June 24, 2004 - Gilford, NH
WELCOME TO THE SUMMER TOUR 2004! We left the showroom at Mohegan Sun in excellent spirits. What a fun time, I mean, really FUN. I’d do that again! In fact, I may give up sitting on the front row entirely. Look for me from now on on the back row, stoned out of my mind and staring with a glazed look at the lights. SueC and I picked one of the two casino areas for a bit of play. I won some, then lost some, won some more then lost, lost, lost. (not *too* much though!) Someone said to me recently, If I had YOUR money, I’d burn mine. LOL I’m not sure what that means, but rest assured, I’m entirely capable of burning it all by myself. The slots are loose enough at MS to make it fun for a long while, and I was relieved to finally lose enough to get bored and feel ready to leave. LOL SueC had made her way around the casino and dropped by to tell me she was heading for the room. I went in quietly for fear of disturbing her, but found her wide awake and making a pot of coffee! LOL I don’t know when we went to bed. We’ve had a number of nights where we saw 4am and an early night for us seems to be around 2:00. We left at checkout the next day for Guilford. I HATED to leave! We just didn’t have enough time there. I’ve got to get back there soon. (When’s Bowie supposed to play there? LOL) One of the bellmen/valets looked over our Mapquest directions and thought they would be ok, but added a quicker way for us to get onto the highway. As usual, I don’t remember the drive and have almost no idea of how we got around the northeast. We eventually left the highway and drove through a few small towns in what looked like a resort area. Lots of lakes and small motels. If one phrase could be used to describe the drive to Guilford, I think it would be: LIVE BAIT! And we didn’t need any! After a long time and some serious worrying we came upon signs for Meadowbrook Farm. It’s a pretty out of the way place is all I can say! THE VENUE Oh boy, THIS place is unique! Meadowbrook Farm certainly deserves its name. It looks just like a farm! There are rolling hills, a meadow surrounded by white fence and a number of buildings that are very farmlike in appearance. A few cows in the grass parking lot would have made the picture perfect. We were there way too early, but we weren’t the first ones there. There was quite a bit of picnicking and tailgating going on. It was a very pleasant day and we opened the sunroof and relaxed. There wasn’t much else to do! SueC thought the gates opened at 6pm and we started the short trek to the gates. I can’t remember if I brought my camera. If I did, I didn’t get it out. The Farm had tons of employees and one gal’s job was to walk up and down the line of waiting patrons and repeat their list of forbidden items. We heard it a large number of times, over and over because gates opened a full half hour past 6pm. Sigh At least it wasn’t raining! If you can hobble out of the uneven parking meadow there is a nice paved path that takes you to the venue gates. It’s not too long of a walk! We passed some wonderful smelling flowers and more white washed fences. Their administrative building and box office looks like a very nice farmhouse! LOL Their hard stance on photography was a shame, because I would have loved to have had a few photos of the venue. Forget The Band – I have enough photos of them! Premiere parking was close to the venue itself and looked very convenient. I was a little surprised that the gal at the gate handed me a wristband. I didn’t realize I had a VIP ticket! There’s a large area with concessions, first aid and other buildings in front of the venue proper. It’s quite nice. The venue itself is a trip. It looks like a huge, low (relatively) barn! I kid you not! I was amazed. I didn’t realize Morton made concert venues! It looks pretty new. The entire building is fully covered with hard siding type material (really, just like a Morton building), the sides were open (as best as I can recall). The stage is at one end. The opposite end is open and there is lawn seating beyond it. I’m not sure how that works! It looks awkward. Meadowbrook Farm wins the award for the World’s Highest Stage. The darn thing is at LEAST 5ft 8 because we nabbed a security guard and put him at the stage to check. My little tape measure wasn’t long enough for the job. Well, The Moodies HAD to have felt safe up there! I couldn’t have reached them if my life had depended on it. Otherwise, the “black box” stage was the Moodies usual setup, with mikes a little far back. The 3x4s were flying on either side. There was a 4x2 box under each flying set and a small 2 set. A pair of 1x3 front fill speakers were placed on a box at the center next to the stage. I have come to hate front fill speakers! Grrrrrrrrrrrrrr The *barn* holds more than it looked to me. One guard told me the pavilion area seated 6000 and was almost sold out. I was surprised! This place is really out of the way! Huh. The proof is in the pudding and The Moodies were spooning crème brulee in Guilford. I didn’t pull out my camera and I don’t think SueC did either. One pleasant looking lady DID and got nailed by security at the end of the concert. The fellow demanded to know how many photos she had taken and threatened to take her photo card. (If you’re digital, you know that this is a serious threat) From SueC’s description, it seemed like unnecessary threats and torture, because in the end, he just let her go. The cops in Indiana love to do this to speeders. They pull you over and KNOW they have you and say things to you like do you know how fast you were going (hint – guess low) or so where are you going in such a hurry? I had the perfect answer to the latter question once. I was asked where I was going and I said, TO MY AUDIT. It was the PEFECT answer! LOL!!! THE FASHION REPORT JL – White long-slvd gauze embroidered shirt, black jeans, boots JH – Sheet shirt with baby blue jeans GE – no idea Bernie – The Serape Norda – Black print bustier, jacket Paul – White long-slvd shirt This is what you get when MaggieMay can only see from the performers’ knees up. I’m going out on a limb here to say that John was wearing boots. <shrug> The above is first half attire. THE CONCERT Well, it was a high stage. A DAMN high stage! The impaired view bordered on the ridiculous. Stupid design. I’m not sure farmers should be in the concert business anyway! The Summer 2004 setlist was played in its entirety with a 20 minute intermission, giving our sore necks a brief break. The concert was very good. I thought Justin came out pretty subdued and remained that way until Voices. He seems to really enjoy that song and it perked him right up. : ) I hadn’t noticed before that the intro for Voices is played in unison by the flute and the bass guitar. I like that a lot. Slide Zone had a little *extra* on it at Guilford. The rest of the evening was fine, but not outstanding. Question was wildly amusing! The stage was over my head and I had to look almost straight up. LOL I’m going to need a full-time chiropractor by the end of this tour! MaggieMay I'm running away from the city lights, Got to get out of the smog... No Photos by SueC |