06/28/08 Kelseyville, CA: Konocti Harbor

[Kayy911]

THE CURSE IS BROKEN! HUZZAH!



Wasn't it only an 1 hr, 50 min show? Al's shows usually last 2 and then some.
He must have deleted SOMETHING, right?

Oh ya it was 1 hour 50 mins


I'll Sue ya was cut and I don't know what else off the top of my head.

[louietheweaselfaceddogboy]

Oh, so THAT is why you said no Yankobucks!

[Orthography Enthusiast]

I think I shared my Konocti Unified Theory Of Lack of Audience Enthusiasm before: resort patrons who buy concert tickets just because they're already staying there and not because they're motivated by love of Al. Audience emotions are kind of contagious; it makes a difference that Al's audiences are so often heavily salted with diehards like us, being openly exuberant and singing choruses and doing all the little fan-schtick things. We're Al's "customers" but we also help make his job a little easier.

[ludovica64]

Thats a really nice thing to say, Helen
I sure hope Al feels that way about the fans. (If I were him I'd be TERRIFIED! )

I imagine you are right about this venue. I dunno much, but I can see from the map that it's pretty much off the beaten track, ergo the resort traffic hypothesis..yeah that makes a lot of sense.

Henderson to Konocti is one MASSIVE drive in that heat too. I dont think many people would feel too enthusiastic after that

[weirdalfan1000000]

And he also cut HN. Is there any reason he cut I'll Sue Ya?

[algonacchick]

Probably because they had to cut the length of the show.

[Teh Dingo]

He's not doing HN this tour. At least from the first two shows, but it's unlikely he skipped it for any reason other than he's not doing it.

[Alinite27]

Ah, wow...I was wondering what he would be doing with Headline News. Hadn't heard any information on it yet, though. Do you know if he replaced it with anything in the medley, or did he just remove it?

[Teh Dingo]

It appears it's just been removed

[Diva]

I'll Sue ya was cut and I don't know what else off the top of my head.

I'll Sue Ya, Close But No cigar, Wanna Be Ur Luvr >:S , Pentiums, Headline News from the medley were all omitted. I can't think of anything else right now. Smallish crowd, I suspect part of that was from the fires, as one of the front security guys told me that they had smoke around Clear Lake itself from the Oaks fire until a day and a half before the show. That fire was out by yesterday, but there were fires in Ukiah, Humboldt County and several other nearby locations that could have deterred people.

Another deterrent would have been gas prices. It's bad enough around LA/Long Beach, where regular is running around 4.50 to 4.65 a gallon, but as I was driving up from Oakland through Napa and Lake counties to Konocti the prices were running in the range of 4.75-4-85/gallon for regular. One Shell station near Konocti had regular around 4.85/gallon and every other grade was over 5.00/gallon. I nearly passed out. [I had gotten a full tank from Budget when I rented my car for 4.27/gallon and didn't have to replace it as part of my rental deal.]

The show itself was very good, very sharp [although Al had his mom feeding him kitty litter until he was 26 1/2 years old; he then added on that she also fed him sauerkraut "yes, both kitty litter and sauerkraut". He didn't say at the end of Albuquerque that he hated kitty litter so I guess that's not taboo on a vegan diet. ]. They did Why Does This Always Happen To Me. No swallowed bugs, no downed screens, no falls, no injuries-whew! I was in the second row, and in front of me was a family with 2 grade school aged boys and a girl about 3-4 years old all wearing white t-shirts; lined up with the girl in the middle they read out 'white-and-nerdy', and when Al started WAN they all put on big black horn rimmed fake glasses, even the little girl. They were cute as buttons. I'll upload a photo of them when I get a chance.

Al saw people with blue stick-on aftershow passes only. The VIP commemorative laminates do indeed commemorate lamination, and have nothing to do with anything else. The family with the three adorable kids as well as a small number of the rest of us waited but no dice for any meet and greet, laminate or not.

I like the Konocti shows, actually. The crowd this year was small and not the usual gang as much, again probably due to the factors I mentioned above, but the venue people are always very pleasant and pretty well organized in my experience, the venue itself is fun and even if many of the fans aren't hard-core Al-heads, they enjoy the concert and are at the very least pleasant and friendly.

I'm bypassing Ventura. I don't have the core strength to take GA concerts these days. Greg and I will be at Del Mar tomorrow night.

Cheers, Diva
racking up those Jet Blue Frequent Flyer points