May 27, 2004 - Kansas City, MO
WELCOME TO THE SUMMER TOUR 2004! The Denver concert left us nicely satisfied and we walked out of the venue thinking about Monaco in August. ; ) The three of us spent the rest of the evening drinking Bailey's and coffee, telling stories and laughing. Evenings like that are the real fun on the road for me! SueC and I closed the bar, then trotted off to bed, dead tired. We weren't through with Colorado yet and still had some exploring in mind.  SueC
found herself in charge of all optional excursions and since she was doing
the driving, I suggested that she pick our Wednesday destination.
She had some kind of odd fascination with Pike's Peak and I wondered if
it might be do to a past life flashback. I pictured little SueC in
a long brown homespun dress, face protected from the blazing sun by her
bonnet, carrying a baby on one hip with two clinging to her apron and holding
a Winchester ready as she watched from her Conestoga wagon out on the western
trail. I'd say that pretty much describes her today! LOLOLOL
We didn't go to Pike's Peak, instead we drove to Breckenridge. :
)
The hotel concierge was a goober - never answering his phone, never returning our calls and dealing with a line of people when we went down to confront him. I'd say they need TWO conciergi. We set off amid fond waves from all the bellmen and with plenty of maps and directions to one of the prettiest places in the world. I would be seriously tempted to take up skiing if I could walk and chew gum at the same time. We whipped out of Denver, running away from concrete and traffic and within a few miles were in what has to be one of the most beautiful areas of America. I didn't realize that Denver is more the gateway to the Rockies than among the Rockies itself. We pressed on toward the mountains, seeing them in the distance still wearing their covering of snow. I tried to get SueC to stop and let me pay my respects at Buffalo Bill's grave. She wouldn't. She was behind the wheel and had undergone that disturbing personality change, transforming her into The Driver. There was no stopping her now!  We
were soon surrounded on both sides by conifer-covered mountains rising
steeply and majestically. I found myself thinking about continental
plate shifts (I think about things like that) when I noticed a truck warning
sign describing a 6% grade. 6% doesn't sound like very much, but
I looked around me and saw that we were hurtling downward at what seemed
like 100 mph. Trucks were grinding their gears down for the slope
and I hoped they all were, as the runaway truck ramps that ran right up
the mountain came into view. Going down worked well for us, but the
little PT Cruiser didn't seem to want to go back up the mountain.
SueC grimly put the pedal on the floor to "encourage" it. While the
scenery on the interstate was lovely, the view off the main road was spectacular.
It was a gorgeous tree-lined lane to Breckenridge (a famous skiing resort
town) with towering mountains and beautiful lakes. We found ourselves
on the main street of a marvelously quaint village that could easily win
the title "Cutest Town in America". We drove up and down the main
street, out into a residential area of gorgeous Alpine homes and thru a
number of tasteful condos, all the while admiring the gorgeous backdrop
of snow-covered mountains. WOW!!!
 SueC
circled the little town until we had picked the PERFECT restaurant for
lunch: one with a deck with a view. Poor Sue was horrified to see
that it was a seafood restaurant, and SueC does NOT do seafood, much to
my personal regret and frequent inconvenience. Still, it was the
only one with an outdoor deck and few were open in the off season anyway.
I tried to convince her that they would most probably have other offerings
and though miffed, she agreed to give it a go. We opened the car
doors, got out and almost collapsed! It was at that moment that we
realized that there is NO oxygen at 11,000 feet. None at all!!!
 Only
the sign "Bubba Gump's Shrimp Company" and the hope of a nice shrimp Po
Boy got me across the street. I was dying! We stumbled in to
the entrance and were warmly greeted by the hostess. Could we sit
outside? Oh certainly, she said and she gave a meaningful glance
to the staircase behind her. Arrrrgh! Stairs??? Luckily,
they were narrow enough that you could pull yourself up with a hand on
either side. We stumbled through the upstairs bar and lunged through
the door, throwing ourselves onto the chairs, chests heaving and not in
a *good* way. As I took one more long gasp I looked up at a truly
memorable, truly spectacular view. Ahhhhhhhhhh!
 SueC
felt much better after diving into a plate of fried chicken, mashed potatoes
and gravy and I scored an excellent shrimp Po Boy. The pinnacle of
culinary achievement at Bubba Gumps (where Forest Gump runs forever on
the viewscreen behind the bar) are their Hush Pups. Cornmeal has
reached new heights in Breckenridge. After one bite, SueC and I were
high-fiving across the table. Perhaps it was the view, perhaps it
was the remoulade, perhaps we had been severely affected by the high altitude,
whatever - they were delicious. SueC was showing some worrisome signs.
She ordered a very bizarre smoothie called Sweet Home Alabama, a combination
of yogurt, chocolate syrup and PEANUT BUTTER. Yech! I really
got concerned when she ordered a second one to go.
 Off
season is the time to be in Breckenridge. There's no snow, except
on the mountains, and no crowds. Just remember, there's no AIR either!
I didn't want to be riding in a PT Cruiser wildly careening up and down the mountains in the dark, so after saying our goodbyes to the Manager, the Assistant Manager and the three waiters that served us (it was a VERY slow day at Bubba Gump’s), we crawled to the car. I'm sure the scenery was just as incredibly beautiful on the drive back to Denver, but after I stopped gasping, I fell asleep. It was another great Colorado day! We had to leave for the airport fairly early (early for me is anytime before extended checkout) but I found out later from an Unnamed Source that after we left the hotel, the hot water was turned off. I'm sure that a nice COLD shower was well...invigorating, and I'm just sorry I missed it. Our flight was delayed, but otherwise fine, until we reached our destination. Apparently Kansas City airport employees were hand-carrying our luggage from the plane to the carousel, pausing now and then to play a hand of cards. I went outside to wait and discovered that the partly sunny weather predicted by AOL was, instead, a huge and violent rain storm. It's amazing how things can just go south on you when you least expect it. sigh Our time cushion was melting away as we waited and waited on the bags. We reached the car rental office as the clouds burst and joined the rush hour traffic, moving along at a crawl. There are some darn strange businesses in KC! We passed one building off the highway with a giant steer in front of it and a huge sign saying Charolais. You just don't see that every day! THE VENUE Our directions were good, but even though Swope Parkway is a wide, tree-lined boulevard, we couldn't help but notice the generally run down appearance of the neighborhood. Ah yes! We were once again in the slums. That's always a comforting realization for a pair of gals from out of town.  Starlight
Theatre is part of a large and attractive park. Even though we were
rather early, ladies in ponchos smilingly directed us to nearby parking.
A short uphill walk took us to a side entrance to the outdoor theatre.
What a cute place! We entered near the top of the mid sized ampthitheatre
and I immediately thought of a brick style Red Rocks. The stage was
part of a large brick structure that towered overhead and had substantial
looking wings on either side. The ends of the *wings* were topped
by verdigris turrets (they really needed some flags waving from them).
Brick columns surrounded the seating. Though the theatre seated 8000,
the columns gave it an intimate feel. Restrooms were very convenient
at the side, halfway up the rather sharply angled seats. It was at
least a 6% grade! LOL It was a VERY attractive place.
The only unfortunate aspect of Starlight Theatre was the large uncovered pit in front of the stage. Front row was a pretty fer piece from any Moody! At dead center, I was at least 13 feet from Mr Hayward's microphone stand. <shrug> Worse, the pit was deep and anyone who stepped off the edge of the stage (and there was no protection for the performers) would be taking a 12 foot dive onto the concrete below. Though it was a warm and muggy night, I felt a rush of cold air coming out of the pit and spent the evening trying not to get chilled. Boy, I'd like to see the venue's electric bill! How amazingly stupid! The outside of the pit was surrounded by gating, but it was low enough to make me well aware of the danger of tumbling in. The stage itself was just a little higher than our seats (it would have been fantastic if there had been no pit) but we had an excellent view and no worries about being smacked with a bass guitar. The stage setup was the usual. The four cloth panels were in place over a screen. It was quite a long time until dusk and we didn't have good lighting effects until Slide Zone. I thought the sound was rather good, definitely better than the Denver venue. It was nice and loud at my seat but not distorted and didn't require ear plugs. Photography! There was *no* photography for us peons. A friendly security gal told me the rules: no flash, point & shoots only, instamatics. SueC and I watched all that beautiful natural light fade away, thinking all the while what a waste. There was a pro photographer, and he considerately asked about getting a few shots from the front row. John Lodge had a *personal* photographer there. While he didn't have a photo pass, he most definitely had permission. I hope he got some good shots (says MaggieMay sweetly while gripping her laptop very tightly). Sadly, we have almost zero photos of that cute venue to share. That's the way it goes! I was worried about the storm clouds, but they passed us over. Venue employees had quickly worked to dry the seats. There was no covering, not even over the front few rows. I had just stretched my legs out and put my feet up onto the concrete barrier between me and the pit and PLOP - a huge drop of water dripped down from a center overhead speaker onto my leg. There was no escaping them! At least they provided entertainment for SueC.  THE
FASHION REPORT
JL - Black tank top, black jeans, leather jacket :-) , second half black tshirt JH - Long slvd sheet shirt, baby blue jeans, studded boots, second half *new* long slvd "smocked" white shirt with wine spots, black jeans, black patent leather slip on shoes GE - Black shirt with white design on left breast, black slacks, second half hula shirt Bernie - Black faded jeans, white sparkle top, GREAT hair Norda - Black knit pants, beautiful gold lace up bustier Gordon - Black sparkle tshirt The natural light at Starlight did very nice things for Justin's new sheet shirt (light brown pattern of leaves/flowers) and really made it stand out in KC. It usually doesn't make much of an impact. The smocked shirt had appeared earlier in the tour, possibly at Rosemont where I could only determine that Justin was definitely wearing clothes. It's very sharp and I'm sure he hasn't actually spilled his rosé on the front, but the pattern is pretty indistinct from a distance. Most performers make the mistake of trying on new stage clothes, looking in the mirror and thinking That's all right then! What they should DO is put on the new clothing and ask a friend to stand 12 feet away and look at it. LOL I'm having a terrible time keeping up with Justin's footwear. So far he's worn:  Studded
Boots
New deck type shoes Tan shoes with black soles, lace up Patent Leather slip ons SueC quipped that JH has brought more shoes with him than most women on tour! THE CONCERT The clouds and storms may have kept a lot of people from coming out to Starlight, but the venue was still about 2/3 full. The Summer 2004 setlist (including TOoT and Voices) was performed in its entirety with a 20 minute intermission. I had been lulled this tour into a pleasant stupor by the very high level of the concerts to date. Tonight, I woke up. KC was just not as good as the prior concerts in the Summer Tour. Why? Justin's vocals were weak. He was definitely not up to par. He was sniffing, and trying, apparently in vain, to clear his ears. He looked like someone who had gotten off a plane with a cold and whose ears wouldn't "pop". He seemed tired and so was his performance. Everyone else on stage seemed ok! The second half was much better, much stronger and Justin gave a stand-out performance on Nights.  I
was particularly struck by John's vocals on December Snow which were very
lovely and clear. It's just another thing to enjoy on that gorgeous
song. John has taken to standing in between the Girls for the "woos"
on Singer, a fun effect. The strong second half definitely brought
up the concert from a lukewarm passable to quite good. I'm hoping
to see an excellent one again soon!
The highlight of the evening for me? Why it was having the photographer bounce onto my lap mid-song to gales of laughter. He would have stayed longer if I had been able to get a good grip on him. ; ) Sometimes the show's on the stage and sometimes it's in the audience. LOL MaggieMay Just what the truth is, I can't say any more... Photos courtesy of SueC |