| DAR
Constitution Hall
We left immediately after the Tower concert was over for our nation’s capital. The drive to Washington, DC was uneventful (according to SueC) but our directions to our hotel were vague. I don’t know how we actually reached our hotel; I think it was purely by luck. There were a number of people on the streets at 2am, and most of them did not look like people I wanted to meet. My darling hubby was already in our hotel room and fast asleep. I had waved an extra front row ticket in front of him and enticed him to join us for the Washington gig. While he loves The Moody Blues, I think the opportunity to spend a few days with four exciting tour babes was the real kicker!  I spent
our day off in the lovely lounge at our hotel, writing reviews in the hotel
bar, and attempting to appear as if I was laboring over serious political
commentary. Gabe was carried off by the girls to tour Washington.
Louise remained behind to write in her journal, and I interrupted her from
time to time to get her perspective or memory of recent concert events.
We couldn’t eat dinner after gorging ourselves on high tea and assorted
salmon delights and sent our bedraggled tourists off to a local Italian
restaurant for dinner. Gabe tried to talk them in to a nice Vietnamese
place, but SueC and Thelma, adventurous women both, declined to try a cuisine
that might include dog. HAHA
 Thursday
was gloomy, rainy and cool. I attended bible study while the others
roamed the area sex shops with my husband in tow. This jaunt seemed
to rev them up for the concert; at least Gabe was quite “excited”!
THE
VENUE
Constitution Hall looked like one of the hundreds of stately stone buildings that dominate Washington. The recently redecorated venue was incongruous with the building. While pleasant enough, it was rather stark. It had a large flat floor surrounded by raised seating of 11 or 12 rows. If there had been ice under the floor, I might have thought I was in a hockey arena. The stage was high (to allow some vision of the stage in the back of the flat floor) and the front row was close. Too close! My seat was directly in front of Ray, and my neck began to hurt in anticipation before I reached my seat. The chairs were blue with stars, and that patriotic motif was repeated on the front of the stage. The stage was shallow, and the mikes were 2 to 3 feet from the stage edge. I was able to put my feet against the stage wall and lean back in my seat, but no position was comfortable. This was a venue where the prime view was 2 to 3 rows back. SueC said the wall designs on either side of the stage reminded her of Usher Hall. It definitely was not my favorite venue. THE FASHION REPORT RT- White long slvd shirt, black slacks, no change at half GE- Jimi Hendrix shirt, black slacks, flag shirt second half JL- Black Oxford shirt, black slacks, white long slvd bib shirt second half JH- White long slvd ruched shirt, black slacks, white Oxford shirt second half I was 2 feet from the stage and close enough to see JH’s black slacks at Constitution Hall. They clearly had a black stripe down the sides like tux pants. I also thought they could be running pants; the material looked a bit odd, shiny. I wish Mr Keys would just hand me a sheet describing their concert apparel each night so I don’t have to waste my time trying to figure it out. THE CONCERT As any experienced concertgoer will tell you, don’t sit on the front row for the sound. It was a particularly bad place to sit at Constitution Hall. The little we could hear was drowned out by the audience. Enthusiasm is a great thing! That’s what I kept repeating to myself. The permanent setlist was performed uneventfully with a 20 minute intermission. The real excitement came at intermission. Constitution Hall has a strict and unyielding policy: if you leave the venue, you will not be allowed to return. Smokers were trapped like rats – there was no smoking area, and all were sternly told that they would NOT be allowed back into the concert. There were a large number of jittery and grumpy Moodies fans during the second half. I only hope that the damn DAR is overrun with aspiring members from the local trailer park, who will arrive at tea in bib overalls with pig poop on their shoes. So there! It’s amazing what you suddenly see at a Moodies concert. Tonight I noticed twirling triangles on the ceiling during ILS. I had never noticed that particular lighting effect before. The venue did not allow cameras and seemed to really mean it, so I had extra time to look at other things. Good concert, good audience, but they can keep Constitution Hall, imho. MaggieMay |
Daniel Island