Concrete Street Corpus Christi, TX November 13, 2003

Ya know, it wasn’t in the original plan to go to Corpus, but with hindsight I’m damn glad I did. It ended up being my favorite of the 4 Texas dates I was lucky enough to catch in November.

With my ears still ringing from the Nextstage show, I headed south. 7 hours for a CT show? Ain’t no big thang! LOL

Bookmarks du jour:

CT show

Set list

Damnwells set

Wayne Kramer’s set

Lots of CT disks got me through that long drive. Before I knew it, I was in Corpus Christi, searching for the venue. It was a very industrial location for a concert venue – definitely not the swankiest place. I couldn’t help but think, "WTF? Nextstage last week and now this?!"

Free parking was available on the streets around the venue. Woo hoo! As I walked towards the venue, this guy bolted out of his car and sprinted towards the gate. LOL Guess I wasn’t gonna be first in line today.

Speedy Gonzales’ real name was Don and he was there to hold spots for his family. We had a good time hanging out together (since we were the only people silly enough to be there that early LOL). He was a local who goes to lots of shows in the area. He gave me the happy news that CT would not play the amphitheater – instead they’d be on the smaller stage: a much more intimate and more importantly, sheltered space.

Yes, the weather in Texas was continuing its decidedly crappy streak. Although the skies threatened, it looked like the rain would hold off.

Sound check was going on by that time with "If I Could" and "Southern Girls" among the selections. It was particularly nice to hear the latter…

Don’s wife (Kim) and kids (Maryann and Robert) showed up a little later. They would have been there all along were it not for those pesky work and school obligations. LOL

The security staff set up the gate area as the line got rather lengthy. Looking back in the crowd, I found Mika, all the way in from Yokohama. Great to see her again and welcome her to Texas! She had some very cool rings to show off. We knew Rick would like them! :)

As is typical with this sort of show, the gates did not open until well after the appointed time. I contended that this was the venue’s way of partially weaseling out of $1 beer specials they’d advertised for 6-8 PM.

The situation before the gates opened made things appear that it was gonna get pretty hairy: there were 3 separate lines – regular tickets, online tickets and VIP tickets. Don lectured his kids to stay to the center, so I could have my favorite place just left of that. Is that sweet or what?! The numerous lines had the 6 of us fretting that our wait would all be for naught…

They finally let us in and we high tailed it to the stage, with the staff members mocking us all the way. Bwahahahha! To make me feel even dumber, just about everyone else in the front of the line was perfectly content to hang back.

Concrete Street is a bizarre venue – in a good way for the most part. The stage was smallish, but not so small that the CT gear seemed cramped. There certainly wasn’t much depth though… The audience area was basically a covered concrete slab with a barrier about 3’ from the stage. Ringing the audience area was a large assortment of vendors selling margaritas, beer, nachos, pickles, pizza, etc.

Yeah, I said pickles. I’d never seen that kinda thing ‘til I moved here. They sell ‘em at movie theatres, too.

Anyway, at the barrier, the Damnwells were puttering with their gear. I complimented them on their set in Dallas and whined about being too old for this GA $hit. The blank stares I received after that made me wanna tap a microphone and ask, "Is this thing on?!"

DAMNWELLS

The stage area was pretty cramped by the time the Damnwells started and they got a warm reception. It was the same setlist as Dallas. My favorites are:

"What You Get"
"Kiss Catastrophe"
"The Lost Complaint."

The boys from Brooklyn played another solid set. Fun stuff, me likey. There's a suitcase/briefcase thingy that's onstage in front of the drum kit that usually has their logo on it. Tonight it said something like, "You're in the passing lane, asshole!" Sounds like somebody hadn't been "driving friendly"! LOL

I'm not sure if this is a sound issue or a singer issue, but my one compliant would be that Alex, the lead singer, should have better diction given his theatrical background. ;)

WAYNE KRAMER

Tonight was when I noticed Dave and Colin setting up for Brother Wayne and his band, which impressed me to no end. And I’m not talking about tuning a guitar or two – I mean laying out towels, setting water precisely where it was needed for all band members, etc. Dave does Wayne’s intro, too. Quite a show of respect IMHO.

These dates were basically a touring mutual admiration society. So cool to see openers that were hand picked by CT. Of course it helps that I like them a lot, too. ;)

Anyway, Wayne and company took the stage, all of them decked out in really sharp suits and proceeded to whip the crowd into a frenzy. They exchanged surprised glances when the crowd responded so enthusiastically.

It was pretty much the same set as Nexstage – including three songs from Adult World mid-set: all of which are favorites of mine. During "Brought a Knife to the Gun Fight" Doug Lunn on bass caught me singing along and gave me a huge grin. Through the rest of the set, he kept looking to see if I was still singing along. Oh the pressure!!!! LOL

Backing up a bit, Wayne’s dark humor was in full effect that night. After telling us it was great to be in Corpus Christi, he smirked and added, "The body of Christ!" Just like Rick, he has standard lines – one of my faves is "We’re here to comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable."

A thrill for yours truly was the point I got from him on the "I will win the girl" line in "Great Big Amp." LOL

The crowd really got into his set – which surprised me given the fact that his decidedly anti-Bush stance. I really feared for him talking that way in the middle of Dubya Land, but it seemed he struck a chord.

They ended it on a real high note with "Shark Skin Suit." The false endings always make me LMAO. :D

Needless to say, I had a blast during Brother Wayne’s set – then as if it couldn’t get better, Eric Gardner presented me with a drum stick before he left the stage. Woo hoo!!!

THE SHOW

CT took the stage promptly at 9 PM.

Fashion report

SET LIST

MISC.

I love the E Drone segue between the acoustic and electric sets with the quick transition: removing the stools, revealing the cabinets then the launch into "Just Got Back."

The security guards were into the show – I saw several of them jamming along and smiling.

Robin gave another outstanding high-energy performance – really engaging the crowd. Rick did a lot of that too, of course, although he also spent a fair amount of time goofing off with Dave and Ted (bassist for The Damnwells) who were offstage right.

Seems like Rick has really been into "offering" his guitar of late – holding it out so folks can strum or touch the neck.

Rick got a ton of mileage out of the low beam in the ceiling that obstructed his view from the steps: flicking picks, peeking over it, etc.

After Mika showed her new rings to RN, he smiled and showed off his own.

Now, I appreciate enthusiasm and all, but this crowd was too rough for my taste. It felt like I was constantly at risk for getting shoved out of the way once CT hit the stage. The shoving, beer throwing and hair pulling had me ready for a fight on more than one occasion.

Dickweeds.

Anyway, it was worth enduring all that, because it really was a tremendous show.

RICK SEZ

He thanked the Damnwells and Wayne Kramer "and his band of renown" for opening adding, "Now if they could just get off the heroin and alcohol." LOL

He tried to point out the merch booth, but gave up…

He informed Robert that he had touched a Les Paul, "The Holy Grail of Guitars." The youngster tried to be sufficiently impressed, then Rick asked him if he played. After Robert affirmed that he did, Rick said, "Well now your better. It’s just that easy." LOL

Rick liked the venue and said it was a nice little place. "I’m from Chicago – we would only be able to use a place like this for 3 months, but it looks like you can use it almost all year!"

Towards the end, he picked on one of the stoic security types, telling everyone his name is Jo Jo and they’re cousins by marriage. "If you have any questions, just ask him. He knows everything about CT: phone numbers, email addresses… everything!" LMGDMFAO!

POST SHOW

After buying a couple Wayne Kramer disks, I drove Mika back to her hotel. The poor thing was exhausted from her journey and standing up for hours for the concert.

Not that I wasn’t. LOL In Color and Return of Citizen Wayne got me part way to Houston. That and the happy thought that I still had two more CT fixes coming my way…

Austin and Houston coming up…

Thanks for reading.

Peace,
Lisa J.
<insert Homer quote here>

© Lisa Jebsen, 2003