Post by Wild Turkey on Jul 24, 2011 13:30:25 GMT -8
I’m finally getting around to writing about this concert.
I set off for the 300 mile drive on the day of the show at 9 AM just praying there would be no accidents on the turnpike that usually has you stopped dead for hours on end. I’m on the interstate just 5 miles from my house and traffic comes to a halt. I’m hoping this isn’t an omen of things to come. I already had a problem with my ticket in that it never showed up. Finally got that situation resolved the day before the show. Traffic started moving and it was a smooth ride the rest of the trip.
Got to Bethlehem around 3:00 and checked in to my room. Called Mom to let her know I made it there because no matter how old you are, Mom still wants to know you made it there okay. They were having a reception later in the lobby and there would be free food and free beer. Unfortunately, it started a little too late and I don’t drink when I’ll be driving anyway, especially in a place where I’m unfamiliar with the roads, and had to pass on it.
I headed out to the venue around 6. I knew there was a farmer’s market right by the venue on Tuesdays and wanted to check it out since part of my job includes selling produce from a farm. I wanted to see if there are any tips I could pick up. It was kind of lame. Not as nice as the pictures would have you believe. It was so stinking hot and even though there was a nice breeze coming off the river, I decided to go into the air conditioned venue.
The ArtsQuest Center is a 4 story rectangular mostly glass building. I swear the greenhouse I work in is bigger. I went to will call and picked up my reprinted ticket. It was supposed to be a standing room only show but the ticket takers said there were tables and chairs set up and they were on a first come first served basis. So I went in. They had the stage in the center back of the room and the tables set up on either side of it with empty floor space in front of the stage. You could get some dinner and even had a full service bar.
It’s nearing the 7:30 start time and I see a bunch of scruffy looking guys in the back that look like they could all use a shower and shave. I thought they were part of the rigging crew. Turns out they were the opening act, a group called Mason Porter. I enjoyed them very much. They played mandolin, upright bass, acoustic guitar, harmonica and drums. They played for about 25 minutes. There was a very long delay before the Hounds came out. Like 50 minutes. The crew kept looking at speakers on the one side so I guess there was a technical problem.
Martie and Emily and the band finally came walking out from the side and that’s when most people left their seats and went to the front of the stage. I got right up there and was so close that at the end when I tried to take a picture of the entire band, I couldn’t fit them all in.
They started off with “Delight” and Emily must have got a frog stuck in her throat and started laughing which made Martie start. They recovered nicely. They talked about the stage collapse in Ottawa. Emily said they were standing on the side watching Cheap Trick and she said ‘it’s getting kind of windy. Maybe we should get out of here’ and not 10 seconds later the stage started collapsing. Martie joked that Brad Rice grabbed her ponytail and said ‘every man for himself”. She did a wonderful and funny imitation of his accent. Before playing “I Miss You”, Martie talked about how Emily kept sending her depressing songs after her divorce. She knew she was going to be okay when she sent her this song. That she was in love again and she wasn’t going to slit her wrists. Martin Strayer is from the Philly area so he had a lot of family at this concert.
One observation I made. I saw the Hounds last year a month after seeing the Chicks open for the Eagles. It was weird to see Martie and Emily onstage without Natalie. It was still hard then to wrap my head around the idea of Martie and Emily doing this on their own. But I didn’t have that feeling this time. If the Chicks never come back, so be it. That’s not to say I don’t want Natalie back because I do. But I’ll have just as good a time seeing the Hounds. And they’re a lot less expensive.
The show ended and some of us were eying up the set lists onstage. Fortunately having a height and long arms advantage, I unpeeled the tape from Emily’s list and snatched it.
I did find someone familiar looking in the crowd next to me. It was Angela. We made some small talk and then headed down to wait by the bus. There were only 4 other people there. A total of 231 tickets were sold. The venue security guy said they weren’t going to come out and sign anything. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I’ve heard that one before. So we finally see Martie. She was carrying some stuff and got on the bus. Then she came back off the bus and walked over to us where she proceeded to sign and take pictures. One of the guys from Hounds’ management collected our stuff for Emily to sign. She was still meeting with Martin’s family and didn’t come off the bus.
One of the things I learned was that Martie and Emily didn’t appear on “God Only Knows” because they didn’t like the finished version. Rick Rubin produced it and they only had 2 days to do it. After they were done Martie said “we didn’t like it so Natalie did it on her own”.
Martie said after the next Hounds album, there will be another cycle of touring. She didn’t mention any time frame on either. I look forward to it. Hopefully they can play here in my hometown instead of me traveling all the time.
I managed to get some good pictures from my dinosaur of a digital camera. I’m too lazy to copy and paste URLs’s so you can look at them at my site: chickoholic.tripod.com/DixieChicks/cyhphotos_bethlehem.html
I set off for the 300 mile drive on the day of the show at 9 AM just praying there would be no accidents on the turnpike that usually has you stopped dead for hours on end. I’m on the interstate just 5 miles from my house and traffic comes to a halt. I’m hoping this isn’t an omen of things to come. I already had a problem with my ticket in that it never showed up. Finally got that situation resolved the day before the show. Traffic started moving and it was a smooth ride the rest of the trip.
Got to Bethlehem around 3:00 and checked in to my room. Called Mom to let her know I made it there because no matter how old you are, Mom still wants to know you made it there okay. They were having a reception later in the lobby and there would be free food and free beer. Unfortunately, it started a little too late and I don’t drink when I’ll be driving anyway, especially in a place where I’m unfamiliar with the roads, and had to pass on it.
I headed out to the venue around 6. I knew there was a farmer’s market right by the venue on Tuesdays and wanted to check it out since part of my job includes selling produce from a farm. I wanted to see if there are any tips I could pick up. It was kind of lame. Not as nice as the pictures would have you believe. It was so stinking hot and even though there was a nice breeze coming off the river, I decided to go into the air conditioned venue.
The ArtsQuest Center is a 4 story rectangular mostly glass building. I swear the greenhouse I work in is bigger. I went to will call and picked up my reprinted ticket. It was supposed to be a standing room only show but the ticket takers said there were tables and chairs set up and they were on a first come first served basis. So I went in. They had the stage in the center back of the room and the tables set up on either side of it with empty floor space in front of the stage. You could get some dinner and even had a full service bar.
It’s nearing the 7:30 start time and I see a bunch of scruffy looking guys in the back that look like they could all use a shower and shave. I thought they were part of the rigging crew. Turns out they were the opening act, a group called Mason Porter. I enjoyed them very much. They played mandolin, upright bass, acoustic guitar, harmonica and drums. They played for about 25 minutes. There was a very long delay before the Hounds came out. Like 50 minutes. The crew kept looking at speakers on the one side so I guess there was a technical problem.
Martie and Emily and the band finally came walking out from the side and that’s when most people left their seats and went to the front of the stage. I got right up there and was so close that at the end when I tried to take a picture of the entire band, I couldn’t fit them all in.
They started off with “Delight” and Emily must have got a frog stuck in her throat and started laughing which made Martie start. They recovered nicely. They talked about the stage collapse in Ottawa. Emily said they were standing on the side watching Cheap Trick and she said ‘it’s getting kind of windy. Maybe we should get out of here’ and not 10 seconds later the stage started collapsing. Martie joked that Brad Rice grabbed her ponytail and said ‘every man for himself”. She did a wonderful and funny imitation of his accent. Before playing “I Miss You”, Martie talked about how Emily kept sending her depressing songs after her divorce. She knew she was going to be okay when she sent her this song. That she was in love again and she wasn’t going to slit her wrists. Martin Strayer is from the Philly area so he had a lot of family at this concert.
One observation I made. I saw the Hounds last year a month after seeing the Chicks open for the Eagles. It was weird to see Martie and Emily onstage without Natalie. It was still hard then to wrap my head around the idea of Martie and Emily doing this on their own. But I didn’t have that feeling this time. If the Chicks never come back, so be it. That’s not to say I don’t want Natalie back because I do. But I’ll have just as good a time seeing the Hounds. And they’re a lot less expensive.
The show ended and some of us were eying up the set lists onstage. Fortunately having a height and long arms advantage, I unpeeled the tape from Emily’s list and snatched it.
I did find someone familiar looking in the crowd next to me. It was Angela. We made some small talk and then headed down to wait by the bus. There were only 4 other people there. A total of 231 tickets were sold. The venue security guy said they weren’t going to come out and sign anything. Yadda, yadda, yadda. I’ve heard that one before. So we finally see Martie. She was carrying some stuff and got on the bus. Then she came back off the bus and walked over to us where she proceeded to sign and take pictures. One of the guys from Hounds’ management collected our stuff for Emily to sign. She was still meeting with Martin’s family and didn’t come off the bus.
One of the things I learned was that Martie and Emily didn’t appear on “God Only Knows” because they didn’t like the finished version. Rick Rubin produced it and they only had 2 days to do it. After they were done Martie said “we didn’t like it so Natalie did it on her own”.
Martie said after the next Hounds album, there will be another cycle of touring. She didn’t mention any time frame on either. I look forward to it. Hopefully they can play here in my hometown instead of me traveling all the time.
I managed to get some good pictures from my dinosaur of a digital camera. I’m too lazy to copy and paste URLs’s so you can look at them at my site: chickoholic.tripod.com/DixieChicks/cyhphotos_bethlehem.html