| The Pengrowth Saddledome On The Road With MaggieMay... I had an extra seat at Kelowna and despite my best efforts was unable to talk any of the girls into stopping there with me. They are much better at pacing themselves, and a tiny amount more particular about where they like to sit. ; ) I just couldn't pass it up. I'm tired, I'm beat, I'm worn out, but I'm out on the road to see The Moody Blues. 
As Red likes to say, we can sleep when we’re dead. I've embraced
that motto, but this week I've begun to realize that if I don't GET some
sleep, I'm going to BE dead! LOL I don't like to attend a concert
with the prior night's review languishing in my mind. I'm afraid I'll
confuse the concerts. sigh The bed looked good at the Grand Okanagon,
but I ignored it and pounded out Vancouver (which Ed did a particularly nice
job with, I *must* say! I don't think I'll be jumping to anyone else's
website anytime soon. LOL!). I'm in to different types of experiences,
and thought doing Kelowna entirely on my own might add a different flavor.
Thank God, someone rescued me from that fate! Brian from Vancouver came up at Kelowna to say hi and I convinced him to stay there with me in the second row. He was so impressed by the Vancouver concert that he jumped in his car the next day, and drove to Kelowna. He said he enjoyed the entire concert but was blown away by Higher and Higher and just *had* to hear it again. I know the feeling! We mutually enjoyed the Skyreach Place offering, then sat afterward over drinks and discussed the music - what a treat! I hadn't done that in a long time and I really enjoyed it. I find myself (sadly) talking about The Moodies more these days than The Moodies MUSIC. Brian is a fan of Justin's work and you know someone knows their Hayward History when they've heard of Star Cops. LOL We agreed on Railway Hotel and agreed to disagree on a few others, favorites of Brian but not favorites of mine. I'm the founder and unofficial president of the Top Rank Suite Club and Brian is hesitant to join. HAHA The lonely clouds I had anticipated over Kelowna drifted away and I spent some wonderful hours with this Vancouver fan. I've found the "trick" to impressing ANY male Canadian, and that is my casual (but calculated) remarks about Wayne Gretzky being first drafted by the Indianapolis Racers, my hometown team. The startled reply is invariably an admiring "You know your hockey, eh!" I'm expecting my official honorary citizenship papers from the Canadian authorities any day. I was carted back to the Kelowna airport the next day in a van of avid golfers 
and, after an easy check in, thought that security at such a little
place would be a breeze. Nope! My small black purse had aroused
suspicion and the security gal asked if she could examine it. What am
I going to say, no? LOL I had allowed plenty of time and I *knew*
nothing was in it. It seems that I really have NO idea what is in that
purse! Oh, money, passport, lipstick - those I knew. I think
things *jump* into my purse or I must absent-mindedly toss them in and forget
about them. Well, the guard found um...FOUR lighters and a half dozen
matchbooks AND the pair of nail clippers I've been searching for for a week.
The guard sternly told me the rules - ONE lighter (we didn't "discuss" the
Canadian matchbook rule). I could only helplessly say that I had NO
idea all those lighters were in there. Hell, I can't find even ONE
lighter when I need it! A man might not have understood, but this gal
did. She examined all the lighters and tried to find the one with the
most fluid in it. Very thoughtful of her. : ) It was a quick trip to Calgary and a much larger airport. I've had incredible luck this tour, no lost luggage and no lost MaggieMay. The airport was a trip. There were large Pterodactyls flying across the ceiling and one had the impression of being pursued as a tasty snack down the wide corridor. The hotel in Calgary was exceptionally lovely, very old, very English looking. 
I needed a room immediately and they were able to accommodate me on their
club floor. This floor had its own concierge and you checked in on the
floor, receiving VIP treatment. I'm not a VIP so I particularly enjoy
being treated like one! The concierge was pleasantly chatty and told
me that Kevin Costner had stayed there last summer while working on a film.
Probably a western, since many westerns are now filmed in Calgary. The
concierge said that Costner's favorite trick was to hang out in the club floor
lounge in the mornings, and after pouring his own coffee, gently offer coffee
to someone engrossed in the morning paper. They invariably said yes,
then looked up and saw WHO was pouring the coffee and well, had different
reactions, but generally one of stunned shock. He said Costner did this
one morning while the concierge watched and the poor victim looked up to
give her polite thank you, jumped to her feet and pointed her arm at
him saying "I KNOW you"! I was afraid to go in to the club lounge after
that for fear of being the butt of various celebrities twisted amusements.
I decided I would ask any who dared approach "Are you Ozzie Osbourne?"
Oh girls...Brad Pitt spent a summer in that lounge, too, when filming Legend
of a Fall. Now that would be a hell of a coffee pourer early in the
morning! LOL!!!My lovely room had EVERYTHING you could want: high-speed access, cold soft drinks, coffee, snacks and a large bowl of Werther's toffees. There was a marble square tile on the desk with COOKIES on it. What more could you want? Two of us took a quick taxi ride to the Pengrowth Saddledome, passing bars on EVERY corner. Those cowboys must like to party and to that I say: YeeHaw! THE VENUE I don't think I've ever seen anything QUITE like the Saddledome. It looks huge and is brightly painted red and yellow. 
It's just an overwhelming sight. Almost comical. I didn't know
what to make of it! LOL There's a large set of steps up the hill
to the venue and when we arrived there were a lot of people going in.
It's a hockey arena in addition to being the home of the world famous Calgary
Stampede (a rodeo). The setup is similar to most hockey arenas
- a long set of steps down to the floor. There's a large octangular
sign at mid ice for scores and the stage was set up past that, so the front
edge of the stage was at middle ice. A guard told me (when I'm talking
to guards I'm trying to get information, NOT trying to futilely get backstage
by offering, um, offering... - LOL) that the concert bowl sat around 5500
and another guard told me that around 4000 tickets had been sold. I
think that was probably correct; there were some holes in the seating.
The stage was high - at least 5 feet to accommodate the flat floor seating
and was skirted in front with black material. There was a mesh but substantial
4 foot gate about 4 feet from the front row, and about another 4 feet from
the gate to the stage. Two guards stood behind the gate at either side,
but there were none to annoy you in the middle. I'd guess I was about
12 feet from the Moodies lead guitarist, and sitting between the Jays.
What a GREAT place to be!You see the name "Tim Horton" everywhere around Canada and I thought it might be a restaurant chain. Tim Horton was at the Saddledome and *he* sells DOUGHNUTS! Now, I've seen everything! They actually sold doughnuts at the concert. I sure hope no one was drinking beer with his doughnuts - that might make me sick. Each to his own. Thru extensive sleuthing, wiretaps, hiding under beds, folded bills furtively passed from hand to hand, etc (all right, SIMPLY from asking a cute guard) I discovered just what the three poles with "fans" are at stage left past Paul. I was told they are the antennas for the in-ear system. I can now sleep at night without spending wakeful hours wondering. It's amazing what people will tell you when you just ask! The stage included the usual hockey arena sound set up: 2 flying 12 unit speakers (one on either side) and two small front fill speakers on either side, one facing at an angle toward the floor seats and the other facing the seats at the side of the stage. The sound was ok - the typical arena sound signature. THE FASHION REPORT 
GE - Red &White "block" print shirt first half, hula shirt second, black slacks JL - White long slvd "bib" shirt with ruffle first half, black one second, leathers, boots : ) JH - Blue long slvd ruffled shirt first half, white long-slvd thin shirt second, black jeans Bernie - White jacket and pants, black sleeveless shirt Norda - Black jacket, green iridescent v necked sleeveless top, black hiphuggers Paul - White long slvd shirt with tan stripes THE CONCERT The 2003 setlist was played in its entirety and with a 20-minute intermission to a VERY appreciative audience of adoring Canadian fans. 
The concert started smoothly, everyone looked rested and in good spirits
(always nice to see!). I noticed what Norda is doing on Tuesday Afternoon
tonight - she holds her flute in a majorette pose and dances around a bit.
I thought Lean On Me particularly shined tonight. It's been very consistent
in 2003 and John does a wonderful job on it. I love to "oooh" along
with him and the girls. It was just extra good tonight. During
LoM, JL wheeled around to join JH over for the Strat solo and cracked the
guitar scroll a good one on his mike. The Actor had fine sustained
notes tonight that were nicely finished; Justin did a wonderful job with it.
It wasn't a standing kind of crowd, but definitely an appreciative one - every bit as good as any crowd in the States. They LOVE The Moodies in Canada! Eh! ; ) IKYOTS received a huge ovation that went on and on. JL continued his equipment bashing problems when he knocked his mike off during SeeSaw and had to fix it back on the stand, missing his own arm- waving segment. LOL JH spent a lot of time in Calgary tuning Big Red. I guess it's not customary to chalk the pegs like you do on a cello. HAHA Whatever the reason, it was not staying in tune to the fine perfectionist's satisfaction. I could find no fault with the guitar performance at Calgary and no guitar intonation problems. 
There are a lot of concert "moments" that well, are special for one reason
or another. There's something about Justin's SPOKEN line at the end
of Singer that quite grabs you. It may get my vote for the sexiest concert
moment in 2003! It's quite erotic. A couple of young whippersnappers slid up to the front of the stage and decided to stand in front of me at the gate during Nights to enjoy the "view" and thereby blocking mine. I put up with a lot and understand that people might walk by for a quick peek, and that's ok. After a couple of moments, I suggested these two honeys move and they told me to kiss off! LOL I hear a lot of complaining about venue security guards, but believe me, they can be your best friend. And they were tonight! I would consider hitting the impertinent twenty-somethings with my car as Kathy Bates did to the young things that took her parking place in Fried Green Tomatoes, but would much prefer that a guard take care of things for me. Calgary saw and appreciated an excellent concert from their music heroes. I had no idea they were such a big thing in Canada! It's been fun to see and experience. MaggieMay 'Cause tonight I'm gonna take you where I've never taken you before! OOOOOH, OOOOOOH Photos courstey of MaggieMay |
