Brookhaven Amphitheatre
Brookhaven, NY
August 28, 3000-995

When the Cheap Trick/Alice Cooper tour dates were announced, I was intrigued. Alice & the boys (particularly Rick) have a history. And while I’m no AC aficionado I figured I oughta give the dude a chance.

Although I won’t take up that space here, my NY/NJ story begins with a prelude. I got a sneak preview of Alice Cooper’s set in Monaco, of all places. Click here to read about that. Especially if you’re an AC fan – the show was trippy, to say the least.

That said, I’ll skip to the end to say I really loved the CT/AC tour. However, because Alice does the same set most nights, I won’t go into many details regarding his shows I saw stateside. (FYI – the same set comment is not a slam. Given the staging, set, props and costumes that go into his show, a farily rigid set list is a practical necessity.)

Anyhoo… After studying the CT/AC tour schedule, the three shows in a row in NJ & NY looked pretty good. Junko was game, too, so it looked like our latest trip together would be a sort anniversary of our first trip back in ’02. :)

’02? Some day, I hope to regale my grandchildren with tales of these trips. They’ll be long and rambling (just like this) only I’ll have the stereotypical old lady voice.

"Back in aught two, your father was born. Then in the summer, Junko and I went to Buffalo to see Cheap Trick. Back then, you could got to a concert with a hundred dollar bill and come back with $5 in change!!!"

</church lady voice>

As per usual, I flew on Southwest because of my rabid sense of loyalty to a company who has treated me so well. (That’s another story, altogether LOL!) As a result, getting up to Long Island was rather convoluted. Midland to Albuquerue (WTF?!?) to Baltimore to Islip. Yee F. Haw. :P

Flying on the day o’ the show was a roll of the dice but I took comfort in the fact that the venue was a mere 10 miles from the airport.

Luckily, the weather and SW cooperated. In Baltimore, I met one of the regulars on "Airline." Plus over the intercom, I heard a familiar voice from the reality series that’s been a guilty pleasure of mine for some time.

On a much more somber note, while making my way through the terminals at BWI, I got a bad feeling when I saw the cancelled flights to New Orleans… The tragic events that would unfold there were a few short days away…

Once I got to Islip, I made good time to the venue, scoring a great parking space and beating Cathy, ZiZi, Junko and Cara!

While pacing around I ran into two Adams & Teri who were standing in the long ass line into the venue. Usually after greeting someone, it’s polite to ask them how they are, etc. Not this time. All I could do was scream – I GOTTA PEE! Somewhere Miss Manners is heaving a big sigh.

Thankfully, a car load of friends old and new arrived shortly thereafter. Nice to see all those fine NYC fans and of course Junko who came in all the way from Yokohama City. She was already pooped from a Danger Danger concert binge. ;)

Once we got inside, we were delighted to find that our seats in row P (or whatever) were actually in the fourth row! Woo hoo!!! As it turns out, security was very lax during CT‘s set. Junko got right up by the barrier while Cara and I stayed put. There were empty seats and we decided we'd rather stand together.

Later on as I took my seat before Alice's set I was on the receiving end of dirty looks and interrogation about my ticket. I guess the neighbors didn't appreciate Cara and I standing in one empty seat. What. EVER. *rolls eyes*

Anyway... On with

THE SHOW

CT took the stage to the familiar refrain from Dave Ruhl "Please welcome to the stage the best f***in’ band this town’s ever seen…. CHEAP TRICK!"

I love it! :D

Apparently AC bassist Chuck Garric loves it too, because he joined Junko at the barrier for the first part of CT’s set.

WHAT THEY WORE

WHAT THEY PLAYED

What Rick Said

Rick thanked everyone for coming out to see "the one the only, accept no substitutes CT" on their first tour… with Alice Cooper. He went on saying that they were a new band. LOL

He pointed out Junko and added that other fans were in the crowd who had come from far away. And not… far away. He also pointed out a guy who had painted a portrait of Robin – whose name escapes me now.

He screwed up the town a bit, first commenting that it was great to be in Brooklyn. Doh! After a couple more tries (or maybe some prompting) he figured out where the hell they were in NYC. ;)

After Jim took back the guitar from Junko, Rick said "Just for that, you have to go back and work for Joe Perry again."

He talked about the new album they’re working on – and that it will come out next year. (*Lisa crosses fingers and knocks on wood frantically*)

Other Stuff Lisa Noticed

Robin was so animated tonight. I just love that. He was also playing with the vocals a lot – I heard several different "nuances" if you will. Me likey. Just don’t ask me to remember the details because I’ve slept since then.

Rick really got a kick out of so many fans off stage and in the crowd. He pointed out members of Danger Danger and really played up to Chuck – tossing him beaucoup picks.

There was a lot of fun energy on stage and the boys really played up to the crowd. One of the best moments of the evening came during their encores when Rick tossed out a couple bonus jams which included "Train Kept a Rollin’" and another song I didn’t know. (Sorry!) "Train" was fun because BEC jumped in – kind of challenging Rick to keep going. The third jam, just before launching into the pre-"California Man" jam was "Walk This Way." He cut it off with a "F*** it – that’s too easy!" LMFAO!!!!

I had a lot of fun but it was too f***in’ hot and humid for this spoiled Texas resident. Ugh! I’m sure Cara, Junko & others were sick of my bitching. LOL!

Alice’s Set

During the break between sets, I tried to get Cara up to speed on Alice. My lame renditions of AC classics prolly sucked pretty bad. LOL I had a huge laugh at the signage posted on the mix booth. Seems the techs on Alice’s tour don’t like it when you bug them for a backstage pass, autograph, etc. "We don’t ask you stupid questions while you’re flipping burgers at McDonalds, do we?" ;)

Before Alice’s set, I caught up with fellow CT fan Mike, whom I’d not run in to since TF3. What a sweet guy! He’d spent some time with Junko during her latest D2 tour. :D

As always, Alice put everything into the show and I had a great time watching. Since I’d seen it once, I could look at it from a different perspective – more technical if you will.

I felt for Calico because she had a wardrobe malfunction of sorts. Not a Janet Jackson type of malfunction (sorry boys) she just had issues with the dominatrix cape that covers Alice’s exit during "Go to Hell." It was probably the humidity that was giving her problems. The same stickiness meant the tresses on her various wigs constantly stuck to her face.

Nevertheless, she’s a pro and didn’t let those minor hassles throw her off. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again - I enjoy watching her and her dad to no end.

Nobody onstage let the relative lameness of the crowd get them down. It was definitely the tamest one I’d been in. By the end though, even Alice seemed to notice. As he encouraged everyone to cheer, he made a "you’re lame" gesture after our first attempt. LOL

Speaking of, Cara and I both love how he introduces himself at the end. He paces back and forth mouthing "What about me?!?!?!?" after pointing out all the folks in the band.

Post Show Cack

We didn’t see much of the fireworks afterwards because we were too close to the stage. Eventually, we worked our way towards the parking lot.

Getting a snack for the road was a comedy of errors. Seems the local eateries don’t wanna stay open late on a Sunday night? WTF? Note to McDonalds: I’m NOT lovin’ it.

Junko crashed in the back seat while Cara and I yammered back and forth, catching up and comparing notes from the show. I was so happy that a fellow actor caught the same things as me during AC's set.

Long Island really is. We finally made it to Cara’s place. She was nice enough to let Junko and me stay there before the NJ show the next day.

Some thank yous are in order: Thanks to Kthy & ZiZi for leading us back to Astoria that night.

Thanks to the Parking Gods for allowing us to find a spot within reasonable walking distance to Cara’s abode.

Thanks to Cara for the tasty margarita. There’s just something so right about CT, NYC, Cara and margaritas. :D

More to come. Thanks for reading this far!

Peace,
Lisa J.
"I prefer to listen to Cheap Trick."
-Homer J. Simpson

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© Lisa Jebsen, 2005