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DTE Energy center
On The Road With MaggieMay... It took a while to crawl over all the people and the folding chairs at Summer Celebration in Muskegon. We made our way toward the front gate and the Lost and Found where CL's camera was being held hostage, and SueC and I sat on a picnic bench and watched the huge crowd leave. I had passing thoughts about Joe's Tiki Bar and his special Southern Comfort Slushies, but we're touring fans and we had to move on. sigh 
SueC threw
caution to the winds, whipped out her camera and proceeded to take photos
of a fence. HAHA We joined the crowd and crossed the busy road
feeling safer en masse. Since I had slept all day (more or less) I
volunteered to break SueC from the driving vigil and the extremely important
job of keeping CL awake. She likes for you to talk to her but I thought
I'd do her one better and sing beer commercials to her. I only got
thru a single one - a personal favorite, "Let it Be Lowenbrau" and then distinctly
got the impression that CL would *prefer* that I not do anymore. How
anyone can't just LOVE beer commercials is beyond me. CL has taken
an interest in Roy Orbison of all people lately and I now know several very
important facts about Roy and his Midland TX connection. Later in the
evening, we got to see what happens when you DO fall asleep at the wheel
and spent an extra hour on the road because of it. Poor guy!
His car apparently shot off the right side of the highway and rolled all
the way to the woods. It was pretty well creamed. The accident threw us an hour late in arriving at our hotel, but the night staff greeted us very pleasantly, and the bellman went out of his way to make sure we had every single thing we needed.  Our suite was spacious
and lovely and included a small balcony. Everything seemed perfect
until we were in bed ready to go to sleep and then we *noticed* a noise from
the bathroom. Our toilet wouldn't stop running! Aaaaargh!
I couldn't see inviting a plumber up to our room at 3:30am and since the
Girls would *not* move to another room, we were stuck. It's always
something!Our hotel was packed to the brim with rock 'n rollers and I lost count of the tour buses circling us like Indians around a wagon train.  Santana
was there, as was Linkin Park, Metallica, Sevendust and Dave Matthews.
Most of them seemed to just want a quiet place to hang their hats, but apparently
one member of the above had been a very naughty boy and his tour manager
was told that the NEXT time there was an incident he'd be escorted off the
premises. We were terribly disappointed to have missed the excitement.
We spent the next morning on our balcony watching groups of fans screaming
when their favorite would appear and watching the tour busses receive a curb
side bath. I knew KA would be KILLED to know I was at Dave's hotel
and I set SueC on alert for him, but she didn't know what he looked like!
LOL We had the chance for high tea, and though the curried chicken salad was lovely and the pineapple-coconut scones were very nice it wasn't up to our high standards. I was dismayed that there was no clotted cream! sigh It didn't come anywhere close to the Balmoral's offering in Edinburgh. ; ) We ordered our car at just the right time and ran into OUR favorite Band (imagine that!) and had the chance to warmly greet them and wish them well as they left for the Last Concert of the tour. There were a number of professional autograph hunters on the sidewalk who were very happy to get Graeme's and John's signatures, 
and one old hippie-type was there solely
to get his Lost Chord LP signed. (The third member of TMB had left
earlier as we were scarfing tea.) We saw them safely off and as I jumped
into the Malibu I wished the guys on the sidewalk good luck with Metallica.
LOL Traffic was bad by that time and we lost our sure route to the
venue behind the limo, but we had printed directions to Pine Knob.
At least we THOUGHT we did! We followed them exactly and pulled into
the parking lot of The Palace. Hmmmmm Dave Matthews was on the
marquee and he's a nice fellow, but bores me unconscious, much to my kid's
annoyance and bewilderment. We drove up the road, we drove BACK and
Pine Knob was nowhere to be seen. The second gas station we stopped
at was manned by a couple of guys that were cordial, but didn't speak a lot
of English. Thank goodness a lady in line was able to give us directions.
We wandered thru the countryside on an extremely curvy road as the clock
ticked by and FINALLY arrived at Pine Knob with sighs of relief. The moral to this story is, check your directions with the concierge before you take off, or you might end up spending the evening with Dave Matthews instead of The Moody Blues! THE VENUE This was my second visit to Pine Knob, now unfortunately known as The DTE Energy Music center. We had VIP parking passes and it was a short walk to the VIP entrance. 
Pine Knob is on a huge hill, part of which
rises above the venue and has a chairlift to the top. The venue is
very pretty and lush with trees, bushes and waterfalls. We didn't
take advantage of the VIP facilities and dining, which I recall was quite
nice the last time we were there, preferring to get IN and discover just
where our seats were. Despite weeks of conjecture, our second row seats
were just that: second row. One of the main complaints of any
traveling fan is the ignorance and stupidity of the box office and the BO
personnel of Pine Knob outdid themselves in that regard. We were horrified
to discover that they had put the AAA tickets on sale that day at 4pm.
While this did an excellent job of keeping them out of the hands of brokers
(and OUR hands, too! LOL) it resulted in a bunch of very casual concertgoers
with small interest in TMB being on the front row. These yahoos came
late, talked and sat thru most of the concert. I'm not complaining,
my seat was fine, but it certainly did not engender any fond feelings for
Pine Knob OR their lack of openness regarding their ticket policies.
Pine Knob has a small plaza with beer and food and a VERY steep lawn area. There's actually a staircase on the side for those on the lawn. The pavilion is quite steep too, at least it seems a lot steeper than my home venue, Deer Creek. 
The stage is normal height and I could see shoes
from my second row seat. The mikes were fairly close; I'd say no more
than four feet from the edge of the stage. I didn't note speaker placement
and the stage was otherwise setup as usual. The pavilion was almost
completely filled, with only a few seats still open in the very top right
corner and there quite a few people on the lawn. It was GREAT to finally
be in a normal venue again and to have the Jays where I could SEE them,
even if they were sadly out of reach. LOLTHE FASHION REPORT GE - Jimi Hendrix shirt first half, Hula shirt second half, black slacks JL - SHADES, black tank top, white long slvd linen shirt over, a different black shirt second half, leathers, boots JH - Sherbet pink long slvd shirt first half, white long slvd shirt second, blue jeans, boots Gordon - Shades, white short slvd knit shirt (very nice!) Paul - White short slvd shirt Bernie - Shades, white outfit with red patterned belt Norda - Shades, black mesh top, black hiphuggers  SueC finally got to see Graeme's fabulous Hula shirt for herself this evening
- Amanda had promised her he would wear it at Pine Knob. It's just
perfect for H&H, though I have to say that the 2 Ladies shirt does a
pretty good job on it too. Norda's top in full sunlight looked more
risque than it does after dark. I noticed tonight that the back is
entirely black mesh. Well...everything's covered that *needs* to be
covered by law! LOL It looks great on her. THE CONCERT Everyone looked GREAT onstage tonight and seemed up and happy for the final concert of the Summer Tour. It had an early 7:30 start and there was still plenty of sunlight. 
(I was wearing sunglasses as well as half
the Band) The 2003 setlist was played in its entirety with a 20-minute
intermission. The smooth start was the beginning to a near perfect
evening and there were very few remarkable moments. JH was nearest
to my line of sight and I did notice a guitar "fluff" in H&H. I
don't think any have occurred in H&H in the concerts *I* attended this
summer. It was very minor. Justin was apparently ready to get
off tour and rushed the end of SeeSaw. Perhaps he had a plane to catch!
LOL Norda Mullen was introduced by Justin at the end of AYSC. The rest of the back-ups were not introduced at the last concert, and I can't understand why. Their contributions are certainly the equal of Norda's (nothing negative about Norda here) even if they aren't quite as front and center as the flute on AYSC. The biggest surprise of the evening was the SOUND. My seat at Pine Knob had the best sound of the entire tour! It was loud but clear and VERY enjoyable. Other traveling fans have commented on a lot of loud talking during the concert and I had my share to contend with. One fellow talked constantly in the row behind me and made the mistake of continuing on during The Actor. SueC and I simultaneously turned around and GLARED at him with murder in our eyes and to his credit he shut up. I don't know how women have gotten the reputation as "talkers"! It proved to be an advantage to have pleasant people who weren't big fans in front of us - they rarely stood. The rows are tight at PK and when they did stand for Question, it was difficult to see over them. The real drawback of the evening was the heat. The sun hit our backs at the beginning of the concert and the first half was REALLY warm down front. SueC became a bit ill from it and slipped out during the first half. We were very close to center and there were at least a dozen seats to the closest aisle. I was darn warm, but not quite at the level that required escape. It would have been a chore to get out of there! The concert was EXCELLENT and a marvelous way to end the Summer Tour 2003. Thank you, Moody Blues! EPILOGUE Though my original plans were much more modest, I ended up doing 23 of the 29 concerts of the tour. Gosh, I HATED to miss those six! A Moody Tour is like a bag of potato chips. You eat one, and it's so delicious that you just have to have another one. Pretty soon, you've gone thru the entire bag. LOL Well, it's not quite THAT easy. : )  The first tour of 2003 was
a tense time, both for fans and for The Band
(at least it looked that way to me). They proved they could produce
a great show and this summer they got to ENJOY the concerts. It was
definitely lighter hearted onstage this summer and I think that was clear
from Justin's frequent banter and joking. The tension is gone; the excitement
remains. I've seen a number of concert venues for the first time, like Saratoga Mountain Winery and Wente and Humphreys, won money at Pechanga and revisited my favorite venue in the world. I've been from one end of North America to the other, and met a number of great Moody fans. I've learned to travel alone and get some enjoyment from it and made one new friend. Here are the Summer Tour 2003 high points: Favorite Place to see a Moodies Concert: The Showroom at Caesars Lake Tahoe Best Audience: The fans at Caesars Friendliest Venue: Edmonton, Canada Best Food at a Venue: Without a doubt, the winner is Wente Winery Sexiest Outfit Onstage: JL's black tank top and white linen shirt  Most Stunning Entrance by a Band Member: Justin strolling out onto the
Crystal Grand stage at the Dells after the break wearing Blue Jeans and
an "attitude" <shiver>Best New Shirt: A Tie! Justin's long-slvd sherbet (Pretty in Pink!) and Graeme's Hula shirt Most Skin Worn Onstage: Naughty Norda wins this prize (and did it with class, too!)  Most Improved Song: IJASIARNRB shoots back to preeminence Best *New* Concert Moment: The New Woos in Singer by John/Norda/Bernie It sounds and looks GREAT! Best Rocker/Best Dancer at a Moodies Concert: Higher & Higher (though Singer is tight for 2nd) and Graeme Edge Best Guitar Solo - Intro to Slide Zone Wait! The solo in Singer! No, no...HIGHER AND HIGHER! Most Eye-Catching Moment During a Moodies Concert: John Lodge swinging his bass near the end of TOSOL Sexiest Moment in a Moodies Concert: TDMH SPEAKING the lyrics at the end of Singer "We're just the singers in a rock 'n roll band!" BRILLIANT! Fall seems a long, long time away at this moment. Big Sigh I'd like to thank The Moody Blues for a wonderful tour and wish ALL of them: Band, backups and crew, a pleasant and happy summer. As for me, I have one prayer: I feel the rhythm of the earth, in my soul tonight. May it never fade away! MaggieMay Somewhere you can hear my voice... Photos courtesy of SueC |
