| The DECEMBER Tour!
On The Road With MaggieMay... I'm cold, I'm wet and I'm tired. Tonight was one of the most bizarre concert experiences of my life. If you skipped Mizner, you made the right choice. We started early and had a pleasant drive to Boca Raton. We didn't know exactly where the venue was, but lucked into seeing the merchandise truck, then the equipment trucks. A friendly venue employee gave us a few directions and we circled around to see the front of the venue. I would have been VERY surprised if I hadn't been forewarned. It's a community amphitheater and fronts onto a very attractive shopping area. The venue has the open front blocked with temporary screens and POLICE TAPE (lololol). It's a shame to treat a very pretty venue that way! The security guard standing in front of the police tape pointed out a parking garage, but Blueglow spotted a parking place very close by and SueC scooted for it. We walked up to find the box office and were directed to a TENT set up at one side of the front. Blueglow checked for tickets and reported back that they were selling 31st row. We leaned against an ugly and confused piece of "art" across from the venue and eyed the benches around the fountain in front of the entrance. A very unfriendly appearing and terribly unattractive security guard was keeping a hawkeye out for people dubiously lingering. I volunteered to hit the fellow up - he looked vulnerable to someone who looked like "Mom". I went for "endearing" and when he said that only people with tickets could be in that area, I knew we were in. A number of people turned up to speak as we relaxed on our benches. The venue employee who had helped us with directions came out front to say hi and to chat up Blueglow, and she was friendly, but seemed unsmitten. lol The time passed quickly and I pointed out several ominous clouds to SueC while we waited. We couldn't know what the evening held for us. THE VENUE This is a strange place and quite unlike any other venue I have ever seen. The Mizner Amphitheater is part of Mizner Park. Perhaps the park is behind the theatre; I didn't see any park!  The
front of the theatre is the end of a lovely street lined with salmon colored
buildings separated by a wide median filled with trees and benches.
We didn't do any exploring, but what I could see looked pretty upscale.
I suspect that the theatre was intended for free neighborhood events and
has ended up being a pay venue for various mellow pop groups. You
won't be seeing Ozzy here! We quickly discovered why you couldn't
call the box office to ask questions - there *is* no box office.
They probably never intended to have one. <shrug> The stage
is at the opposite end from the street and from the little fountain whose
company we were keeping. The theatre is a large flat area, horse-shoed
by an attractive two story open structure supported by Romanesque columns.
The upper story of this horseshoe had a number of tables and chairs and
looked like a nice place to relax and watch the concert. The floor
of the venue seemed more like a plaza and a chatty security guard told
me that it held 5000 for GA events and 3500 to 3700 for reserved seating.
It was a darn pretty place for a concert.
Security was omnipresent and our purses were searched thoroughly. Blueglow had to toss her bottle of water, but we had no problems with it other than that. We had smelled food, and there were quite a few booths serving everything: barbecued chicken sandwiches, sausages, hamburgers, etc. Liquor was also sold. We found the restrooms and again ran into Tracey (the venue employee we had met) and discovered the secret smoking area. Our troubles began when we innocently went to find our seats and discovered to our horror that the venue had FLIPPED the seating chart. Seat 1 was no longer on the far end, but matched seat 1 of section B dead center. When a row is 28 seats long that can make a big difference. Instead of being 8 seats from the center, we were 20 seats away, past Graeme, past Norda and right in front of the large number of speakers. I knew there was nothing that could be done, and that's exactly what Jason with Fantasma did: nothing. You win a few, you lose a few, and sometimes you get screwed without even a kiss. This was not the intimate venue of the past three concerts. The front row at center was about 15 feet from the stage and Justin's mike was placed possibly another 15 feet from the edge of the stage. It was a large stage, and I lost count of the number of speakers at our side; there were at least 10 on either side. I didn't bother to wait to be blasted and wisely put my ear plugs in before the music started. I didn't need them for very long! THE FASHION REPORT JL - Black tank top, long white linen overshirt (very lovely!), leathers, boots 
JH - Sherbet long-slvd western shirt, BLUE JEANS, studded boots GE - Jimi Hendrix shirt, black slacks Norda - White low cut blouse with ruffle, three quarter length sleeves with ruffle, black slacks Gordon - White pants, white tshirt Bernie - Black on black The Battle of The Buttons - I never expected to see THIS again! Tonight's winner? A hot Hayward in pink! If there is ever a romance novel written with a Moody Blues theme, photos of the end of the Mizner concert will be used for the cover. Hmmmm I should have checked to see if he was wearing socks. I doubt it! LOL THE CONCERT We're a brave pair and we sucked up our disappointment saying a few choice words about Fantasma in the process. We weren't in the greatest of moods but had to laugh when it started sprinkling right before the concert started. So it was going to be THAT kind of evening, eh? The start of the Mizner concert was smooth and LtSY went well. Ear plugs were a must, but the sound with them in seemed fine. Smooth is the key word - solid, well-performed...until almost the end of Words You Say when the sound completely dropped out. No vocals, no guitar, no flute. Drums, that was the only thing heard on stage. Naturally people began to shout out from the audience. JL and JH were slow to catch on, but Norda did. She realized there was a problem almost instantly and tried to get the attention of the techs at the side of the stage. She had to stop when it was time for her to play. She knew that no one could hear her, yet she played with dignity and aplomb. I don't understand why it took so long for the Jays to realize there was A PROBLEM. People did everything in the audience except jump up and down, ripping their clothes off and setting their hair on fire. I don't think Justin caught on until Norda leaned over and told him. John gave a finger sign indicating one moment, and hustled off-stage, and Justin optimistically counted off 5 fingers for the audience (indicating 5 minutes) before he left. 
HO HO! Well, we sat. It started raining again. It stopped and we went back to our seats. Things couldn't get worse, so of course, they did! Pop, and all the lights went out. Our companionable security guard leaned over to me and said "someone put a fork in the toaster". I have to say, that was *not* a good moment. The lights came back after about 10 minutes. Blueglow was on her way to the ladies room when the lights went out, and got to hear the screaming of hysterical women thrashing around in the dark. (I laughed my ass off at this.) We waited and waited, it rained more and we waited. Finally after 45 minutes plus and a few bouts of incredible noise from the speakers, a voice announced that the Moody Blues would be out on stage in 5 minutes and do their entire concert without an intermission. And they did...more or less. TOSOL was omitted as it sometimes is in casino shows. <shrug> What happened? A guard told me that the soundboard (a VERY expensive piece of equipment) had gotten a little wet and had shorted. Why did the lights go out? Hell if I know! The Moodies returned to the stage for The Actor. Justin's intro to The Actor tonight was: We're SO Sorry! Thank you for your patience. Thank you for your kindness and patience. This was followed by the usual - this is a song from an album we brought to America in 1968, ISOTLC. This is The Actor. I don't think the crowd could have waited much longer - I was starting to hear a number of boos. The concert was fine and there were no other problems, but we were pretty darn tired by the time they restarted. It started raining again. sigh SueC and I were pretty wet. We enjoyed it, but the energy and enthusiasm had drained out of the audience and out of us, too. SueC took off during Nights and I sat there as people started going up to the stage. I hardly had the energy! LOL I got myself up and UP there and enjoyed a good ending to a fairly miserable night. John came over to Norda's side, I believe at the beginning of SeeSaw, and a woman grabbed his leg with both hands a little enthusiastically. She quickly let go (Thank God!) and celebrated wildly. It looked like an odd type of counting coup! I didn't notice JL go back to that side of the stage, and JH stayed well back. 
They ain't stupid! Blueglow insists that I again point out the highlight of the show (or maybe *her* highlight). It was a warm damp night in Boca and apparently quite warm onstage. The lead guitarist came out for Seesaw glistening in a fine sweat with his halfway unbuttoned sherbet shirt clinging to him moistly. Somebody's been working out. ; ) John and Norda both smiled sweetly, and I watched Justin benevolently shaking hands along the stage. On the right side only. Thank GOD, it was time to go home! The sole publicity for DECEMBER seems to have fallen at SueC's and my feet. A pleasant fellow came up to us as we were waiting in our seats and leaned down and said, I HAVE to ask! What is December? sigh We explained, gave our happy recommendation, and sent him off to the merchandise booth. There was no mention of the new cd again during the concert, and people are puzzled. We talked to several people about it during our long wait. sigh I think I'll find my sleighbells during my few days at home and pack them for the midwest and east coast legs. SueC could jingle them while I break into Don't Need a Reindeer. 
I'm sure we will sell THOUSANDS! LOL I don't know if the concert crowd was reflective of Boca Raton in general, but there seemed to be a large number of young gals skimpily dressed (and drenched - lol) with OLD men. They weren't their daughters. There were also a hell of a lot of big breasted women hanging out in a distasteful manner. Can't we limit that to Vegas? HAHAHAHA MaggieMay So this is Christmas, And what have you done? Another year over, And a new one just begun... Photos courtesy of SueC |
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Clearwater |
