Coronado Theater
Rockford, IL
December 30, 2001
My last CT review for awhile… *Sigh*
Feel free to skip to:
Or read the whole thang…
BTW - I posted some pix of us fans from that day, too.
Well, pregnancy has not lessened CT's ability to wind me up to the extent that I can't sleep much afterwards. After Saturday night's show, I woke up fairly early and tried to get back to sleep without much luck. Oh well.
We headed down to Rockford and checked into the Fairfield Inn. Kim found a pretty good deal, so we thought it easiest to just crash in Rockford since they were off to Chicago the next day and I had to hop on a shuttle to O'Hare early the next morning.
On our way to dinner, Kim and Sam said they needed to stop by Cheryl's hotel for something. They lie! This was just a rouse to get me inside for a surprise baby shower!!! They'd bought a cake (with a checkerboard background, of course!) Thanks to Cheryl for organizing it and to everyone who was there. It was such a sweet gesture - I'm still all verclempt!
Daria was kind enough to give me a lift over to the theatre afterwards. We got there around 7:30 - just in time to score a free parking space on the street, around the corner from the Coronado. Can't beat that!
As we walked in, there was some Bible thumper out front, encouraging us to repent. The little bit I heard was about how angry god is. Funny, last time I talked to her, she was in a pretty good mood. :)
Before the show, I bugged a security person about CT cutting a song the night before. We'd been wondering if there was some venue inflicted curfew or something… She said no. In fact, she said that they could "play 5 hours if they wanted." Fine with me! :)
She speculated that the sound problems were the culprit. Apparently they blew a soundboard, so they had to re-sound check everything all over again today. She added, "Thank god it wasn't *our* stuff that was on the fritz!" LOL!
Speaking of sound, Lee has cut his hair pretty short. It looks nice. The night before he told me he spent the holiday season in Japan.
Tonight's show had the same 2 openers. The Snaggs opened with a darn fine cover of "High Roller." Me, Flis and Ron sat together for their set. Good to spend some time with both of those fine people. :)
Kevin arrived during their set and let me have his extra ticket to a seat in the front row of permanent seats. That *despite* the fact that I’d just chucked a spit wad at his head. :)
Anyway, it seemed like The Snaggs did a completely different set than the night before…
Not so for Zero to Nine - I think their set was exactly the same. Not that I'm complaining. I liked them even more on a second listen. Their drummer was going through sticks like kleenex - tossing them out every song. Silly boy.
Just after their set, I saw Holland Zander in the lobby and complimented her on her voice. When I apologized for telling her how much she looked like her dad (figuring she hears that all the blessed time), she said she didn't mind at all. She actually gets more comparisons to Gwen Stephani…
The guys were all in place when the curtains opened and they launched right into "Dream Police."
FASHION REPORT
| BEC | black, long sleeve t, jeans, black CT b-ball cap |
| RN | shiny/velvety black suit with a long jacket, John C t-shirt |
| TP | black suit with long jacket, beige dress shirt with small print of some sort, black cowboy boots |
| RZ | black suit with white stitching on lapel and cuffs, black turtle neck |
| Dream Police | *Love* this one as an opener! Got a couple picks during the bridge. |
| I Can't Take It | |
| She's Tight | Ummm… Robin was really into this. YOW! |
| Lookout | As I said in my LA HOB review… WAAAAAAAHOOOOOOOOOOOOO! I f***ing love this song!!!!!!! |
| Oh Candy | |
| Ballad of TV Violence | Rick said, "This is a song about when bad things happen… Enjoy!" |
| Special One | Another new one. So glad they've kept new songs in the set with BEC's return. |
| Anytime | Second time to hear this one live. Sounded great - good and hard, like it oughta be. |
| Tonight It's You | Yes! This had a great "drive" to it - for lack of better words. |
| IWYTWM | |
| IKWIW | Woo hoo! Got a name check from Rick during this one! :) |
| She's So Bad | This has been in my head ever since… |
| On Top of the World | The end of this was the definite highlight of the night IMHO. Rick and Robin did this very cool back and forth stuff - both grinning away the whole time. I love it! |
| California Man | RZ seemed confused about the intro on this one - recovered well though. LOL! |
| Surrender | Rick got the album flat up to the balcony again. The guy up there caught it with a one-handed grab. |
| Scent of a Woman | Flis and me were all misty during this. I *really* like this song – I have since I heard it for the first time in Anaheim this summer. It’s got such a great build to it. Robin was really into it – smiling away and selling the song for all its worth! |
| He's a Whore | You can never complain about a set that includes this! :) |
| Auf Wiedersehen | Tom looked really into this one. |
| Goodnight |
RICK SEZ
After rattling off the usual suspects during "fan recognition time" (plus someone "from Joliet Prison") he asked if anyone was from Rockford. Holland was standing next to me and let out a whoop. I'm sorry - it's just so cute to see the band's offspring so into their parents' music.
He told us that except for 3 songs they were gonna do a completely different set than the night before. Woo hoo!
Once again, Rick paid tribute to John Candas, encouraging us to applaud. He told us that Mrs. C and Jenny were there that night and Jenny asked him to thank everyone who sent in money to Trick International for her college fund. "She's going to a really smart school - SMU, which is in Texas. I told her I went to school in Texas too - at Sam Houston Institute of Technology - S.H.I.T." LMAO!
He wished Bun E's brother in law happy birthday then asked Bun if he wanted to say "hi" to anyone else.
BEC: My wife.
US: Awwwwww!
RICK: Are you saying "aww" because you feel sorry for
her or because you thought that was nice?!
He told everyone about opening for Aerosmith, going on the add that they were gonna kick their ass every night… He thanked Dr. somebody for coming in to give Robin a shot. Robin made the drinking gesture, to say it was a JD shot or something - which made Rick laugh…
Midway through the set, there seemed to be something wrong with Bun E's kit and Rick informed us that "Bun E said the "F" word."
MISC.
Shortly after saying the f word, Bun E came out from behind his kit (new base drum head BTW - a cartoon bunny on it) and they had a pow wow over on stage right. Not sure what it was about…
I really liked the set list tonight – good mix of old and new tunes. Sound stuff was certainly smoother than the night before - although by the end Rick seemed to be having the same probs with his earpiece again, poor guy.
Security was completely lax about photos this time around. In March they were downright pissy about it, but anyone and everyone was snapping away at these 2 shows. They were pretty good about keeping the aisles clear – some folks tried to sneak up and stand in the front but they made sure everyone had a seat. They even shooed away Holland at one!
Robin Jr. was in his usual offstage right seat. He was in the same spot for The Snaggs' both nights, too. Robin was the last one to walk off - it was really cute to see Jr. walking off with him. Such a cutie.
POST SHOW
The usual mingling ensued. Kevin and I headed up to the balcony to get a picture with Rick’s chair. It’s quite a hike up to the upper balcony! Thanks to the Coronado staff for letting us get the photo op.
Ron and I decided to wait around by the stage door to see if we could catch any of the guys. It didn't seem as cold as it'd been the night before. Still pretty damn frosty though. We caught up with Kim and Sam who braved the cold to wait with us.
Soon after we got to the door, Rick happened along. He saw us outside and was good enough to come over and chat for a second. Thanks Rick! Cool way to cap off the weekend.
Ron and I grabbed some food before heading over to meet Kim and Sam at the hotel. The 4 of us gabbed away until well after 2. Then came the big decision - my shuttle leaves at 4 freakin' a.m. Should I just stay up or grab all of 2 hours sleep?
We opted for sleep but my body clock had shifted into full paranoia mode - in fear of sleeping through and missing my flight home. Kim was the lucky one to get me to the Van Galder stop at what can only be called the "butt crack of dawn." As god awful early as it was, it seemed all the more cruel that it was so freakin' cold! Blah!
Oh well… we made it there and the shuttle got me to O'Hare in plenty of time. Thankfully during the time I spent with Kim over the last couple days his travel luck did NOT wear off on me! The weather cooperated and all my flights were on time - allowing me to get home in time to spend NYE with Tim.
MUCHAS GRACIAS!
First and foremost, thanks again to Kim and Samantha for all the hospitality on this trip. It was a pleasure to spend time with you both.
Thanks to Cheryl and Co. for the baby shower. It really was an unexpected surprise. :) Hey Cheryl - you've got great taste in music and TV! :)
A big ol' thanks to Carla for looking out for me when she assigned seating - and just for putting up with my on/off/on again plans!
And of course, thanks to those four great guys from Rockford. As always, so good to see you…
Thanks for reading... Happy 2000+2!
| Peace, Lisa J. "I prefer to listen to Cheap Trick." |
-Homer Simpson |
Back to 2001 reviews
© Copyright, Lisa Jebsen, 2002