| Welcome to the DECEMBER Tour!
On The Road With MaggieMay... We packed our bags with alacrity, ready to blow this pop stand. There are some hotels that are better than home, with warm and caring staffs, hot coffee and an abundance of charm. This was not one of them. We rarely ran into the same bellman, concierge or waiter more than once, and the ones we we did deal with did not remember us. Everytime we pulled up to the hotel in the middle of the night, the bellman would say Welcome to the Three Spices! Are you checking in? No, damn it! We're ALREADY here! The only exception to the unloving and brusque staff was the night room service waiter. Anthony was always very solicitous and sweet, and regularly brought our coffee and snacks after the concerts. We got back late after Albany, changed and were chatting in our room, too wired to sleep. We had stopped for a snack on the road, but that didn't deter Anthony! A soft knock on our door startled me and SueC and I crept to the door, fearing a masher on the other side. Oddly, it was Anthony! I opened the door and he greeted me with a smile and offered me the tray. Puzzled, I said, but Anthony! We didn't order anything. He put his hand to his mouth, alarmed and said, Oh! I saw the order and figured it was for YOU! LOL I glanced at the tray and since there wasn't any coffee I didn't grab it. Tomato juice did *not* sound good at 2 am.  It
was a long drive to Providence. I napped guiltily, leaving SueC to
take care of us. SueC had nodded off the night before but I had felt
inspired, writing until 5:30am. My inspiration didn't come from the
concert this evening, but came instead from Ed (a real man named Ed, not
SueC). He came up at the interval to greet us, told me he loved the
reviews and read them every day. As Ed sweetly thanked us over and
over, I felt a cloak of responsibility settle on my shoulders. Maybe
I'm tired, maybe it's something else. These days I feel like a nit-picky
bitch. LOL!!! At least tonight, Randy is helping me write,
God bless his little heart! Ed, this one is for you!
Disaster struck at Providence. We missed our poorly marked exit - a nearly fatal error. We didn't have a lot of extra time until the curtain. sigh We quickly (or rather my Driver) took the next one which led not to downtown, but to a highly unsavory section of town. I think I need a St Christopher's medallion when I'm traveling with SueC. ; ) We went back and forth through downtown, and I swear, NOTHING looked familiar from our past visit. There's a canal??? We turned around and stopped at yet another gas station for directions. A young, hippie looking guy put us right. We passed the Fleet center where an event of the opera type was taking place. My mouth fell open in shock at the event parking signs: $30! Unbelievable! Have they no shame? Luckily, parking near the PPAC was a far more reasonable $7. There was no hint of familiarity until we reached the parking lot at the BACK of the venue. Yes, I remembered what the back looked like! LOL THE VENUE The Providence Performing Arts center (or PPAC, pronounced PeePac) is another restored Fox-type theatre. They've done a fabulous job with it! The marquee is bright and combines the traditional with the modern; the 2003 tourbook photo of The Moodies was employed very effectively in their announcement. Quite cool and different. A bar with a few tables was in the entry way. Security was minimal and though "No Photography" was permanently painted on the lobby doors, our purses weren't checked. Oh, how I love the honor system! ; ) More bars and the merchandise table were in the lobby proper. There seemed to be hundreds of usherettes who pleasantly passed me off down the long aisle to the front.  The
auditorium is beautiful! It shone (and almost blinded me) with an
enormous amount of gold leaf. Gold and red were the predominant colors
in the highly ornamented interior with a few spots of turquoise.
I would call it rococo. Very pretty, and incredibly over done.
LOL The layout was typical Fox, with a large orchestra section and
a large balcony, no boxes. A temporary small pit was set with three
rows of unattached chairs with arms.
The stage had the normal set up - three mikes out front, Bernie, Graeme, Gordon and Paul in back. The stage was 47 inches high, on the high side but not uncomfortable. There was a set of 2x3 speakers on both sides, past the pit and 2 front fills. Mikes were set about 6 feet back from the edge of the stage. Though the signs had said No Photography, Joe, our friendly too-young-for-The Moodies pit security guard said that photography was OK with him with certain qualifications: no professional, no digitals, disposables ok. SueC brightly asked if she could take photos if she promised to throw her camera away afterwards. He consulted with a bigger guy who hassled us, but said ok. I've discovered that east coast security guards LOVE smart ass women, and I had quite a bit of trouble finally getting rid of him. Joe was willing to be quizzed and for a change, seemed to know his stuff. He said the theatre sat 3200 (I think that figure was high) and that it was... SOLD OUT!!! THE FASHION REPORT JL - White long-slvd shirt with bib/pleats/ruffle, leathers, boots, 2nd half the white shirt's black brother JH - Black long-slvd plain shirt, tux pants, shoes, 2nd half white, thin long-slvd shirt with ruffle GE - Jimi Hendrix shirt, black slacks, 2nd half patterned Christmas shirt Norda - Black midriff top with cap sleeves, black hiphuggers with contrasting trim at waist and cuffs, no change at half Bernie - Black on black, no change at half  The
Battle of The Buttons!
A very nice "showing" (lol) tonight with both combatants tied at midchest. JH may be slightly ahead, only because his shirt seems to gently gape. John's is of stiffer material. : ) It makes Seesaw *my* favorite song! THE CONCERT The concert in Providence was very good; it was well into the excellent category. Outstanding? Nah. The revised Holiday setlist was performed in its entirety with a 20 minute intermission. The Moodies changed the order in New Brunswick which escaped ME, but did not get past Miss SueC. Here it is! The Revised Holiday Setlist: Lovely To See You Gemini Dream Tuesday Afternoon Lean on Me English Sunset The Actor Slide Zone Isn't Life Strange I Know You're Out There Somewhere The Story in Your Eyes Your Wildest Dreams Don't Need a Reindeer Spirit of Christmas December Snow White Christmas Higher and Higher Are You Sitting Comfortably I'm Just a Singer in a Rock 'n Roll Band Nights in White Satin Question Ride My Seesaw The Revised Holiday Setlist is still 21 songs; The Actor is included and The Voice has been dumped. This is unfortunate because The Voice is SueC's FAVORITE Moodies song. sigh *I* have to hear the moaning about it. Here, have a cookie!  It
was a good audience, vocal but not obnoxious, plenty of applause and a
nice amount of standing. The pit seemed to be an exception.
Several people told me that the stupid venue had just released a number
of pit tickets. This results in people getting primo tickets who
casually decided over Sunday dinner that an evening concert by anybody
might be nice, while the fans who bought their tickets the moment they
went on sale get screwed. I HATE venues that do that.
There hasn't been a bad start yet this tour (knock on wood) and tonight's was strong. The sound at my seat was good, well mixed and balanced and with minimum distortion. Sometimes I needed earplugs, sometimes I didn't. That's ok! Gemini Dream went well, which is always a pleasant surprise. Lean on Me has been the sleeper this tour; it has been excellent, very well performed and incredibly romantic. There's something about JL holding that black Guild 12 string. It looks too good on him! It's a softer look than his Precision Fender. A great job on it in Providence. English Sunset is a great song, and a concert favorite of mine, but it doesn't have the same thrill that it did up through 2002. It used to be full of excitement, and it's faded these days. JH doesn't seem as excited about performing it. I guess the honeymoon is over! sigh It's still a great song, and provides one of the sexiest moments in the concert, the moment where John runs his hand all the way down the neck of his bass. Slide Zone was great from smoky start to exciting finish. I could hear Norda's vocals very clearly at the PPAC. ILS was the usual huge crowd pleaser and the first set finished well with IKYOTS and TSIYE. Justin motioned a young girl up to the stage to receive his pick at the end of TSIYE. It was one of the few times in the concert that I saw him smile. She hesitated and had to be pushed up to take it.  Your
Wildest Dreams provided a strong start to the 2nd half. The DECEMBER
portion of the Revised Holiday Setlist was well received. DNaR was
MUCH stronger tonight and the best performance so far. Good job!
I thought Justin seemed much more sure on it in Providence and the song
was far more effective than it has been. I guess it's hard to do
a great job performing a song when you don't know the lyrics and are uncertain
of the cues. JH has done a great deal of peering over his mike during
DNaR and looking down at the floor. It's very awkward looking and
extremely obvious. Might be better to place them more to one side.
; ) I hope to see ONE performance of that song that does it
justice.
I particularly like The Girls part on Spirit of Christmas where they repeat "Christmas". It sounds great! December Snow was um...LOVELY. While Justin commands your attention, I have to keep glancing over to JL caressing that black Guild 12 string. My faithfulness to Big Red may be in question! Nice, nice flute part by Norda and I love Paul's keyboards on it. Justin makes depression, loss and misery a beautiful thing. I glanced over to a friend sitting next to me, hearing it for the first time, and I thought she was going to cry. It's that moving. But November came, Taking all I have... White Christmas elicited a number of "ahhhs!" from the audience. I hope we're *invited* to sing along again sometime! : ) Great job on H&H by my favorite drummer and a stellar performance by Mr Hayward. AYSC was a special treat and was dominated by Norda and Gordon's haunting flute work. Singer's start includes a wild and highly comical hula-hoop bit performed by The Moodies otherwise  graceful
and elegant flautist. It's a hysterical contrast with Norda's usual
stage demeanor.
Is Nights still the sacred highlight of The Moodies setlist? I think December Snow is giving it a run for the money. The concert ended well with fine versions of Question and SeeSaw. Providence was serious about controlling the stage rush and Joe the guard popped up to herd a number of stageside wannabees back to their seats. I was not thrilled to hear afterward that they were concerned about the amount of WEIGHT on the pit floor. A crashing pit is something I never want to experience. There was a great deal of sniffing and snuffling onstage tonight, accompanied by tender throat rubbing. sigh Would everyone please include jars of Vick's Vapo-rub in Justin's gift bags? Graeme has been hiding a few coughs too. John seems fine and I hope he's keeping away from those sickies. LOL JH's expression through most of the Providence concert can only be described as "dour". However, his VOICE was fabulous - full, rich, warm and sweet. I guess I'll just close my eyes when he sings. MaggieMay The pain was there for all to see, As the snow turned to rain... Photos courtesy of SueC |
| A Winter's Tale |
| New York City |
