Allman Brothers Band
July 8, 2005
Augusta Civic Center ~ Augusta, Maine
No One Left to Run With
Midnight Rider
Maydell
Come & Go Blues
Leave My Blues at Home
Trouble No More
Rocking Horse >
Gambler's Roll
Statesboro Blues
Into the Mystic
Instrumental Illness >
Drums >
Jessica
encore: Whipping Post
At about 7:30 (opening act to go on at 8:00), Jay and I went back to will call and the line was HUGE! We were afraid we blew it by waiting too long. But when we got to the front of the line sure enough there was an envelope with my name on it and inside were two stick-on patches that said "BACKSTAGE". Sweet!
So we went in, looked around, and said to each other, "now what do we do." Eventually we made our way to the side of the stage and showed the security guard there our passes and asked him where we could go with them. He looked them up in his little book of passes and it said we could go anyplace backstage before and after the show, just had to to clear out during the show (we learned later that there were 2 types of passes, a square VIP backstage pass that included stage access during the show, and a round backstage pass like we had that did not get you on stage during the show). So, backstage we went. Next thing we know we are standing in front of 3 dressing room doors with ABB signs on them, one said "GA & WH", one said "DRUMMERS" and the other said "YOUNG 'UNS." At this point Kirk West comes by and we introduce ourselves. He was real nice and explained that the band should be coming in soon and we could just hang out. He also said the radio station that did the backstage pass giveaway was full of crap, they never had backstage passes to giveaway, and he wanted us to make sure to tell the radio station that we got backstage anyway and that "ABB takes care of its fans."
It was pretty mellow, we just kinda stood around twiddling our thumbs waiting for the band to show (Kirk walked by at one point and quipped, "so this is what you won, great huh!"). Watched a little of the opening act, Gavin Degraw, and I don't know what he was doing opening for ABB...totally pop, he had a whole bunch of teenage girls who were into him but that's about it. The only other fans hanging around backstage were a woman and two of her friends so we struck up a conversation...it was her 80th ABB show (her first was in 1981 at the old Westboro Speedway) and she had a t-shirt she wanted signed that was for a friend of hers who has cancer.
Eventually Butch came in, and I'll tell ya he looked weathered, more like someone's grandfather than a drummer for a rock band (no offense, Butch!). By the timeI realized it was him, he had disappeared and I missed getting him to sign my CD liner (the Hittin' The Note CD liner has a great group shot of the band). Derek was next and by that time I was ready...he is pretty quiet though and signed stuff but wasn't rude at all, but just wasn't very talkative. Marc Q came in and joked about how cold it was (it was overcast and in the low 60s or maybe even upper 50s) as he signed. Oteil came next and he was much more social, we talked for a minute about when he was in Portland in Feb with the Peacemakers and how cold it was then and how much nicer it is in the summer (despite the cooler than normal weather). Warren was next to come in and he is clearly the leader of the show. Spoke with him for a few moments while he signed my CD liner and I asked if he remember opening for The Band at Sugarloaf back in '94 and he said "oh yeah, it snowed like crazy that night." Jaimoe came in next and would not sign anything ("I don't do that"). Next was the man himself, Gregg Allman. It was very cool just being in his presense. He had a very intense look on his face, and basically did not acknowledge anyone he didn't know and would not sign anything (the woman who was getting the shirt signed for her friend with cancer eventually asked Kirk to help her out...Kirk took it in to Gregg's dressing room where he did sign it). So the only signatures I didn't get were of the original 3 members, but it was fun to be back there hanging out anyway.
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