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The
Tower Theatre
SueC and I were sorry to leave the magic forest of Mohegan Sun, and have promised Ross, our waiter, that we will return to him. He was quite disappointed to hear that we were from Indiana/Ohio. It was a short and pleasant drive to Philadelphia, again, the girls made the mistake of placing me in the back seat, and I immediately fell sound asleep. Thelma and SueC found Upper Darby without a hitch, but I was forced to roll down the window and ask a young lady where the Tower Theatre was. I think SueC has adopted this device to help me out of my natural shyness by forcing me to interact with total strangers. Philadelphia must be populated by lost Midwesterners – I understand them perfectly! She pointed us to the silver ball in the distance and we made our way to the venue. Upper Darby is not a particularly nice place; at least the neighborhood around the theatre is not very nice. The stores surrounding the theatre had those metal pull down screens similar to garage doors, they were locked with large padlocks.  Still, the marquee was lit, and the truck was
there. There was a little restaurant and bar where we were warmly
welcomed. The hostess was stapling the evening’s menu to the door
as we arrived, and informed us that we “had” to look at it there.
She felt moderately guilty when we trooped in later and said she would
have given us menus. The boys at the bar said hello, and one was
heard to say “there’s plenty of women NOW!” The friendly banter continued
at our table, as our waitress walked up and asked us if we had already
“dropped our acid”. I thought she was referring to coffee, but she
made it clear that she “knew” what went on at Moodies concerts. We
were quick to reassure her that those were in days LONG past, and that
we were quite normal middle-aged mother types. It was hard to pull
that off, but we tried!
THE VENUE Hmmmmm. Well! Let’s just say that it was good enough for the Rolling Stones. It’s old and raggedy, but if you turn the lights down quickly, it doesn’t look too bad. There are red cushioned seats and a temporary pit, pillar designs on the wall and a balcony which is limited to the back of the hall and does not curve around the sides. The stage was normal height, its paint was peeling. Sigh This place needs a member’s group BADLY. Mikes were about 5 feet back from the front of the stage and there were three pages of cues at JH’s feet. It was sold out. THE CONCERT Justin has been observed talking to himself lately and was seen doing it at the Tower during the Night’s flute solo. We don’t know what he’s saying...perhaps it is a laundry list for later. It was a Ray night in Philly! Ray waved to a cute little older woman in the third row and she motioned her arm inviting him down, mimicking Justin’s group invitation to join him on stage during IKYOTS. Big applause for FML and LOAM. One exotic fan was entertained by a group of locals sitting in the row behind her, saying in a wide brogue “He’s goin’ ta do Da Actuh”. "Go Johnny Boy!" was their favorite Band exhortation. The “toys” during TOSOL are getting more elaborate. Glow sticks have been eschewed for some elaborate twirling glowing toys. It feels similar to an arms escalation. Where will the madness end??? The concert was marred a rousing game of musical chairs. I think some people assume that the Moodies will be preceded by some awful and unendurable warm up act and so attempt to arrive late in order to miss it. Unfortunately the six people who tried this trick had front row pit seats. Their non arrival motivated people from farther back to jump those seats, and when the legitimate seat holders arrived, security did not wait until the song was over, but went up to the stage for a discussion, moved the seatjumpers out and moved the new people in. I couldn’t see a damn thing on stage for these inconsiderate louts. (Reminding me again that I don’t own the planet) Second row pit sang the second verse of this annoying song and dance routine. There was more traffic in the pit than in NYC. Grrrrrrrrr. Riot police were called in a futile effort to control the angry mob of smokers at the intermission. The large number of people needing a nicotine fix attempted to play by the venue rules, but were stunned when the guards told us, (oh, I mean THEM, of course) that the smoking area outside the venue was “full”. How in the world it could be full when it was the great outdoors was a difficult proposition to grasp. I was amazed to see that the guards were SIGNING the tickets as you left and then checking the tickets for signatures when you returned, and threatened to not let anyone in without a signature. The power of a group of smokers desperate for a fix can not be underestimated, and after numerous people lit up in the lobby, we, Oh, I mean THEY, were finally allowed out. One particularly loud and obnoxious smoker apologized to me afterward, but I told SueC it was all right. It was a great concert, worthy of a fine venue, but we’ll take it anyway. No Fashion Report for the Tower – I had my finest seat of the tour (off Ticketmaster: proving it can be done) and did not want to distract anyone on stage by writing in my little book. They wore clothes, THAT I can assure you! MaggieMay |
Washington