down the center aisle after NIghts that would have probably scared a big guy half to death. THE FASHION REPORT JL - Black long-slvd bib/ruffle shirt, leathers, boots 2nd half black tank top with white long-slvd overshirt JH - Black, plain long-slvd shirt, black jeans (I think), shoes 2nd half Drops of Blood shirt, tux pants GE - Santa World Tour shirt, black slacks 2nd half red Ho Ho shirt Norda - Black strapless brocade top, ruffled skirt, boots, no change at half Bernie - Black long-slvd top, black slacks, no change at half Paul - White long-slvd shirt with tan stripes Gordon - White dragon tshirt 2nd half THE CONCERT What goes down, *must* go up and the Tower offering painted a much brighter picture than was seen at Wicomico, which was dutiful but uninspired. There's nothing like a full house to pop up performers on stage! : ) The Holiday setlist was performed with a 20 minute intermission. Some concert notes...  It
was another smooth start for TMB and a nice rendition of LtSY. There
were no train wrecks in Gemini Dream and it actually sounded like the recorded
version. Lots of lyrics in THIS one! HAHA LoM has been
a standout lately and it was tonight. The first half was uniformly
excellent. Great energy, great vocals from everybody. I was
back in front of JL's new Ampegs and really noticed the terrific bass in
TSIYE. I don't think JL has ever gotten the proper recognition as
a GIFTED bass player. It's a sad truth in life that the lead guitarist
gets the girls AND most of the recognition. JL's too good to ignore!
The Voice came out rocking and I reached in my pocket for my ear plugs. Great version of a great song. While the concert as a whole was excellent, I thought the DECEMBER cuts were outstanding. Why? Because Justin Hayward rips up the stage on DNaR and December Snow. He is at his absolute best on those two songs, rockin' out on Reindeer and playing and singing with an almost frightening passion that can be felt in the surrounding states on December Snow. Wow! Somebody turned on the house current in the second half and fed the entire thing through Big Red. It is absolutely awesome to watch him in the second half. Riveting! GLORIOUS!!! Absolutely, FULL of joy! John steps right up with The Spirit of Christmas with a gripping performance that is Powerful. Power and Passion: it's ALL up there. It's one of the most uplifting things I've ever experienced. December Snow got a HUGE ovation at the Tower Theatre. The recognition of a masterpiece. Graeme showed his stuff on H&H, looking great and completely recovered from whatever. "Clear of Misty Shroud"? HAHA I love the way Graeme laughs and says I don't know it, and doesn't miss a beat. Graeme's dance across the stage has every eye on him as he moves from rock 'n roll to Riverdance to rapper with a style that can't be matched by anyone. I'm laughing while I'm dancing! The ovation was deafening and extended and was followed by a SECOND ovation for Mr Edge.  AYSC
was lovely, and Singer was well done tonight. Nights and Question
went well, but SeeSaw saw another mangled start. I know it's JL's
song, but um...shouldn't he TELL the other band members that he's not going
to count off anymore? Those drummers might pack some rotten tomatoes
one night and start pelting him if he keeps that up! LOLOLOL
I go with outstanding, SueC with excellent, but we're together on one thing. It was damn good! MaggieMay Higher and higher, Now we've learned to play with fire, We go higher, and higher, and HIGHER! Photos courtesy of SueC |
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