| Welcome to the DECEMBER Tour!
On The Road With MaggieMay... We left late for Albany, an unavoidable problem of the day. Tickets went on sale for HERMAN'S HERMITS at the Star Plaza Theatre and we simply HAD to have them! Peter Noone and Rob Grill (and the Buckingham's drummer, Tommy) help us get through the winter blahs. Hubby has promised to get us up to Merrillville in his new Hummer and he's hoping for a blizzard. It's a great show! It was a darn LONG drive to Albany and dusk came on us quickly. The road went on and on. SueC said at one point she almost pulled over to get out and lay down at the side of the road. It took every ounce of road courage we had to get to the concert. Albany is a nice looking town and the area around the venue wasn't too unsettling. It was a hike up hill to the venue and a very ALARMING sight when we got there. God help us! What a dump! It was an old, run down building on the corner with no marquee. The Moody Blues were advertised with a banner hanging on the front of the building. SueC and I exchanged surprised looks and I wondered if the long drive was going to be worth it. It was! THE VENUE The inside of the venue made me gasp again, but this time with pleasure. The INSIDE has been renovated and is absolutely LOVELY. Notes in The Palace program indicate that a new marquee is soon to be added. The unique thing about The Palace is the series of recessed areas with paintings or scepter set in to the walls and the ceiling. I'm glad to have contributed to the project! LOL 
The free house program included a full page 2003 photo (the cover of the summer 2003 tourbook) and a 2 page bio touting DECEMBER. The theatre seats around 1700 - 1800 and another friendly guard told me that 100 to 200 tickets remained, giving a nice full house. The large balcony had a significant overhang, no boxes were present. The waist height plus stage was interesting. It had a low wall with bar in front of it, and the stage behind was covered with cloth. The stage had a curve to give it interest. It must have been huge, and very deep. The three mikes were so far back from the edge they were in another county - at least 15 feet. There were 5 sections in the front and my left center seat was right at Bernie. It really didn't matter being in the second row since the first row was far from the performers anyway. : ) The cream and gold walls and ceiling went well with the burgundy chairs and curtains, a very formal look. I looked up at the ceiling and saw another recessed area surrounded in gold and lit from behind with a beautiful picture of clouds. Kind of a Harry Potter effect! The first two rows in the center section were filled with regular fans, thrilled to be there and anxious to hear DECEMBER live, most for the first time. Speakers were at the far edges of the stage, well past the left and right center sections (thank goodness!) and consisted of 2 large boxes with an even larger 2x4 set flying. Radio people gave a quick welcome before the concert's start and mentioned DECEMBER to the audience. Now, if they'll only PLAY it, too! LOL The Moodies premiere lighting guy, Mick had a different setup for lights at Albany. The usual four white cloth panels were supplemented by a trapezoid screen placed in the middle, with the panels angled toward it, providing a new backdrop for the lighting. I thought it was GREAT! The screen was very sharp and extremely effective for all the lighting, but especially so during the DECEMBER segment. Mick seems to continually tweak, vary and improve The Moodies lighting which adds so much to the performance. I think he's never satisfied! : ) The album cover is used differently for every song: the entire cover for DNaR, "snow" only for DS and our December boy for White Christmas. It's BEAUTIFUL! No Photography apparently meant NO photography. A security guard traipsed all the way across the front row from the far side to admonish a lady taking photos in the third row behind me. I suppose it was better to be somewhat hidden in the center! ; ) THE FASHION REPORT JL - Black long-slvd shirt with bib/pleats/small ruffle, leathers, boots, 2nd half the black one's brother - white long-slvd shirt with bib/pleats/ruffle JH - Pink pin-striped long-slvd shirt, tux pants, 2nd half cattleman's shirt GE - Santa World Tour shirt, black slacks, 2nd half Red Ho Ho shirt Norda - Black strapless top, black hiphugger slacks, no change at half Bernie - Black long slvd shirt, black slacks, no change at half Gordon - Blue and white patterned knit shirt, short sleeves Paul - White long-slvd shirt with tan stripe THE CONCERT The Albany concert was pretty unremarkable. It was very good, but nothing special. The 2003 Holiday setlist was performed with a 20 minute intermission. SueC told me that some woman ran up during DNaR and threw a reindeer like a bowling ball up on the stage where it landed between the Jays. The first half was good, the December cuts were very good. Justin got an unbelievable amount of stuff at the bows - gift bags, flowers, cards - he was loaded down like a pack mule. Those Northeast gals REALLY love um...the guitar! HAHAHAHAHAHA The sad truth is, we can't remember a thing! The Royal Decree from on high still stands, and the serfs below fear the Lord. ; ) We got back around 4 after a god-awful drive through the pitch dark. We made one stop (that I remember) for gas and while SueC entertained two men with her right hand drive Jeep I ran inside. I noticed a full case of Krispy Kreme's and thought they'd make a nice breakfast, buying a single raspberry filled one for immediate emotional sustenance. SueC pulled out, hit a large rut and everything went flying - laptop, bottles, jackets and purses. I looked down and found my doughnut precariously perched on the toe of my shoe. It was a darn sad end for a Krispy Kreme! MaggieMay Left school with a first class pass, Started work, but was second class. School taught one and one is two, But by now, that answer just ain't true ah ooh ooh ooh! Photo courtesy of SueC |
| New Brunswick |
