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Stephen's
Auditorium
Iowa State University It was hard to leave Merrillville and my long lost husband, but I gritted my teeth and the girls pulled me off my little hottie and stuffed me, kicking and screaming into the car for the LONG drive to Ames, Iowa. I had never been to Iowa and never wanted to go to Iowa, but I follow the music wherever it leads me, and it led to freakin' Iowa. The back seat of the rental was cold and lonely after my warm and cozy bed at the Radisson, but I had my memories to keep me warm. You can't hear a darn thing in the back seat, and can only hear the bass part of whatever cd the front crew decides to inflict on me, so I pulled my jacket around me and put on the headphones to listen to... HEART OF STEEL! What else? LOL!!! (The madness continues.) The miles flew by as I dozed on our frantic way, and the girls woke me up for coffee and grits at the Cracker Barrel. The hostess helped me to the open fire and planted me there to thaw out in front of it, and after 15 minutes or so, I was able to move my arms and legs normally. The long drive finally ended with our approach to Ames, when it again became apparent that we had no idea how to get to the venue.  How we ever
get anywhere is a mystery to me! Luckily, there were signs for Iowa
State University and signs galore as we entered the campus. Stephens
Auditorium was well marked, but we were mystified by the number of cars
already in the parking lot at 5pm. Friendly staff informed us that
there was a bike and shoot, and though we had no idea what they could possibly
be shooting, I felt it was best "not" to know. We got the primo parking
place and were feeling pretty darn good about ourselves until we got out
of the car.
It was cold. VERY cold! If I thought I had been cold in the back seat, I was wrong. Now I knew what cold was! The Redhead popped the trunk and I desperately searched for warm clothes, finally locating a turtleneck and denim shirt. I was set! Red needed to pick up her tickets and I again made the fortuitous decision to accompany her to the box office. Red is my new good luck charm! As I stiffly moved up the walk, I saw a little man doing an exchange with a couple of gals, money slipping quietly from one hand to the next and tickets moving from seller to buyer. Damn! Five minutes too late, I thought. Still, I stopped to politely inquire and discovered that the gals had wanted his cheap seats and he had two front row center available. At cost!!! HAHAHAHAHAHAHA All I can say is that I lead a good Christian life and wonderful things happen to me at every turn.  I moved my front
row on Ray's side to Red's friend and Red got SueC's seat 9, and I walked
back to the car feeling MUCH warmer. As we sat in our car, we were
pleased to see a limo and van turn up with the evening's entertainment
inside, and I counted twice to make sure that all band members were safely
accounted for. Lol!
Tickets in hand, and happy campers all, we trudged back to the venue. THE VENUE University of Iowa is austere and modern, completely unlike my beloved IU. Stephen's Auditorium follows the same plan, both inside and out. It was warm and there were plenty of restrooms, there was beer and Domino's pizza. We picked up sausage pizza for our dinner and checked the merchandise table. Hal has selected some great new t-shirts and a really cool black denim Moody Blues jacket. As noted in the Fashion Report, TDMH has been modeling one of the new t-shirts on stage, a black one with a wooden window, which opens out to the sky and ocean at sunset. There are doves flying INTO the window toward you, and I'm quite concerned about the messy consequences of having a flock of birds flying about the place. It must have been designed by a man. There are a darn lot of stairs in this place! You have to walk up a staircase to reach the main entry (where food can be found) and then walk down a huge set of stairs to reach the stage. Want the ladies room? Back up the stairs. Sigh The auditorium is very modern with bare concrete walls that stretch from floor to ceiling like sheer cliffs. It seats 2500 and has three balconies, the highest requiring individual canisters of oxygen per patron. Only the first balcony was sold for this concert. The floor and first balcony were quite full, and I would suspect the crowd was between 1800 and 2000. THE FASHION REPORT RT- White long slvd shirt, black slacks GE- Jimi Hendrix shirt, black slacks, flag shirt second half JH- Black long slvd shirt, black slacks, black t-shirt underneath, long slvd shirt only second half JL- Black Oxford shirt, black slacks, white long slvd bib shirt second half GM- Sleeveless black t-shirt  JH
had an unknown black t-shirt under his shirt first half. I'm guessing
it was the window t-shirt again, since otherwise, there would be one less
to sell. ; ) The long sleeved shirt perfectly matched his black
slacks. It's darn hard to match shades of black, and imho, this is
a spectacular fashion achievement. The shirt has a silky look to
it. The hottest thing on stage tonight was Gordon Marshall's sleeveless
black t-shirt which showed off a pair of muscular arms. It's a great
look for him! A special mention absolutely must be made about JL's
hair at Ames. Gorgeous doesn't do it justice. It had a golden
glow when the lights hit it, and it moved just a bit as he performed.
Not a good hair night; a PERFECT hair night for Mr Lodge. It was
hard to take your eyes off that beautiful hair, and I noticed some gals
in the audience didn't bother to try. (Me – I'm impervious to that
stuff, which is why I only had to be whacked two or three times to stop
me from staring.)
 THE
CONCERT
Ames, Iowa was one of the biggest surprises of the 2002 Fall Tour. Apparently, every old hippie in Iowa made the pilgrimage to Stephen's Auditorium to see The Moody Blues. And they were darn happy to be there! It was one of the most enthusiastic SOBER (well, mostly sober) crowds that I have ever seen. It was the first time SueC and I have ever, EVER stood for The Voice in its entirety! I looked behind, and the entire auditorium was on its collective feet. It was a very auspicious way to start a concert. Auspicious apparently did not apply to the Stage. Guitar troubles for Mr Hayward began during Tuesday Afternoon. We don't remember exactly what happened, but the brown Gibson cut out entirely. Justin looked around, the rest of the Band kept playing, and Dan the guitar tech came out and got it going again. JH stepped up to the mike and recovered well. Guitar problems occurred again during English Sunset, this time in a pronounced fashion. There was simply no lead guitar at all at the beginning, leaving a gaping hole in the center of the stage. You don't realize how important the guitar part is until it has gone missing! Dan again rushed out on stage and tried every box and connection out there, finally producing the lead guitar. Tuesday Afternoon had been an "in and out" kind of thing, and I had wondered if there wasn't some kind of short in the equipment. The English Sunset situation was more of a nothing nowhere, no how! I vehemently hate it when anything goes wrong with my favorite song in concert. I would have preferred JH halt and start over again WITH the Gibson, but it would be particularly hard with that piece. The runaway train was already rolling down the track. Whatever Dan did out there seemed to take care of the problem, and there were no further guitar problems during the Ames concert. A man in the audience yelled out "I love you Ray" as Ray was about to start FML. Now, I've heard women do that numerous times (and have to admit I've done it myself and been rewarded with "I love you, too!"), but it was unusual for a guy to do that. The quick-witted Mr Thomas popped back with "I wish I had met you first, mate"! Regardless of the guitar problems, the audience was there to rock 'n roll with the Moody Blues and again stood for IKYOTS and TSIYE. The permanent, set-in-stone setlist was performed with a 20 minute intermission. The Band returned to the stage after intermission to yet another standing reception and the crowd remained on its feet for YWD. During ILS, SueC commented to me about the terrible lighting job for that song. I had noticed it before when I've tried to take pictures during that portion of the concert . It would be a good song for photos, since it's slow (agonizingly slow for me, kind of like La Boheme, when you just want her to die and get it over with), but the lighting produces unattractive shadows under the front men's eyes, giving an almost ghoulish effect. SueC whispered that Justin usually looks "dead" due to the lighting in ILS, but that tonight he looked as if he were decomposing! I glanced up at that and had to agree. The shadows on his face made me think of Night of the Living Dead. Of course, this would be Night of the Singing Dead. The lighting does absolutely nothing for them during ILS and I always wonder why members of The Band don't have a trusted friend or family member in the audience to check for things like that, sitting there with a little notepad and scribbling useful comments. Wait! That's what "I" do! Lol Ames was one of my two favorite concerts (so far) of the tour. The people there really loved the music and were thrilled to get the chance to hear the Moody Blues live. It was a wonderful atmosphere. The local couple sitting beside me was almost overcome with joy, and their reaction to the concert reminded me just how great and meaningful live music can be. The crowd can make a huge difference, and this was one of the best audiences I have ever had the honor of being a part of. I hope The Band got the same good vibes in Ames that I did! MaggieMay |
