Posted by Esperanto Lake Tahoe, January 16
Alright all, here is my "review" of the CI concert in Lake Tahoe on Saturday January 16, 1999. First off I want to put in a little disclaimer....These are personal thoughts and interpretations of two hours with Chris Isaak. They might not necessarily reflect those of other lucky people who were also able to spend time there that night. You may disregard them at any moment.......
O.K. with that said, lets start with the facts, ma'am....
The Caesar's Palace showroom holds around 1500 people and is a semi-intimate venue. My friend Sally and I were seated with three other women whom we had never meet before. Please allow a bit of venting now. I won't name these women partly because it wouldn't matter because they aren't guests of the Blue Hotel and I am pretty sure that any of you reading this wouldn't associate yourselves with these women. Simply put, they were insipid! They wouldn't shut up about how much they "knew" about Chris. He does this and he does that. Finally I asked if they knew all of this crap because they had meet him and/or know him? I knew the answer to this question of course. No, they had only been to six concerts and read some stuff on him, which I guess in their book makes them best buds with Chris. WHATEVER!!! Immediately a yellow flag was raised in my mind and I thought "oh no here we go! This is going to be a long night w/ these Hootchie Mamma's!" They proceeded to get trashed and talk, whistle, and oogle at an unacceptably loud decibel during the whole show! They then plotted a strategy on how to run up on stage and grab Chris. I just wanted to throw up. Needless to say, my friend and I were a bit frustrated with the seating situation and these women.
O.K. O.K. I know, back to why you are really reading this.....Chris.
The band took the stage at 9:30 p.m. sharp. Chris came out in his deep purple sequin and velvet(?) suit. After a few songs, he dropped the jacket and was wearing that blackish shirt that so many of you have seen. He had gotten a FRESH haircut, no doubt! It was way shorter that usual. They played the normal set list that he currently plays but also added a few that they normally don't play. "Two Hearts" and some others that I can't remember off hand - (o.k. here I have to admit that my friend Sally and I share January 17th as a birthday and I too had a few drinks that evening in celebration).
Chris didn't really do a lot of his usual between song bantering. I remember that he only told two "stories" between songs. One before "Baby Did a Bad Bad Thing" and Diddley Daddy. The story before "Baby Did....." was similar to the whole having sex w/ Roley thing that he goes into. Something to the effect that "you are sitting in your hotel room and you hear a couple next door to your room going at it and all you hear is this 'Oh Baby, Oh Baby!!!' (Insert Chris' hip gyration and high girlie voice visual here). and you realize that that is YOUR baby in there w/ that bass player and she is calling HIM baby....yadda yadda. and Baby Did A Bad Bad Thing..........."
The other story he told was before Diddley Daddy, I think. That one, he started out saying that...."Tahoe has a real rich history and part of that history is when the settlers came here, they traveled from far away with their horses. They carried this big ol' craps table with them and every night they would gather around the campfire and scantily clad women would please them with food and drink and they would all play craps together. When they finally arrived in Nevada, they already had the beginnings of gambling and prostitution...."
Other than those two ramblings, Chris was pretty conservative. This is in stark contrast to some other shows that I have seen - in particular the one he did here in Salt Lake City back in early December. Let's regress a moment shall we? I think that I will add a bit of comparison to this review now. I know that it is probably not what some want to hear, but what the hell? I am not getting paid to do this for some conservative newspaper! No this is just FYI to share w/ all who inquire! So I guess you all will get a little taste of the SLC show too. Bonus!
In SLC, Chris and gang wanted to push the limits of what they thought was mostly a Mormon crowd (I know bear with me, this has a point). What they probably didn't realize was the fact that while Mormons are a majority in Utah as a whole, in Salt Lake City itself, they are a minority. Hence the crowd for that show was actually quite diverse and liberal. Chris would talk literally after each song and let me tell you, he was flooring people right and left. He kept saying "Have I gone too far??? If I have, then we should make-up a code word that you can say to me if I have gone too far and you want me to stop. Let's say this word is Rumpleslitskin. Just yell that out to me when you think that I have gone too far. O.K.???" Of course no one did yell that out throughout the course of the evening. He then proceeded to tell the "gasoline story" and some other ones that he has told before that many of you have heard. He also started talking to Kenney about the last time they were in Salt Lake and......"Kenney drove up to my hotel room and I looked out the window to see him pull up in a Ford Probe. And what color was that Ford Probe Kenney?" Kenney says "That would be a FLESH TONE Ford Probe." and Chris continues on to say that they got into the Probe and "we went to the economically challenged part of Salt Lake. We drove up to this topless bar and OF COURSE wanted to go in so we go in and .........."
O.K. enough about that show. You guys want to hear about the Tahoe one.......... The sound as a whole was a pretty low level which would have been alright but the Hootchie Girls next to us made it so I couldn't hear much at all. They even talked all through "Wicked Game!!!" Pissed me off, I'll tell ya!!! The lighting too was dull. No creativity at all - no choreography of the lights per say. The Salt Lake show had WONDERFUL lighting effects especially with the above mentioned "Wicked Game" I don't know if that is dependent upon local people or not. The background also didn't change at all which it had in other shows I have seen. Now all of you DON'T GET ME WRONG. This was a great show. It had pro's and con's like everything. To me not hearing more of his "stories" was disappointing - but my friend liked not hearing that stuff more. It was more enjoyable for her not to hear nasty stories. All personal preference. This was definitely more of a lounge show.
I got a little ahead of myself there. For the encore, the following ..."SuperMagic 2000". Then they brought out the Baja Sessions instruments and the band went on to play "Two Hearts" and "Blue Darlin'" which Chris said he heard in a bar in Hawaii while sitting w/ his girlfriend. These two songs were of course played a la Baja style. "San Francisco Days" and "Bonnie Bee" followed. Fortunately for all, the Hootchie Girls never executed their plot to "grab Chris".
After the show, the typical autograph session took place but seemed a bit more chaotic because it was right by the casino and random people who were gambling became curious over the commotion and came over to see the "rock star". Jeezus! I talked to Kenney and have the most HILARIOUS picture of him and I along with a shot of Chris' backside and some others. After about a half an hour he came out from behind the table and only spent about 10 mins doing the photograph session before bolting to the elevator with some girl with brown curly long hair. The last I saw of the man, he was waiting for the elevator moving his head around and around and shrugging his shoulders up and down with his eyes closed just as a boxer does before he steps into the ring for a fight..........
STAY TUNED FOR ALL THE PICTURES THAT WERE TAKEN. THEY ARE GOOD!!!!
Esperanto's pictures, on Suze's Site
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