In the mood to read?

If not, click here...

This city holds a special place in my heart because it was a stop on one of the Christmas Carol tours I did a couple years ago. The "Spa Tour" - it felt like vacation more than anything! With stops in places like Tucson, St. George, UT, & Ruidoso, NM plus here, I almost felt guilty for getting paid.

Almost…

The drive down from Denver was gorgeous. Green. Mountains. Tons o' traffic on I-25. Ummm - the gorgeous comment doesn't count for the traffic. BTW - before making that trek, we got Dan back to pick up his towed car. $125. Ouch.

The Rodeway Inn was conveniently located next to the venue & Terry at the front desk was a lot of fun. I still need to write that letter to her manager. Good service is always praise worthy in my book.

Anyway, the venue was this dome shaped building - not at all what I expected from a place called a "music hall." When I peeked in with Kim & Sam, I watched in horror as a local tech hung lighting instruments out over the audience. Sam & I looked at each other agreed that this must not be a union house. I'll also wager that OSHA would have something to say about the ladder going up to that precarious looking light pole. Yikes!

Hey kids - if you're going to a concert there in the future, I wouldn't recommend sitting under that thing!

Had a nice lunch with Kim & Sam at Maggie Mae's. (Kim wanted to order the Rod Stewart Special) I made Kim try the green chili sauce. It was nice to have some relaxed time to catch up with those two. :)

Back over at the venue, Stephanie & I chatted with John C. for a bit in the lobby as he folded shirts. He told us about a couple events from the night before - some freak had rushed the stage & grabbed Chairy, thinking that there were picks in there. Then some other freak tried to get on the bus & John had to throw him off.

The heat must've been making people crazy...

Speaking of which, he said that in Denver Rick & Robin ran out the door to get some air before the encores. The conditions were really awful. Stifling isn't a strong enough word. Blah!

Soon after that the van arrived with the guys for sound check. As we walked by, Rick yelled at me because he didn't see the Homer sign. I told him it was "in storage" i.e.: the trunk of my car. Sound check was "House Is Rockin' (With Domestic Problems)" again. There was a security guard there who didn't want me to get too close to the building. LOL... Just trying to hear the song, dude! On his way to the van, Rick was kind enough to allow Stephanie to take a photo of him & me. Thanks Rick! And, no - I don't know why he's pointing at the water bottle.... :)

Stacy, her friend (& CT virgin) Rochelle, Connie, Sam, Kim, Steph & I waited outside the venue the rest of the time. Inside the lobby area you could see the techs & the guys in Nash Kato eating dinner. I resisted the urge to give them a hard time & stare at their food looking hungry. :)

King Richard (Nash Kato's drummer) came out to say hi & talked about how much they all like CT. Cool guy. I told him he might see some familiar faces in Santa Fe, too.

There was a decent sized line by the time the doors opened. Inside the venue most people opted to sit in the raked section of seats. None of us in the front row understood that philosophy at all. :)

Thanks to Sven for giving me a piece of tape to put my Homer sign on the barricade. :)

THE SHOW

Nash Kato took the stage around 9 pm & played a longer set than the night before, which was fine with me. Nash smiled and pointed at us in the front row. My favorite songs of theirs:

All are on the "Debutante" CD. Have you bought it yet? You should.

CT took the stage around 10:15 pm. Chairy was nowhere to be seen. Had the freak John mentioned actually taken her?!

FASHION REPORT

SET LIST

RANDOM NOTES

Rick saw Connie in the front row early on & signaled #21 to her, since this was indeed her 21st show... Robin was really on - he made a ton eye contact with the audience. Tom & Bun E. were all smiles, too. Gotta love that!

There were four security guards up front between the barrier and the stage. The one standing near me was a rather stern looking fellow. He constantly scowled at the audience. I knew before CT even started playing that Rick would have to give him a hard time.

And that he did.

Rick started out by putting a pick on the guy's shoulder. The guy glanced at it then went back to staring down the crowd. Didn't knock it off. No reaction at all beyond the look. The pick stayed there for a good 2 songs. LMAO! Rick went to the next security guy in the line and did the same thing. At least this one pretended to notice!

Of course Rick didn't stop at that. He tried and tried to get Mr. Stone Face to crack a smile and after several tries, he leaned over and asked, "Are you mad at me?"

No reply - so Rick answered for him, "Not yet!"

This pretty much went on through the whole show. Rick finally got the guy to perk up when he brought out the 5-neck for "Surrender." I think ol' Stoney was concerned he might get whacked in the head. :)

RICK BANTER

When Rick wasn't tormenting security guys, he thanked Nash Kato for opening - going on to ask why they never play "that song from Pulp Fiction or Reservoir Dogs or whatever" ... He also announced that some Colorado Springs dude had been on "Who Wants to Be a Millionaire" & won $125,000, so drinks were on him tonight. The next night there would be a contestant from Denver, but he didn't do as well because in the Springs the altitude is higher & the brains are... bigger...

He mentioned that Robin's mom lives in Colorado - at least he didn't try to convince us that Tom had ever lived there :) ... He pointed out the "foreigners" in the crowd again - mentioning Kim by name & pointing out the Japanese fans, too... He let everyone know that Connie was at her 21^st show & with that you get free orgasms. Which brings me to...

LISA'S CLUE-FREE MOMENT #1

After telling everyone that little known fact, he asked me how many orgasms I'd had. However, what I heard was "How many SHOWS have you seen?" So like a dumbass, I shout, "It'll be 17 tomorrow!" Why Rick didn't take that & run with it, I'll never know. Instead he looked at me & deadpanned, "Four more to go."

I can't recall the last time I blushed so hard...

LISA'S CLUE-FREE MOMENT #2

...was not quite as clueless as #1, but still... During IKWIW - Rick showed his finger to us in the front row & it looked like a huge splinter was sticking out of it. So, being the helpful sort that I am, I took it out for him. It wasn't until later that I realized that it was really a broken fingernail.

LOL!!!!!

POST SHOW STUFF

After the show, we all milled about the venue before heading back to the hotel. It was another one of those beautiful, cool Colorado nights. The guys in Nash Kato were hanging out, signing CDs. CT took off immediately though...

Stacy & I went to Kim & Sam's room to drink beer & talk. When we headed for our respective rooms, Stacy & I realized we were still too wound up to sleep, so we had another cocktail & talked until I couldn't keep my eyes open anymore.

Great show. Cool friends. Life is good... Even better when you're a CT fan.

Thanks for reading!

Back to Reviews

© Copyright, Lisa Jebsen, 2000