The Four Seasons in Texas & Oklahoma - March 2010
Ummm…
no, not those Four Seasons, there’s not a Franki Valli in sight in this review.
All will become clearer as you read on, hopefully.
This
was booked to be a 2 show long weekend, taking in two Cheap Trick shows in
Austin Texas and then Durant Oklahoma. The Austin show in particular was
exciting to go for, since it would be the bands first appearance at the
prestigious South by Southwest (SXSW) Festival. Hell, they’ve done most
everything else in their career, but never SXSW. So that would be cool to
experience, plus personally it would be nice to return to a city where I’ve
mixed memories from previous trips. A bonus was that, after booking my air
tickets etc, it became known that CT would also record a performance for the
“Austin City Limits” TV show. No indication of when they’d record, but it turned
out lucky that I booked flights out to Texas on the Wednesday…
It
would also be a nice break from a prolonged busy spell at work, and hopefully,
from the seemingly never-ending winter of either cold weather or snowy weather
here in England. At the time of leaving, that had lasted 3 straight months and
was just continuing…
Anyway, let’s leave work and British cold & snow behind, and head out to Texas,
where everything is bigger. And hopefully warmer.
Wednesday
17 March
As
usual, an early start to my travelling day but not insanely early. Instead of a
6am flight out of Manchester, my first flight was at 10am. I still had to be up
at 5am and leave by 6.15am, so that my 70 mile drive from Leeds to Manchester
Airport would avoid the Manchester motorways morning traffic jams. I did hit a
couple of logjams on the Manchester orbital motorway, but nothing major.
I’ll skip through the flying pretty quickly (if only I could do that in real
life). The 10am flight from Manchester to Amsterdam on KLM was a short 45 minute
hop. I had a quick visit to the Lounge at AMS before going early to the gate for
my Minneapolis flight on Delta – with a full security check & hand luggage
x-raying at the gate as has been the case for some years for US bound flights.
The 8hr 20m flight to Minneapolis was a drag, but at least my front economy seat
had some legroom and no seat-in-front reclined in my face. I read some of my
Steig Larsson book (great reading!) and watched “District 9” on the video.
Immigration etc at Minneapolis St Paul was pretty quick, in part because I was
one of the first off the plane (Immigration Officer: “You’re going to see Cheap
Trick in Texas? Are those guys still going?” Me: “Yep, 35 years on and as good
as ever!”) and also because my priority labelled rollercase was actually one of
the first to hit the carousel.
My
last flight of the day was from MSP to Dallas Ft Worth. The evening Delta flight
took 2 hrs. Sadly with Delta having consumed Northwest Airlines, I’d lost my KLM/Northwest
perk of automatic 1st Class upgrades on domestic NW flights, but no
matter. This was only 2 hours, plus by now I just wanted to arrive. I landed at
DFW at 9.25pm, we taxied for about 9 miles around the terminals (I’d forgotten
how big DFW is), and I eventually got my case off the carousel about 10pm. My
girlfriend Patricia arrived from Chicago at another terminal at roughly the same
time, and we finally met up at the rental car centre a couple of miles from the
airport.
I’d
booked us at a La Quinta hotel about 7-8 miles from the airport, plus I’d
brought my US GPS/satnav unit (“Janet”), so it wouldn’t take long to reach the
hotel, right? Wrong. Janet got confused with the major roads around the airport,
so did I, and after finally getting on the right road and going in the right
direction, we couldn’t find the hotel. We drove in a circle a couple of times
around quiet roads beside an interstate before spotting the hotel sign on the
opposite side of the interstate… Finally got there, checked in and sank into
bed. After 24 hours awake I was ready for sleep.
Ooops, sorry, the travelling bit was longer than I’d intended!
Thursday 18 March – CT at Austin City Limits, Austin TX
Show
day #1 started off sunny but chilly. Pat mentioned a comment that mutual Welsh
friend Darran had said to her online shortly before she’d left Chicago yesterday
afternoon… and upon checking online, I found that Gary Johnson, the manager of
my football team (Bristol City) had left the club on Weds whilst I was
travelling. That was disappointing to read. We had breakfast by the hotel lobby
– did you know that you can get waffle makers in Texas that create waffles in
the shape of Texas? True, Pat discovered that. Were they bigger than waffles in
the rest of the US? Probably.
We
left north Dallas around 10am, drove close by downtown (seeing Dealey Plaza and
the Texas School Book Depository as we swept by on the freeway) and headed on
south to Austin. After a couple of brief stops en-route, we reached Round Rock
(some 20 miles north of Austin) early in the afternoon. The weather was bright,
sunny and spring-like, very pleasant. We checked into our hotel and had a late
lunch nearby, which would probably be it for eating for the day. We left the
hotel before 4pm to head into Austin and find the TV studio. A few days before
flying, we’d been lucky enough to get tickets for the “Austin City Limits” show
which was taking place this evening (see what I mean about the lucky timing of
flying to Texas?) We hit some heavy traffic en-route, but managed to find a
parking spot near the TV studio which was on the edge of the very large
university campus north of downtown. A little later whilst in line, it was good
to see several CT friends, particularly Lisa J and her son Zach who was
celebrating his birthday! Funnily enough it was in Austin that Lisa and I had
first met back in 1999 for the 3 nights of album shows at La Zona Rosa, and it
was cool, 11 years on to see her with one of the new generation of CT fans!
Other fans we saw included Anneke and Raquel from the CT.com boards, Chicago
Mike and his wife, and the Texas “Trick Chicks”. Whilst waiting in line
it was interesting to hear a group of people discussing the band with a printed
bio in their hands. It seems that quite a few people come along to ACL tapings,
even without knowing who is playing.
We
got let into the KLRU TV studio just after 7pm. We entered in batches of around
10 people, as the entrance was on the 3rd floor but we had to be
taken by elevator to the 6th floor. On exiting the elevator on floor
6, we got handed an information card about the evenings show, passed by a
merchandise table selling ACL items and a show specific poster, and past tables
of free beer (yes! Free beer, already poured into plastic glasses!) and then
into the studio. From my TV game show appearances here in England during the
90’s, I knew studio’s were pretty small but look bigger on camera, and this was
no exception. We entered at the back of the studio and the stage was facing us,
together with its famous Austin skyline graphic. There was banked seating to
both sides of the studio, from mid-stage to the back of the studio. There was
also banked seating at the rear of the studio. At stage front was standing room,
but a line was drawn about 7-8 feet from the actual front of the stage and fans
could not stand closer than this line. That very front area was for the TV
camera’s to move around in, as well as a couple of photographers. We were lucky
enough to get front seats to Rick’s side of the stage, right by his steps.
Couldn’t ask for a better view. We had Lisa and Zach beside us by side stage,
and other Texas fans to our right.
At
8pm the producer took to the stage to say a few words, to thank various
sponsors, to announce this was the last season that ACL would be filmed in this
studio, and to tell us a little about how the evening would go. At 8.05pm the
familiar CT audio montage started, with the band coming on at 8.07pm to a warm
welcome from a full (200-300) studio audience.
RN –
black suit, black/white Beatles logo shirt, bow tie
RZ – black fringed leather jacket, black leather pants, black plain v-neck
shirt, shades, and later the straw hat
TP – dark grey tunic top, black pants
DN – dark grey shirt, blue jeans
+ Magic Christian, Roger Manning – both on keyboards
audio montage intro, Stop This Game drone,
Way of the World, When The Lights Are
Out, If You Want My Love, I Want You to Want Me, These Days, Baby Loves to Rock,
Sleep Forever, Heaven Tonight, 70’s Song, Miracle, Miss Tomorrow, Sick Man of
Europe, Closer - The Ballad of Burt & Linda, Surrender /(encore)/ Voices, Dream
Police, Gonna Raise Hell
OK,
first things to notice – Daxx Nielsen on drums, and two sets of keyboards, with
long time associate Magic Christian on one and Jellyfish member Roger Manning on
the other. Both helped provide backing vocals.
The
set opened as usual recently with “Way of the World”, and from the start the
band looked to be enjoying themselves in this intimate setting. The stage area
was smaller than they generally use, but they made best use of it, with Rick and
Robin in particular playing to the TV cameras. No reason was given for Bun E’s
absence, but Daxx was a very capable substitute and of course he’d covered for
Bun back in 2001 when the latter took time off for back surgery.
Interesting to see Robin Z jnr stand by Magic during “Lights Out” and help out
with backing vocals. And although this was a TV recording, the band weren’t
changing their show style. Rick still said a few words to the enthusiastic
audience after many of the songs during the set. After “Lights Out”, Rick told
the crowd “It’s great to be here at Austin City Limits, it’s quite an honour to
be here”. He followed that up with a reminder for those who weren’t familiar…
“We’re Cheap Trick, accept no substitutes please!”
As
usual, Rick changed his guitar after every song, whilst Robin played several
different guitars. Tom stuck with his stunning sparkly “peacock” design 12
string bass throughout.
Cool
that Rick came over and gave Zach a Happy Birthday greeting during “If You Want
My Love”, and of course the new fans as well as the old timers knew “I Want You
to Want Me” which kicked up the enthusiasm of the crowd up even further. After
that song, Rick dryly noted “We’ve been in a lot of other buildings before they
got torn down!” He added “We’re playing a smaller venue tomorrow… twenty to
thirty thousand… I prefer right here, though our manager prefers us right
there!” He finished off by holding up the “Latest” 8-track and announcing “We
have the biggest selling 8 track in the world… we’re selling 8 track players…
but they’re in cars!”
Robin wore the familiar straw hat for “These Days”, and Rick followed up with a
guitar solo before the band went into an energetic “Baby Loves to Rock”. Nice to
hear that one again. Afterwards Rick told us “That was recorded a mere 30 years
ago”. Never one to miss the opportunity to embarrass anyone, he spotted a couple
of people leaving off to Tom’s side (not hard to spot in the small setting) –
“Where are you going? We’ll have the drinks brought to you! We’ll even have the
bathrooms brought to you!” He then moved on into more serious territory,
announcing that “Last night a friend passed away – Alex Chilton, who was due to
appear here at SXSW. He wrote a song we play, In The Streets, and we decided to
dedicate a couple of songs to him. For Alex Chilton, here we go”.
Robin produced a stunning, haunting vocal of “Sleep Forever”, before the band
went into a long, intense “Heaven Tonight” which is always amazing to hear live.
To complete the tribute trilogy was “That 70’s Song”, Cheap Trick’s adaptation
of “In The Streets”. Those 11 minutes were a very fitting tribute.
At
the end of “That 70’s Song” Rick delivered the line “Alright Wisconsin Austin
Texas!”… which I guess covered the bases! After the song Rick once again
addressed the crowd, “On the keyboards, Mr Magic Christian. He’s been with us
off and on for the last 25-26 years… mind you, we missed him for the last 24!”
Magic has been back with the band regularly since last summer. Rick continued
“From Jellyfish, Roger Manning. On drums, Mr Daxx Nielsen. They told us not to
wear anything flashy… so Tom brought his 12 string bass!” Tom displayed his
stunning, sparkling bass, and Rick noted “The bass matches the lights!” –
indicating the lit up skyline backdrop.
“Miracle” was next up, followed by the start of “Miss Tomorrow”. The band
stopped during the first verse, and Rick quipped “That’s a very short song we
do!” The band quickly restarted the song, and this, like all of the other new
material from “The Latest” came across well, interspersed with the older
classics. After “Miss Tomorrow” was another short break of a minute or two –
“Thank you… we have to change tape”. Rick returned to the mic a few seconds
later to say “When they tore down the MGM Grand, we were the last ones there.”
He then informed us that “This one reached number 2 in England… and nowhere in
the United states”. The band went into the fairly short but hugely high energy
“Sick Man of Europe”, which is particularly notable for the totally amazing
quicksilver bass runs that Tom plays throughout the two minutes. Amazing to see.
Afterwards, Rick noted the performance, “Tom Petersson on 12 string bass”. He
then changed to his Uncle Pepper guitar, holding it up and fibbing “I painted
this myself!” Yeah, we believe you Mr Michelangelo Nielsen!
The
band went into another new song, and another that I’d not heard live before. The
Uncle Pepper guitar was the appropriate one to play for the Beatlesesque
“Closer, The Ballad of Burt and Linda”, with its catchingly haunting chorus.
Very impressive, and I think this one may become a live favourite. The main set
closed with the classic “Surrender”, which was pure and simple, classic Cheap
Trick. The band rocked, the crowd rocked, even the TV cameramen were seen to be
singing along. At the end Robin thanked the crowd, “We’re Cheap Trick, we’ll see
you down the road apiece”.
After the usual minute or two break, Rick returned to the stage to ask that
redundant question “Does that mean you want us to do one more?” The response was
a huge “YES!” from the crowd that almost took off the studio ceiling. Rick told
us “It’s taken us 36 years to get onto Austin City Limits… it’ll be 36 more till
we come back. Actually we’ve already been asked back… to clean up later!” On
getting given his next guitar by his tech, he added “Jeff Beck lent me this
guitar… I hope I don’t run into him soon!” The band surprised me a little by
starting the encore with “Voices”, but it went down well and sounded great (I
was only surprised as it’s normally in the main set and not the encore). “Dream
Police” was again hugely well received, at the end Rick saying “Thank you very
much, this has been great for us”. It had actually been pretty good for us in
the audience too Rick, but the band had kept their piece-de-resistance till
last. I expected to hear Tom’s bass intro for “Aufie” or perhaps the start of
“Goodnight Now”. Instead, it took a few seconds to process Daxx’s drumbeat as
being the start of “Gonna Raise Hell”… holy crap! I hadn’t heard this in several
years, and it was simply scintillating. Huge, intense, a monster, and a total
joy. Robin’s vocals were amazing, Tom and Rick jamming together mid-song was a
treat, and Daxx was solid and beat perfect throughout. What a way to end the
show.
The
show ended at 9.28pm. Funny, it felt like it had lasted much longer. Soon after
the band left the stage, the side stage areas and even the stage itself were
swamped with people picking up picks, setlists and almost anything else they
could find, to the annoyance of CT’s crew. The organisation at ACL had been
terrific right up until this point, but sadly security at the end of the show
was very slow to secure the stage (to the frustration of CT’s crew). Anyway,
that didn’t detract from what the band had done on stage. They’d performed a
terrific show in front of a very enthusiastic crowd, and hopefully that’ll
project well when its broadcast in the US in the latter part of 2010.
We
soon headed back to Round Rock, but we’d be back in Austin tomorrow.
Friday 19 March – CT at SXSW, Austin TX
A
cool and overcast start to the day. We had breakfast in the hotel before heading
downtown mid-morning, to look around and to shop. We parked in a dusty parking
lot close to Stubbs (where I’d seen CT and Wayne Kramer back in 2003) and also
just a couple of streets away from 6th Street. Immediately you could
see the evidence of SXSW, with various roads closed off, a couple of small
outdoor stages nearby, and already a couple of vans with people unloading drum
cases, guitars, amps and other kit. Pat & I wandered along 6th
Street, which was fairly quiet but getting busier as time went on. We went into
many shops along the way, in the last I finally found one that actually t-shirts
with one my favourite designs on. I’d bought one back in 2003, but over time
it’s sadly shrunk. I mean, it must have… its not like it was *me* that put on
weight <LOL> Anyway, this was the only shop with the design, so I bought more
than one XL… future proofing, see? Who knows when I’ll next be in Austin.
By
late morning 6th Street was alive with musicians carrying kit to
various bars, SXSW delegates walking around with their laminates prominently
displayed, lines starting to form outside more than one club or bar, and the
sound of live music coming out of various places. We were lucky enough to meet
up with old buddy Steve Crawford, his wife and daughter and we shared a light
lunch and drinks with them on the upstairs, open air patio of one of the bars.
That was fun – good company, the sound of live music, and by now the sun had
come out and it was turning into a lovely, warm day.
We
left them at 1pm, but we’d see them later at the show. Tonight’s gig was a free,
outdoor show so it was time to go get in line in order to hopefully get a good
spot later. We eventually found our way to Auditorium Shores park by 1.30pm,
found somewhere to park the car and walked over to one of the main gates.
People-wise it was very quiet, with only Anneke & Raquel in line. However, CT
were soundchecking, and we could see the stage a couple of hundred yards away
through the wire fence. We heard “Miracle”, and discovered they’d already played
“Speak Now” and “Welcome to the World”. We sat in the sun all afternoon, it was
beautiful, warm and like a summers day. Well, I think summers days in Texas are
hotter than this, but from where I come from, this was about as good as it gets!
Tonight’s show featured 3 bands, and at 3pm we heard the Wisconsin based Bodeans
soundcheck. I’ve liked them a lot since I saw them support CT at Streetscene in
San Diego back in Sept 1998, and so it was a pleasure to get them on the bill. I
took a brief walk around at one point, and found the cool statue of local legend
Stevie Ray Vaughan down by the river. Around 4.30pm, Cracker started their
soundcheck.
By
now there was quite a line of people waiting, both at our gate and at another
further along. At 4pm a van from local Channel 8 News came along, and
interviewed Anneke as first in line. Thanks to Chicago Mike, they also decided
to interview me. Did they understand my weird English accent? Who knows. I just
talked and talked anyway! The reporter then asked us at the front of the line if
any of us would be willing to hold back when they opened the gates at 5pm for a
live interview on air. Oddly enough we all declined… after being there all
afternoon, the last thing we’d want to do was miss out on trying to get a good
spot!
Gates opened at 5.05pm and it was a race to run to the stage. It wasn’t exactly
flat terrain, but it was OK, and we managed to snag a front stage spot. With
20-30,000 expected, we didn’t want to get stuck further back. But funnily
enough, we needn’t have bothered to rush! Most of the crowd ambled in, and set
up spots on the raised grass further back from the stage, or went straight to
the beer booths. The front stage area stayed fairly empty for quite some time!
The stage was large and open backed, so the Austin downtown
skyline could be seen behind. There was a large video screen to stage right
(Tom’s side), to help those folks way at the back. The unscheduled opening band
were the Dallas based Ray Johnstone Band, two guitars and a sax, who played a
short, funky 10 minute set from 5.40pm. They were OK, but at front stage their
sound was lousy, hopefully not how CT would sound later? Hmmm… After a very
quick stage changeover, Cracker came on a 6pm. They’re a 4 piece band, formed in
part from members of Camper Van Beethoven. And this was our (those of us at
front stage) first taste of the photographers scrum that lasted for the first 3
songs of Cracker’s set. Something like a dozen photographers plus a video
cameraman all vying with each other for the perfect shots. Oh, this’ll be fun
when CT come on :-| During their 30 minute set I noticed several women in green
shirts off to/below right (Tom’s side). I soon realised that one was doing sign
language of the song lyrics for a group of deaf people who were all together
near stage front. That was cool. Cracker were OK, but the sound at stage front
was again poor and I could barely hear the vocals.
Ray Johnstone Band / Cracker
Another quick stage changeover saw The Bodeans come on 17 minutes later at
6.47pm, to a warm welcome from the sizable crowd behind us, and happily the
sound was much better too. They played for just over an hour and did a nice set.
Interesting how they changed some of the song arrangements or tempo’s over the
years, slowing a couple of songs down. They were able to get the crowd to sing
along with the chorus’s of 2-3 songs, and were very well received. I enjoyed
them a lot. Oh, photographer scrum again for about the first ten minutes.
Bodeans , plus photographer scrum!
By
now the park (what we could see behind us) was packed, as was a VIP viewing area
off to Rick’s side of the stage. In fact some people with VIP passes couldn’t
even get up to that area so it looked.
By
now it was dark, but still pleasantly warm, and the lights went down at 8.16pm
and the familiar audio montage started up. The band came on at 8.18pm to a very
loud welcome from the crowd.
RN –
black pants, black/white shirt, bow tie, grey jacket with black/red stripes
RZ – black hat, black leather pants, black cloth jacket, black silk shirt
TP – black leather jacket, gey t-shirt, black pants, neck scarf
DN – dark grey shirt, blue jeans
+ Magic Christian, Roger Manning
audio montage intro, Stop This Game drone,
Hello There, ELO Kiddies, Welcome to the
World, I Want You to Want Me, These Days, Wrong All Along, Sleep Forever, Heaven
Tonight, 70’s Song, Taxman, Ballad of TV Violence, Oh Candy, Miracle, Miss
Tomorrow, Sick Man of Europe, Closer - The Ballad of Burt and Linda, Surrender
/(encore)/ The Flame, Dream Police, He's a Whore, Gonna Raise Hell, Goodnight
Now
With
Daxx again on drums, it was a guess whether the setlist would change or not from
last night. However, that uncertainty was soon quashed with an opening of “Hello
There” followed by “ELO Kiddies”. I must admit that I got fooled (and I *swore*
that I wouldn’t get fooled again!) by the drum intro, expecting the band to go
into “Lights Out”. Happily for us at front, the photographers were ushered away
by security after “ELO Kiddies”. And happily again, the sound was just fine!
After “ELO Kiddies”, Rick reminded the crowd “Just in case you’re not sure, we
are the one, the only, accept no substitutes Cheap Trick! It’s great to be in
Austin and South by South West”. The band went into “Welcome to the World” which
hasn’t been in the setlist since early last summer. Nice to hear again. Next up
was “I Want You to Want Me”, which, as you can guess was a total crowd pleaser.
It was hard to gauge the size of the crowd when looking back from our spot, but
I can guess the band had a fine view of the very large crowd, and it must have
been fun for them to see 20,000 or more rocking along. After “IWYTWM” Rick did
indeed note that it was a “…fine looking crowd. He added that they’d be doing
some stuff from The Latest, and informed them about the worldwide #1 selling
status of the 8-track.
“These Days” was next, followed by another cool surprise, “Wrong all Along” from
the 1997 “Cheap Trick” CD release, and which hasn’t been played live in some
years. Fun stuff.
Rick
then announced that “As you probably all know, a good friend of the musical
community left the building. He also wrote the song we recorded for that 70’s
Show called “In The Streets”. We’re going to play a couple of songs for Alex
Chilton… Alex – wish you were here”. Robin then sang the short but very poignant
“Sleep Forever”, accompanied only by unobtrusive keyboards. It was a reminder,
if we needed one, of what an amazing voice Robin has. The band then went into
the intense and dark “Heaven Tonight”, which was chilling. A number of musical
greats like Steven Tyler and Billy Gibbons cite that as their favourite live CT
song, and you can understand why. It’s right up there in my top 5 CT songs too.
The tribute trilogy continued, of course, with the more uptempo “70’s Song”.
After that, Rick introduced “… a couple of people. A good friend who used to be
in Jellyfish, Roger Joseph Manning junior! And on keyboards, Mr Magic Christian.
He went into rehab right here in Texas… he’s all better now! The good looking
man on the drums is Mr Daxx Nielsen. My favourite lead singer in the whole wide
world, Mr robin Zander! And on the 12 strong bass, Tom Petersson! Here’s
something from the first album”. And another cool surprise, with the intro to
“Taxman” starting up. That was cool to hear, as was the following, “Ballad of TV
Violence” and then “Oh Candy” – a trilogy of wonderful songs from the bands
debut album.
I
missed Ricks couple of spoken lines after “Oh Candy”, but then the band went
into “Miracle” from the bands newest album. Afterwards Rick asked the crowd “How
are you doing?” The crowd responded with a roar. Rick then asked “How are you
*really* doing?” He then asked “How about that Robin Zander?” The crowd showed
their appreciation, before Robin gave a terrific vocal to “Miss Tomorrow”.
Afterwards, Rick noted “As you can see, we’re filming, so smile… or give the
finger! Or smile whilst giving the finger! The next song features Tom Petersson,
this was voted #2 in England for best song of the year”. The band went into the
fairly short but very energetic “Sick Man of Europe”, with Tom’s neck hand
really flying. I wonder if he could cope if that song was 2 minutes longer?
Maybe he’d explode!
Rick
then held up his “Uncle Pepper” guitar before the band went into “Closer – The
Ballad of Burt and Linda”, which featured a long ending and is a cool song. That
was followed by another classic guaranteed to turn even the most benign crowd
into a frenzy, “Surrender”! Happily the crowd were already very enthusiastic, so
this could only take them up a notch! At the end, Robin said “Thank you very
much for having Cheap Trick, we love you guys, we’ll see you down the road
apiece”.
After a couple minutes well earned break for the band, Rick came back on to ask
“Does that mean you want to hear some more? … Are you SURE you want to hear some
more?” I can tell you that, yes they did want to hear some more!
The
encore started with “The Flame” followed by “Dream Police”, both of which went
down well of course. We then got treated to “He’s a Whore”, during which it was
funny to see Rick flick a couple of picks at Magic, nailing him with the second!
At the end Robin went and whispered to Rick, then to Tom, and Tom to Daxx…
Chinese whispers? No, far better than that. We were treated to an unscheduled
“Gonna Raise Hell”, which I later discovered wasn’t on the setlist. What can I
say, it’s a great song that highlights every band member, and which just takes
you to a great, great musical place. Well, it does me anyway. The show ended
with “Goodnight Now” with two short endings (and Roger Manning standing and
playing tambourine behind Daxx), finishing at 9.53pm. The band looked to have
had a lot of fun, and they’d no doubt got a lot of energy from the reaction of
the huge crowd. I don’t know exactly how many were there, between 20-30,000 were
expected, and I later heard that this had seen the largest crowd ever to attend
a single gig at SXSW. With both the Austin City Limits recording and then this
show (plus a full media day on Weds 17th), the band could have done
absolutely no more to highlight themselves. Outstanding shows, and one can only
hope that they didn’t go unnoticed by some of the industry bigwigs in town for
the week.
Oh,
I forgot to say that it was so cool to watch the women doing sign language
during CT’s set, they looked to be having a lot of fun. In particular, the woman
signing during “Gonna Raise Hell” looked to be having huge fun for the whole 9
minutes of that. They looked to do a great job.
We slowly made our way out, there was no use in hurrying as the
roads were jammed. We eventually started driving out after 10:30pm, discovering
that the GPS wouldn’t switch on :-( However, I knew roughly how to get back to
the highway, and soon we were heading north. En route we stopped to pick up some
Arby’s food – beef sandwiches and curly fries! And luckily Pat remembered which
exit we needed for the hotel! Going online back at the hotel to post a short
review to CT.com, we saw that a short announcement had just been posted during
the evening, to inform that Bun E was not touring but was still a member of the
band. That explained why Daxx was substituting on drums here.
Saturday 20 March – CT at Durant, OK
Awoke early this morning to low rumbling. Hmmm. I looked out the window to find
a major thunderstorm going on, with torrents of heavy rain. So what happened to
the summer-like weather of yesterday? Oh well, we’d at least been lucky that the
bad weather had held off until after CT’s outdoor show. Waiting out in line in
heavy rain would have been no fun… been there, done that many times over the
years. Wet feet are not pleasant.
Anyway, we left Round Rock mid-morning. The rain had eased off by now, but it
was chilly, probably 25-30 degrees cooler than yesterday, brrrr. We drove north,
back towards Dallas and beyond. On the way we stopped at a Walmart for me to get
a couple of things. Pat bought me a George Strait CD which we listened to as we
continued north. I did not know that it’s apparently a state law that when
driving in Texas you must listen to George Strait. Look it up!
Oh,
one “funny” story I must share. Both Pat and I had bought one of the show
posters at Austin City Limits. They were on heavy card, so we wanted to protect
them for our respective flights. We stopped north of Dallas to try to find
poster rolls. Eventually did some shopping in an Office Max. At the checkout, I
was asked for my zip code. I replied to the woman that I didn’t have one as I
was a visitor from overseas. The woman asked from where, I replied England, to
which she asked “What zip code is that?” Oh, come on! I gritted my teeth as I
said “It doesn’t have a zip code, it’s a country”. I eventually managed to pay
my $10 or whatever, but really? You can’t spend money without a damn zip code?
And England is now the 51st state? I guess I must have missed that
news. A bizarre little incident.
We
continued north until we reached our hotel at Sherman mid-afternoon. We checked
in, and thankfully it was much warmer indoors than out. We got ready for the
show and headed out again at 4.15pm. Unbelievably, small snowflakes were now
blowing around outside. We drove about 20 miles north, crossing the state line,
until we reached the Choctaw Casino a little south of Durant, Oklahoma. We went
into the big casino to try to find the concert venue, unfortunately starting off
in the smoking part of the casino. Eventually we discovered that the concert
venue was a totally separate building about ½ mile away. So we went all the way
back to the car and drove to the Event Centre. At 5pm it was very quiet, but we
were able to get our tickets at willcall, and also got a look at the venue. The
Events Centre had a huge lobby, and then the concert venue/room was huge too.
Very large stage, and a large, square main floor with rows and rows of purple
flat seating. To the rear were 3 rows of banked seating, and far off to each
side were about 7-8 rows of banked seating. I’d guess you could comfortably seat
a couple of thousand in here. There were video screens to each side of the
stage. The ceiling was black with exposed ducting.
We
took the little shuttle bus back to the casino and had dinner with CT friends
Dia and Randy and a buddy of theirs. Nice to catch up after several years. Back
at the Events Centre, they started letting people in at 7pm, and a pleasure to
see Lisa, the Trick Chicks again, also Brian from Dallas, and Bill Tolles and
his family. I haven’t seen Bill in a few years, and he’s recently done at least
of couple of tours in Iraq in the US military. I salute him for his bravery. AND
he’s a big Cheap Trick fan!
By
8pm the venue was probably ¾ full, with most of the floor seats occupied, though
most of the rear and side seats were empty. The lights went down at 8.07pm, and
the audio montage started. The band came on at 8.09pm. Our seats were front row
was off to the right (Tom’s side), almost side on to the stage. Our view of
Rick, Robin and Tom was a little restricted at times, but we did have a good
view of Daxx and Magic and it’s good to get a different view at times.
RN –
black suit, black/white patterned shirt, Beatles bowtie
RZ – black leather pants, black silk shirt, black jacket, black hat, shades
TP – black pants, black leather jacket, dark shirt, black scarf
DN – dark grey shirt, blue jeans
+ Magic Christian
audio montage intro, Stop This Game drone,
Way of the World, When the Lights Are
Out, Miracle, I Want You to Want Me, These Days, Baby Loves to Rock, Sleep
Forever, Heaven Tonight, 70’s Song, Miss Tomorrow, Don't Be Cruel, Voices, Sick
Man of Europe, The Flame, Closer - The Ballad of Burt & Linda, Surrender
/(encore)/ Dream Police, Ballad of TV Violence, Goodnight Now
The
crowd were enthusiastic from the start, mostly standing as soon as the show
started with “Way of the World”. That was followed by “Lights Out” and
“Miracle”, and “I Want You to Want Me” was of course a huge favourite as it
always is.
Rick
then reminded the Oklahoma crowd that “Just in case you’re not sure, we are the
one, the only Cheap Trick”. Whilst Rick was talking it was very cool to see Tom
actually leave the stage on our side and come round to stage front right to give
one of his picks to a young girl there. What a gentleman. Meanwhile Rick was
reminding the crowd that “… The Latest recording is on CD and vinyl, and most
importantly 8 track! Since it’s release it’s been #1 in the world of 8 track
sales!”
The
show continued with “These Days”, then the “Stiff Competition” riff twice
leading into an energetic “Baby Loves to Rock”. Rick then announced that “The
next couple of tunes… the first is on The Latest, written for someone we used to
know… his daughter is in the front row – Jenny Candas, we’ve known her since she
was a baby. This and the next couple are for her”. A very heartfelt intro to the
next few songs starting with “Sleep Forever” which was written in tribute to a
long time Texan friend of the band, John Candas. That was followed by “Heaven
Tonight”, after which Rick told the crowd how much Steven Tyler & Billy Gibbon’s
love that song. The “70’s Song” went down well, with lots of people recognising
it from the show.
After “Miss Tomorrow” Rick introduced “On keyboards, Magic Christian… he got out
of rehab 9 months ago… long time in rehab!” Poor Magic, getting this
introductory spiel every night! Rick continued by introducing Daxx, Tom and
Robin, before finishing “We were the first band to have a Top 5 hit with an
Elvis Presley song… because it’s fuckin’ cool!” And our bonus for this evening
was a very nice “Don’t Be Cruel”, which featured an extra long intro for some
reason. At the end Rick handed his silver guitar to the security guard at the
front of the stage. He jokingly looked at him and asked “You think you can do
any better?” He then told the crowd “My cousin here works in law enforcement in
Oklahoma!” Looking at the guard he added “Do you want to come on stage with us?”
The guard smilingly declined before Rick’s tech came out to retrieve the guitar.
A fun little interlude.
The
show continued with “Voices”, then “Sick Man of Europe”, “The Flame” and
“Closer, The Ballad of Burt and Linda”. That last song features a nice guitar
solo by Rick for the latter of the song, with Robin standing to the rear of the
stage on Tom’s side adding backing vocals. The main set finished with
“Surrender”. Robin thanked the crowd: “Thank you very much for coming out to see
Cheap Trick, we love you, see you down the road apiece”. Rick left the stage on
Tom’s side, but immediately came around to the front of the stage on our side as
he’d spotted a couple of guys holding up a large banner with a graphic of both
sides of an old 70’s era Rick pick! He managed to get them to pass over the
banner, and moments later he walked back on stage, held up the banner and then
wrapped it around his steps! “Does that mean you want to hear some more?” he
asked the enthusiastic crowd? He got a very loud “Yes!” in return. But just in
case, he asked “Are you SURE you want to hear some more?” Twice.
The
encore started with “Dream Police”, in the middle of which Robin came over to
Tom’s side of the stage, messing with some fans off on our side. However, I
think he still had his mic, and Rick went to centre stage and mouthed his
“persecution” piece with no mic! Robin soon realised and brought back the mic
stand, allowing Rick to start over! From our viewpoint I could see it was a
little confusing for Daxx but he kept the beat going and it all worked out fine.
I think most casual fans in the crowd probably wouldn’t have realised this was
an unscripted event! Next up was “The Ballad of TV Violence”, followed by
“Goodnight Now” with 3 endings. The show ended at 9.33pm, and a nice show it had
been. The casino setting meant that it didn’t quite have the feel of the Austin
shows, but the band played great and the crowd got their money’s worth.
Got
to speak with a few friends before we left, Chicago Mike said that he and his
wife has seen both Anneke and I on a TV news report on Austin TV news this
morning whilst at Austin airport.
When
we went out to the car, we found a thin coating of snow, frozen on, and
snowflakes blowing around. Brrrr! We had to wait for the car to warm up and melt
that off the windows before driving to our hotel.
Sunday 21 March/Monday 21 March
So
the Cheap Trick part of the weekend trip was over, but the “fun” wasn’t. Woke up
to see it white outside, with several inches of snow having fallen overnight and
light snow still being blown around by the chill wind. We left the hotel just
before 10am, having first had to clear off the car windows. We headed south on
highway 75, slowly. It was four lane highway, two in each direction, but at
times the drifting snow narrowed that down to only one lane southbound. In many
years of driving in the US I’d scoffed at the “Caution: Bridge may be icy”
signs… but that warning was very true today. Whilst the road itself was often
relatively clear, at least for one lane, every bridge we crossed for probably 40
miles from Sherman was still covered in snow and ice on both lanes, and very
slippery. And for probably the 30-40 miles down to the first outlying suburbs of
Dallas, we saw many, many cars and pick up trucks off the road. Not just on the
hard shoulder, but way, way off to the side or on the snow covered central
median where they’d skidded off. I’ve done a lot of driving in snow this winter
in England, so I just took it easy and let the crazy rig drivers pass at over 50
miles per hour, even on the snow covered lane or on icy bridges. Crazy stuff.
It
was 70 miles to Dallas from Sherman, and in the city is was mostly snow free
though still very cold. Our respective flights were around 4pm, so we had time
to go downtown and visit Dealey Plaza and the 6th Floor Museum. I’d
been here before, some 13 years ago, but it’s still chilling to see the actual
location (with two white crosses painted on the road where the fateful shots hit
JFK) and then in the museum, the famous black & white movie pictures of that
world shaking event back in 1963. We also had time for a quick lunch in the
newly re-opened Hard Rock Café a mile or so away. Some cool stuff on display,
particularly by Texan artists but sadly no Cheap Trick items to be seen.
And
so back to the DFW car rental centre by 2.15pm to return the car, and then onto
separate shuttle buses to our respective terminals.
My check-in and security check was relatively quick, so I had
plenty of time before my flight at 4.40pm. That was a non-stop, overnight KLM
flight to Amsterdam. What can I say? I couldn’t sleep a wink so the 8 hour
flight dragged. An hour after landing at AMS, later I boarded my plane for
Manchester, landing there at 9am local time with Manchester familiarly cloudy
and overcast! But no, it wasn’t raining for a change. Anyway, end of story? Not
quite. I watched the cases go round the baggage carousel about 6 times before I
realised nothing more was coming out, and my case didn’t make it :-( The baggage
desk had no record of it being delayed, so all I could do was file the missing
case report and head off the get the shuttle bus to my car parking place. This
was Monday morning at about 9.30am, with 3-4 more KLM flights due in later in
the day from Amsterdam. I expected my case to be delivered at home that evening…
but no. I finally had to collect it from a courier office in Leeds on Weds
evening after, for some reason, it had been sent to Birmingham. Luckily it had
been the one in England, not Alabama!
And
so ended a very busy but memorable long weekend trip, which has included three
wonderful Cheap Trick shows, particularly the two in Austin. And the "Four
Seasons" I mentioned at the very start? Well, perhaps calling them seasons was
stretching things a bit, but the astute amongst you may have spotted what seemed
like a year round variation in the weather we experienced over just four days.
Spring-like weather on Thursday (sunny but cool), summer-like on Friday (warm
and sunny), autumnal weather on Saturday with a heavy thunderstorm and chill
winds, and finally and most definitely winter weather on Saturday night and
Sunday with snow! Who’d have thought we’d experience such variations in Texas in
late March?
Thanks!
As
always, I must thank people. Many thanks to Patricia for her great company and
remembering how to get back to our hotel on Friday night when the GPS failed!
Many thanks to Carla as always, and to Cheap Trick for three wonderful shows and
for putting up with seeing me yet again! And thanks also to the friends we met
up with at the shows and the warm welcome from them.
(Note: More of my show pictures from the Austin SXSW show can be found on
cheaptrick.com)
Kim
Gisborne - Leeds, England, 04 April 2010
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