Dallas

Here's a shocker: I thought it was wonderful! The following is a loooong, rambling review. Go to THE SHOW right now if you wanna read "concert-only" stuff…

As some of you know, I live in Midland, TX, which is a good 5 hour drive from "Big D." Monday, I hit the road and enjoyed an uneventful drive to Trees for the show.

When I arrived at the venue at 2 pm - yes, it's true: I'm a freak - but hey, I was first in line - that's gotta count for something, right?! The crew was unloading the semi. I said "hi" to Sven & we talked for awhile before he had to get back to work.

The afternoon involved a lot of sitting around - imagine that. Since I was enroute to an acting gig in Kansas, I used some of the time memorizing lines. Plus, some cool things did come out of my early arrival:

There was some indecision until they settled on "I'm Losing You." Afterwards, Bun E. commented that there was always something wrong with it. There seemed to be some discrepancy about the number of verses. I couldn't hear the whole conversation though, so I'm not sure how/if the issue was resolved… After that Rick & Tom left the stage then Bun E. & Robin did part of "You Take Me to the Top." I wasn't sure but it seemed that the purpose of this was for Robin to warm up his upper register a bit…

The venue was definitely on the small side. At least the stage was. The guys were pretty smooshed up there. The off stage areas were fully exposed, too - Sven's spot in particular. There were small balconies on both sides of the house. I made a mental note of the spot in front of the stage that I wanted to snag when the doors opened…

After sound check, I chickened out - again. The band was waiting for the van & even though I wanted to approach them, I was still scared of bugging them or babbling uncontrollably… What's that old saying? Something like: "It is better to remain silent and be thought a fool, than to open your mouth and remove all doubt." :)

The doors opened a little before 9 & by then there was a decent sized crowd. Like every other CT show I've been to, I met some cool people in the line, like Rod, who's been a fan since Dream Police came out -- but had never seen the band live. He's in the Navy, so his opportunities were limited. I was glad he was finally getting a chance…

The opening band was George Devroe and the Roam from Austin (not Pollen, like the marquee said!). I liked them at the first album show in Austin & they played another good set in Dallas. If I thought CT was crammed on the stage, these guys definitely were! Especially the drummer - he's a tall guy anyway, but tonight it looked like his knees were practically touching his ears!

Now, I didn't see Guided By Vodka -er- Voices, but I'll go out on a limb & say George Devroe was a little better! :) I heard the lead singer say they'd be opening for CT the next night in Austin…

CT finally took the stage at 10:30. At first, Tom seemed a little reserved, but a couple songs into the set he was back to his usual, cute, head shakin' self. In general, the guys all seemed to be having fun. I'm not too technically minded, but sound & everything seemed to go smoothly.

IWYTWM	Robin's idea to use this early on is very smart
COME ON, COME ON	Love the song! Thanks to CT for playing one of my faves! :)
HOT LOVE
WUWAM	Rick's typical intro for this song: "this is a song from an album called 'Woke Up with a Monster' and the song is called… 'Woke Up with a Monster'."
AIN'T THAT A SHAME
I KNOW WHAT I WANT
WRONG ALL ALONG	Love this one live!
IYWML	sans extra bridge
THAT 70s SONG	Rick said, "We were asked to remake this & we took that as a compliment. You can hear about 6 seconds of it on the show." Tom told Rick to add that the next night was Tuesday, so you could hear the 6 seconds-worth again…
OH CAROLINE	the "half-assed acoustic version"
NEED YOUR LOVE	WOW! Bun E. & Tom were a-ma-zing on this one!
SOUTHERN GIRLS
SURRENDER	Needless to say, this was my favorite song of the night! :) My first attempt to rip off the broken string didn't work. Rick ran to his mic to sing, then came back and dangled the string in front of me to let me have another try. It cut my hand - but it was worth it!
IT ALL COMES BACK TO YOU	Seemed to be a big mix up here. After Rick's glowing intro of Robin, they shook hands & Robin came to the mic. He looked everywhere on the floor for the lyric cheat sheets, but there were none. Dave came running out to look & got this "oh sh" look on his face as he left the stage. To make things even more complicated, according to the set list, they were supposed to do "Voices." Note to Robin:** you didn't need the sheets - you sounded great and you remembered the words just fine!
DREAM POLICE
GOODNIGHT

"Never Had a Lot to Lose" was on the encore list, but they skipped it. Damn! I wanted to prove to them that I could make it through that song without fainting! :) I heard later on that they cut the evening a little short because it was so hot. Can't say as I blame them - I was sweltering and I wasn't under all the lights!

There was quite a press toward the stage after the show with people begging for picks and set lists. I got a great surprise when Sven presented his backstage setlist to me - complete with guitar notes. Wow! I'll cherish that and my Rick guitar string always!

Seemed like the guys left quickly - although I heard a rumor that they were in a private bar at the club. I didn't have any time to wait around and figure it out, though. I had to get some sleep before hitting the road the next day…

So there. Thanks for reading! Thanks also to the band & the crew. A big thanks to Brian for giving me a place to crash. It was a great day! It was definitely worth the drive (and subsequent early morning)! Believe it or not, I made it to my gig in Kansas the next day just in time. :)

Rick:	black suit with vertical & horizontal pin stripes, TF3 shirt
Robin:	black velvet suit, white & gold tank top (the jacket came off very early)
Tom:	black shirt with white dots, black pants
Bun E.:	blue (?) print shirt, dark pants