March 21, 2003 - Reno, NV
| Welcome
to the Higher and Higher Tour!
While all journeys are a trip into the unknown, THIS journey is a trip into *my* unknown. For the first time, I've decided to do a part of the tour by myself. Me and my laptop: that's it. Ray's decision to retire did not catch me by surprise. The Moody Blues is a band of mortals, no matter how god-like they appear onstage and no matter how immortal their music. I had considered the end at various times since I started touring in 1999 and considered how it might occur, and what it would mean to me personally. The reality is here. SueC had reluctantly decided to pass on the spring tour and do some housecleaning in her life. (She later reconsidered in part and would be here now if there had been any way possible.) Red just didn't have the heart to do it. *Her* heart was...elsewhere. ;- ) I found myself one Saturday, lounging with my laptop and struggling with my decision. To Tour, or Not To Tour! THAT is the question! What it finally came down to was this: was I going to do at least SOME of the Moodies tour, or was I going to sit home and pout. LOL Pouting has never been my style, it's a downer without entertaining histrionics. One is *never* alone at a Moody Blues concert, in fact, it can be a chore to ward off your new found friends (particularly when liquor is served). The travel was the issue. What would it be like to travel across the country on my own? It's strange. Jim Morrison is singing in my ear from beyond the grave, "People are strange, when you're a stranger". Half of the leg out is done, and I'm sitting in the Phoenix airport, looking out the window at piles of red rocks, being entertained by a middle-aged man in a gray polo shirt, potbelly hanging over his belt, wandering around as if he's talking to himself. He seemed calm for this kind of conversation, and I looked closer and noticed a very small earpiece and mike. Cell phones are great and I hate them. You're forced to eavesdrop on conversations you aren't interested in and want no part of. I'm frequently tempted to join in and add comments of my own, just for entertainment purposes, but I feel required to be a silent participant. The first thing I've noticed about this new experience is the nagging need to be responsible. I realized today that SueC has spoiled me! (In ways other than that first cup of hot coffee in the morning) I have to have my flight papers handy and must actually keep track of where they ARE. (I suffer from the "too-many pockets" syndrome) I have to find the gate. I have to find a place to smoke. Damn, there's a lot to keep track of. I realized I enjoy zoning out in the airports and following SueC like an obedient and brainless Golden Retriever, trotting along at my slow but steady pace and thinking of...nothing. All I have to do is follow her, and be mindful of quick veers into the ladies room. The effort to remain alert is exhausting me! Adulthood truly sucks. The other thing I've noticed about traveling alone is that people insist on talking to you. At length. In depth. Sigh I had forgotten I have that kind of face. Phoenix is not a bad place for a layover. I love airports that embrace sin and provide bars with smoking areas. Phoenix is just such a sinful place. I can only say: He among you who is without sin, let him cast the first stone. And Please hit the other guy! I probably picked the worst day of 2003 to travel. We are at war. (Please note: *I'm* not at war) I parked myself at the Fox Sports bar and had the bad luck to pick the seat directly in front of the screen with the Fox News continuous feed. I knew all I needed to know, and more than I WANTED to know in the first five minutes I was there. I turned away from war and embraced... BASKETBALL! Yes, it's March Madness and my bar buddy and I cheered on So. Illinois in a close one against Missouri. I was tempted to put myself down as a potential Missouri fan. Their coach is a hottie. Still, it's American to root for the underdog and the little Salukis stuck with them until the end, losing by 1 point. It was a heartbreaker. I had a long layover, and my bar buddies came and went. The second fellow to sit next to me thanked me profusely for supplying him with second hand smoke. I was about to apologize, when I realized he was seriously grateful. He told me he had quit, then spent the next ten minutes eyeing my pack. Wherever I moved it on the bar, his eyes longingly followed, he licked his lips and sighed deeply. I finally asked him WHEN he had quit, and he told me the night before! I complimented and encouraged him, but it didn't do the trick. Finally, I moved my pack within his reach, set my lighter next to it and looked away. He was on it like a pack of hyenas on a wounded gazelle. (Whoa! *Ugly* metaphor!) I don't feel too guilty. He was on his way to California and everyone knows they execute smokers there, and they don't even ask if you'd like a last cigarette. (MaggieMay breaks for fly time.) I love the Reno airport. It's a small place and compact. It's also the gateway to Lake Tahoe - my favorite place to see The Moody Blues (Lake Louise, unfortunately, does *not* have a venue - what a shame!). Reno is not a favorite place of mine. There's something vaguely disgusting about Reno. <shrug> I'm still unimpressed. I dreaded going to the Silver Legacy, but was surprised. It's not nearly as bad as I expected it to be! LOL It's a large hotel/casino complex. My taxi driver said that it covers two city blocks. Either there are no bellmen, or they were all on break, for no one turned up to greet me and more importantly, HELP ME WITH MY BAGS. It was a trick to get the two rolling bags thru the heavy door, and a Good Samaritan held open the inner door for me, talking all the while on the pay phone, God bless him. The lobby is quite pretty, wide, with nice chandeliers. Casinos love themes and the one here is Nevada in the mid to late 1800s during the silver rush. It doesn't appeal to me, but it isn't too annoying. My room is decorated in chintz, flowery bedspreads and curtains and globe lamp fixtures. I feel like I'm visiting my grandmother! Since I am alone here, I've become uneasy and had the peculiar thought that The Silver Legacy would make a great setting for Somewhere in Time, Part 2, where the woman in room 2246 (I've changed the room number so the Band doesn't call me repeatedly and slam the receiver down - haha) is suddenly transported back in time to the silver rush, and forced to survive by doing miner's laundry. <shiver in terror> I guess it could be worse! I haven't gone to the restroom and seen "Redrum" in lipstick on the mirror. I think it was an error in judgment to put large windows (8x8) in the guest rooms. I look out over the planetarium and then past that to Reno. You must visit Atlantic City to have a comparably depressing view. After glancing at a rundown clown sign for Circus Circus, there's nothing to see! It's a town of brown. I see miles of low, drab, nothing buildings. The highlight is the Holiday Inn! Anyone who comes here, when they *could* be in Vegas, should kick themselves in the head. No wonder they're reduced to bowling conventions! All is not misery and ugliness. The casino is attractive and dominated by the incredible sight, dead center, of a HUGE replica of a mining machine. It's really amazing! It's placed in the center of the globe I see from my window, which is, in fact a very large planetarium. Oddly, they shine advertisements on the planetarium ceiling, ruining the cool effect. You look up and marvel at the "sky" and then see THE MOODY BLUES! March 21st and 22nd! Buy tickets NOW! I had to laugh. The really GREAT thing about The Silver Legacy is that they have MEGABUCKS. (I hope my darling husband isn't reading this, but if he *is*...um, bring MORE money to Vegas for me. Sigh MUCH more!) Megabucks is a progressive slot machine that is tied to 240 other slot machines around the state of Nevada. People who know me, *know* that I can usually be found at Paris at Megabucks. People who know me ALSO know that I do NOT like to be bothered when I'm playing the slots, and I absolutely will NOT give out autographs during this time. Don't ask! The progressive jackpot is up to a spectacular $39 million and the slots are much looser here than at Paris. Yes, Reno is becoming more attractive all the time. I feel that in the pursuit of accuracy and to maintain my "journalistic" integrity, I should go downstairs to the casino and "check" the current jackpot for Megabucks. In fact, I STRONGLY feel that I should do that RIGHT NOW. Like a Krispy Kreme in the pantry, it's calling my name. Megabucks here at the Silver Legacy is corralled in the high slots area, a casino offering that I usually avoid like the plague. A $5 slot machine can suck your money in like a Hoover vacuum. I actually had to inquire to find it. A very pleasant man named Ernest was my personal slots attendant for the evening. He forced the cocktail waitress to wait on me, carried off 50 pounds of coin to be changed (usually SueC's job) and even asked if I would like a sandwich. A Sandwich! I was flabbergasted. No one had ever asked if I'd like a sandwich before! I think Ernest would have gladly rubbed my aching shoulders too, gotten me a pillow, and even would have raised my hand, tenderly placed it on the button and gently pushed down, if I had asked him. Oh, and he liked The Moody Blues. This casino has outdone every other casino I have ever visited in the slot experience. When are the Moodies coming back to Reno??? : ) Venturing out of my scary room (with its high connection charges to the internet - a huge minus IMO) threw me back into the delightful sea of the Moody fan community. It's always surprising to me when people approach and know who I am. The photos of me on Sue's website must be sadly accurate. I was pleased to meet a fan from Texas who had driven two days to Reno to see the Band, and had first seen them at the Fillmore West in 1968. I had to think that if I were one of the Band, I would feel very moved and humbled by her devotion. She shared photos of her baby at three days, 6 months and two years. He's a damn good lookin' horse! : ) Moody Blues photos, including Ray, are all over the casino - placards, flyers, large posters (several of which I would *love* to steal, but I'm the type that always gets caught) The concert is apparently being jointly promoted by several downtown casinos. Most staff I've had contact with have mentioned it. I think it may even be bigger than the bowling convention! THE VENUE The concert was not held in the Silver Legacy casino. It was held in the City center Pavilion, which is across the street from the casino. It was listed as part of the Silver Legacy Concert Series. The flyer says "Downtown Reno Presents" and lists Circus Circus, Harrah's and Eldorado in addition to the Silver Legacy. Just *who* is putting on this concert? Hell if I know! The Pavilion was a very short walk from the Silver Legacy, and is a convention center multi-purpose facility. The showroom (and I use that term loosely) was very long and not very deep. The consequence of that was that the two center sections were in front of the stage and the other sections on either side were way past it. Some concertgoers had virtually NO view of the stage except for the sides and at a long distance. They looked at screens. Worse, all seats were on a flat floor, at least I didn't notice any raised seating. It was an awful place to have a concert. I'd guess that it held um, 4000 plus and looked well filled. Another case of musical Caveat Emptor! I didn't hear any complaints and didn't see any riots. There was a wide aisle between the front row and the stage, which was fairly high. I don't know exactly HOW high because the audience was discouraged from going up to the stage at the end by security, and didn't seem overly interested in doing that anyway. I had a good view of the stage from my second row center seat. I have no idea how the sound was from in front of the screens on the sides, but it was really fairly good for the two center sections. It had the flair and flavor of a traditional rock sound. Though it was not in a casino, it was run like a casino concert, without an intermission. There was a lot of security and they were the widest guards I've ever seen. They looked like business and they looked like they could take care of business, too. *I* didn't mess with them! THE FASHION REPORT JH - Black "silky" long-slvd shirt, black jeans JL - White ruffled long-slvd, bibbed shirt, leathers, boots GE - Flag shirt, black slacks JL had the left cuff completely undone and I wondered if they were French cuffs because it was so long, I couldn't see his hand. I'm not sure how he could play! I almost expected to see a metal appendage protrude from it ala Captain Hook. LOL The Battle of the Buttons JL won hands down tonight, with an award-winning shirt unbuttoned to midchest, allowing flashes of his gold chain and cross. : ) JH finally got one undone, but there was no competition. (Please note that an anonymous reader requested this section, for I would certainly leave such tawdry details unmentioned. I'm including it reluctantly and at literary gunpoint. So to speak!) THE CONCERT The 2003 setlist was played without an intermission. Although one fan said that she thought JH looked "tired", I didn't think so. Everyone on stage looked good, looked rested, sounded good and played great. It was a rocking concert played to an appreciative audience. They weren't standers, but there was sustained and enthusiastic clapping for every song. There was a lot of talking during The Actor, but it was more of a rock 'n roll setting than usual, so this wasn't unexpected. A woman in the third row called out "Where's Ray" and she meant it. I involuntarily turned and glanced at her as did 15 other people, and she sincerely said, "I want to know!". Justin filled her in during his introduction to The Actor, part of which was unintelligible. He seemed a bit flustered during his delivery of it tonight. Justin's sustained notes during the chorus of The Actor were flat flat flat. By that I mean (for those who might not be musicians) he was under the note and not ON it. This happened both times. He just didn't make it. It's a work usually performed to perfection, but it wasn't tonight. I guess we're at mid tour! ; ) The on-again, off-again intros for the backups was missing tonight. YWD saw Justin bouncing up and down. It's always a great thing to see! The lights on ILS blinded me several times, and were so bad I put my hand up to shield my eyes. There were a couple problems with Nights. I couldn't hear the opening verse at all - I could see Justin singing, but there was no sound. It happened again later in the same song. Whether there was mike difficulty or JH wasn't properly UP to the mike, I don't know. JH is rubbing his throat again! Somebody, get the mufflers out and make some hot tea with lemon and honey! It's a bad sign. JL also had some intonation problems tonight too, but I can't recall on what song or songs. Again, he was flat, which is suggestive of fatigue. I have been requested to stop taking notes during the concerts. Though I sat down immediately afterward and wracked my little brain, I just can't remember everything, and in sad fact, only remember a very few things. I deal in details and they are very specific. Everyone knows the setlist and everyone knows the concert is, was and will be great. That's a given. What I do is try to write about the things that make one concert unique. I'm not sure I can do that any longer. I want to emphasize that I was asked nicely (by whom and why will not be discussed), and the truth is, what *I* do is completely insignificant compared to what *THEY* do. It's how things are. I do remember one thing! Higher and Higher rocked. It's exciting, it's brilliant, it's POWERFUL. Night after night, performance after performance. Graeme Edge blows you away, and Justin Hayward's performance on the guitar is nothing short of incredible. I remember THAT all right. And will to the end of my days. MaggieMay |