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Wednesday
Night in Buffalo or
The SHUFFLE off in Buffalo! It was a long long drive to Buffalo from Wilkes-Barre, but it was beautiful through the mountains. We stopped a few times to wake SueC up! We've entered the portion of the tour where coffee just doesn't seem to do the trick. The Venue: Downtown Buffalo was unexpectedly "cute". It's obviously seen a lot of recent work. A trolley runs down the street where the theatre is located, everything looks new/restored. Very nice! There are numerous restaurants and lots of options for before concert munchies. Shea's Theatre is still undergoing restoration; I'd guess it is around 90% done. It is absolutely LOVELY. It's not as "gold" as the Providence PAC, but is pretty close. It is characterized by a very long lobby with the woman's restroom all the way at the opposite end from the door. The concert had been sold out for some time, or at least sold out when you asked the box office. A few people were waiting in front of the theatre in hopes of scoring tickets, but few or no tickets were available. We were waiting ourselves, looking for better and finally went in to the crowded theatre. We were surprised not to see any posters on the theatre for the Moodies...I guess we were lucky that they were mentioned on the marquee! The narrow lobby was packed with people, some having the champagne sold by the theatre as part of their fundraising efforts. What a great idea! While Shea's did not examine purses, there were LARGE security goons stationed inside the doors who gave everyone serious looks as they came in. Intimidating fellows! Security was interesting at Shea's. My personal security guard, Dave told me he worked for the promoter, not the venue and that the same regional promoter was doing the Moodies concerts at Syracuse and Schenectady, too. Two security guards worked the pit, sitting against the 4 ft stage. The STAGE was their concern. LOL Pit seating was a problem. There were two pit rows (added around two weeks ago by the promoter) with free standing, UNMARKED chairs. A house employee/usher was eventually brought down to straighten out the seating. It finally became a situation of musical chairs, with Dave saying, if you're happy with where you're at, sit down and DON'T MOVE!!! SueC and I quickly sat down in our front row pit seats between John and Justin and glued ourselves to them. We didn't move. HAHA The venue interior is very lovely! It has a balcony and a large recessed ceiling area with light fixture, almost EXACTLY or perhaps exactly the same as the architecture of the venues the Moodies played this tour in Providence, New Brunswick and Wilkes-Barre. It has been interesting to see them and compare the different decorating schemes which make each one wonderfully unique, ranging from the wildly opulent theatre in Providence to the stark Art Deco of New Brunswick. The full to capacity audience was all locals, I saw only 6 other traveling fans scattered through the theatre. They were very enthusiastic and thrilled to see the Moodies. I can't judge the auditorium as a whole, but I quickly noticed that whenever SueC and I stood up, the entire pit stood up with us. It looked like we were doing the wave! LOL The only exception to this behavior was for Singer, where they sat clapping with gusto. I asked Dave, my personal security guard the photo policy before the concert. He grimaced and said they were supposed to "discourage" photo taking. I asked him if that was a "no" or what! He chewed on it and finally said that small cameras were ok, no professional cameras, no detachable lens and no flash. I noticed very few flashes, and in fact, was horrified when *my* brilliant flash went off - I had hit the wrong button and turned the durn thing back on. Acoustics and sound balance was good, but I think I was hearing mostly the onstage personal speakers. Others farther back also commented on the good sound. I did notice feedback problems, and a sound like firecrackers during one song in the second half which was quickly corrected. The same set list was performed, including The Actor, with a 20 minute intermission. The Fashion Report: GE - car shirt first half, flag shirt second, black slacks RT - Black on black, no change in second half JL - Black long slvd crepe-like shirt (no change for second), leathers, boots JH - White tuxedo shirt, black jeans, studded boots : ) No change for second The Battle of the Buttons: JH and JL must have come to some private compromise on this issue! BOTH had their top buttons undone for the second half of this concert, with JH joining in for the second half. IMHO, it's a good compromise and one *I* can live with. I'm waiting for JH to up the ante and out unbutton JL sometime soon. I promise to watch this important fashion issue closely. : ) The Concert: What a great concert! Sound was good, balance was good. JL and JH were in good voice. Apparently, Justin is over his usual on-tour cold which should reassure all those sweet gals who have written me, ready to administer chest rubs with the now infamous Vic's Vap-o-rub. (What selfless human beings! LOL) Ray has seemed a bit under the weather, and his voice was a little rough in the first half, but smoothed out in the second. The Actor Wednesday night was exquisite! Breathtaking! It's a lovely, lovely piece that SHINES in these small theatres. Justin's light touch on the Olson (which is on its way to replacing Big Red as my favorite guitar), his voice soaring thru the auditorium, Ray's velvety bass the PERFECT companion and making Justin's "Oh, Darling" sound even more heartbreaking and plaintive. It never sounded more beautiful than last night. Big sigh! A string broke on Justin's guitar during TA (Tuesday Afternoon) and threw JH off for a few miserable chords. He paused, moved the broken string out of his way and kept playing - nicely done, great recovery. AND then TSIYE!!!! ANOTHER "fan" incident! I was seated between the Jays, and everything was going as usual, the guys lined up for the shuffle, and moved down to the Ray end of the theatre. The front row pit was quite a ways from the stage at center, perhaps 6 ft, but I think there was a bit of a curve in the rows, so that the ends were pretty close to the stage. The pit was a separate structure, with a two foot "rail" between it and row A which curved around the pit and connected to the stage. As the trio reached the end of the stage, a woman from the second row pit moved to the stage, got up on the rail at the side (looked like she was kneeling on it) and tried to grab John. He stepped back and the woman then GRABBED Justin's left leg (unlike John, Justin hadn't moved out of position - there was no where to go!). It was AMAZING! She didn't just "touch" his leg, she grabbed on and held on with a vengeance. Frank, the other security guard in the pit on that side, took a hold of her arm, and another security guard from outside the pit ran down to help. The two guards went for her arms, got her pried off Justin once and she shook them loose, then she grabbed his leg AGAIN! With two hands this time. The guards again pulled her off Justin, getting her hands loose. It seemed to be a delicate balance for the guards, to get the woman's hands off Justin without pulling her AND Justin into the pit. One observer said she thought the woman was moving her hands UP Justin's leg. Quite an end for the first half of the concert! The guards took the woman out of the auditorium. Justin finished, and never lost his composure. He had continued playing throughout the short, perhaps 30 second incident. As he walked off the stage, he looked down at me and SueC. Sue made a grimace at him, expressing sympathy and concern, and he responded with the same facial expression, shrugged his shoulders and said "Oh, well!", in a resigned manner. To his great credit, he came back the second half like nothing had happened. What a professional! I didn't know this thin, blonde woman (35 plus) and I know most regulars. I assume she was an inebriated local. Justin must be "hotter" than usual this tour! LOL PLEASE! No more climbing on stage or grabbing the lead singer! We talked with Dave during the intermission and asked if the woman had been thrown out, and he said no, but "they" were discussing whether to allow her back to her seat in the pit. We expressed amazement and concern. He told us that the STAGE was his concern (remember, he didn't work for the venue, but worked for the promoter) and if she had managed to get up on stage (and she was damn close to doing so) or backstage, that she could be arrested. Did she come back??? Why YES, she did! LOL We were distracted by activity behind us after the concert started and the Band was in to YWD. I looked behind and saw that the woman had tried to RUN into the pit on the Jays' side of the stage (her seat was on the Ray side and there was an entrance there) and had been CAUGHT by a security guard at the pit entrance. Dave pulled up his mouthpiece, and said "Frank, get over here!". Frank came tearing across in front of us, went up our pit entrance and helped a third guard stop the woman. I heard her say "I'm only trying to get to my seat" (odd, since her SEAT was on the other side of the pit) and heard them tell her she was not going to go in that way. Observers told us afterward that she slunk to her seat and didn't get up until Seesaw. Feedback problems during ILS, but they were quickly corrected. A great concert, and quite a MEMORABLE one! What ELSE can happen on this tour? MaggieMay |
