Sorry my review is late, I was laying low yesterday as I wasn't feeling 100%.
The ride from Verona to Rhode Island was nice, through I mostly kept the air conditioner on as it wasn't really a roll down the window kind of day. I listened to Ruben's CD on the ride over, and it was pretty good. I helped an elderly couple find their way to Foxwoods. I was stopped at a parking area and they came up to me thinking they were lost so I let them know they weren't and gave them directions.
Arrived at my friends house in Rhode Island a little after 3:00. Skye and Steve showed me around their new house, and gave me a can of sauerkraut to make for breakfast, as they had to work the next morning were letting me sleep in and let myself out the next morning.
We went out for Mexican food for dinner, where a ground hog watched us eat from the side of the road across the street and a really creepy looking guy in a car showed up in the parking lot and left a few minutes later. Then we went to a place for ice cream where they had every flavor in the world including "cocolate" "emo" and confetti.
We arrived at the theater and on the way over, Skye said that New Bedford was a whaling town, so we had a lot of fun making whale jokes and looking for whales. We parked in the garage and on the way out, Steve Jay was sitting on the sidewalk near the buses drinking coffee so we said hi, and he had me show my tattoos to one of the roadies. Ruben saw me and came over and asked how I liked the CD. I told him my opinions on the songs and he said he really appreciated my feedback and I could tell he genuinely mean it.
Jeremy stopped by to say hello and trade cards, then we decided to head in. There was a sign that no pictures were allowed, but they didn't check bags or anything. I chose not to take pictures, but everyone else was, so Skye took a bunch The seats in the row in front of us remained empty right up until a few minutes before show time and due to Skye hearing me wrong, she thought I said it was reserved for the Welsh hockey team, which made us both laugh out loud during YDLMA.
I didn't notice as many mistakes as people pointed out, You guys don't think the forgotten lyrics in SLN was a mistake do you? It was intentional, Al's done that many times before. Think about the lyrics and you'll understand.
As mentioned the alternate songs were YMM and YDLMA, and it took many smashes to destroy the guitar for YDLMA. There was a new shirt for YP which had wolves on it, and the Atlantic Records Still Sucks shirt made a come back. The audience was really into it the whole show and drowned out the video clip during Wheel Of Fish.
It looked like Jim's keyboards weren't turned on for AP, as he was checking all the cables throughout the song and looking off stage a lot trying to get someone's attention. The audience sang along so loudly during TSB that Al just pointed the microphone to the audience and let us sing instead. And he threw the microphone into someone's lap in the front row and had them sing.
After the show we waited around with a handful of people and watched the stage get dismantled. Then Al came out of a side door and I didn't even notice at first. When it was our turn, I introduced my friends to Al and Skye got her snorkel and accordion strap signed. Al was really impressed with the accordion strap as Skye made it herself and it had orange flame design on it. Steve shared some stories with Al about them both being DJs on college radio stations, and Al asked me how many more shows I was going to, and whether I had any requests. I put in a request for YDLMA for Asbury Park, and he said if the promoter gives him a guitar, he'll see what he can do. He was really nice and finally meeting him made my friend's evening.
When went outside, there was a huge crowd of people near the buses. Security had everyone line up and there was a rumor Jim was signing stuff, so my friend's wanted to wait. I ran into Michelle and her mom, who I had met last tour, so I caught up with them, until Skye and Steve were able to determine it was Al who was signing stuff, not Jim. Having already met Al and not wanting to take time away from other people, we left the line and went home.
Another great concert experience, and another great evening with friends.
Dave