Smirnoff Music Center
Dallas,
TX
June
2, 2004
It’s been entirely too long since I clogged the bandwidth with one of my reviews. ;)
As usual, I’ll start with some bookmarks for the folks who don’t wanna read it all:
You may also want to read about the Meet & Greet
So now that that’s out of the way, let the babbling begin in earnest!
Much like Little Rock last year, the shows in Dallas and Houston would serve as my belated birthday and Mother’s Day gifts. :)
This all coming after an amazing week in Ireland. Tim’s theatre’s production of My Way (a review of the Sinatra catalogue) was invited to a theatre festival there. As luck would have it, I got to fill in for a cast member who’d moved away. Woo hoo! Works for me!
Now, I could write a whole other blathering review of that trip. LOL If you really wanna hear about it, shoot me an email. Suffice it to say that it was my first time in that beautiful country – hopefully it won’t be my last!
Anyway, back when the Dallas show with Aerosmith was announced, I’d assumed I’d be making another one of my patented drives to the DFW area. However, Southwest Airlines allowed me to revise my plans. Less than $80 roundtrip. Woo hoo! I’d be getting plenty of drive time going to Houston! :P
The flight was short and uneventful, as was picking up my rental car. Unbeknownst to me, there’d been some awful storms in the area the night before. The shuttle driver told me about power outages, torrential downpours and winds so powerful they’d knocked down trees. Ouch!
A wrong turn meant I took the scenic route to the venue. LOL! Another blow to my navigational ego!
I finally got to the venue (just in time to sneak in and park close to the gates and for free! woo hoo!) and there was already a collection of Aerofans waiting. I assumed they were on hand to pick up their passes for the infamous "Velvet Rope" package deal sold by Aeroforce One.
$600 for a seat in the first 5 rows and a chance to *maybe* meet the band. Owie! That’s the cost of 2 or 3 CT road trips!
The Fair Park area is a huge complex - home of the Texas State Fair, museums, a Broadway touring house and of course, the Smirnoff Music Center. I'd been there several years back to see Barenaked Ladies. It was called something else then, but I forget... I'd also been there to auditon for a Dallas Summer Musical season, but that's another story... LOL
Anyway, today was a hot and steamy afternoon. Man, Midland has spoiled me. I can’t abide humidity! We've had some 100° days already - but humidity is something like 10%. I'll take that over 92° and 90% humidity any day!
A dude who called himself "The Lone LA Cowboy" was sitting in the shade and he struck up a conversation with me. I had a good time talking to him until he tried *very* hard to convince me to give him a goodbye kiss. Doh! As they say on the Busted album… "Walk Away"!!!! LOL
Gradually the CT faithful showed up, hoping to pick up their passes for the M+G: Mandy, her mom and her hubby, Lon, Brigette, Kelley, John, Kathy, Chris, Gene (AKA BTMN), Brian (and his sons – one of whom was making a concerted effort to not talk as much since reading my last Dallas review. LMAO!!!!), Karen, Lisa and the owners of Two Frogs (whose names escape me now – Kim G, I’m not!!!) …. It was great to see old friends and put faces with the names of new ones!
I hope I didn't miss anyone... There was quite the large CT Fan Contingency at this show!
Mindy and Jenny Candas were on hand as well. Nice to see them both. Poor Mindy was one of the folks who'd been left without power from the storms the night before!
Although I wasn't due for a meet 'n greet until Houston, there was a spare pass to be had… Never one to turn down a chance to see my favorite band members up close and personal, Gene and I flipped for it.
I won.
Sorry, Gene!
John G. (is there a rule that you have to be named John to work on CT merchandise?! LOL!) gathered everyone and took us back for Ye Olde Meete and Greete. :D
We were all gunning for a nice air conditioned room back stage, but the M+G area was a loading dock. A hot, steamy loading dock with semis running nearby... LOL! Oh well - from the looks of things, the AS velvet ropers weren't getting much better!
Since the group was pretty big and since I had another shot at a M&G in Houston, I tried to hang back and let other fans have their chance… although I couldn’t resist giving Rick a hug and saying "hi" to the other 3. I also got to congratulate TP on his latest addition to the family, successfully avoiding the dreaded "How's the baby sleeping" question. Man, I hated when people asked me that when Zach was little!
The guys signed autographs (on the lovely 8x10 glossy handed out by John G - such a deal!) and posed for pictures with folks in our group.
Bun, Tom and Robin took off, but Rick stayed a few minutes longer to snap more photos and sign more autographs with the folks who'd gathered around him. Just like TF3 - Rick had the longest line.
As they say in that D12 song, he's "the popularest guy in the group." LOL!
I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again… It just floors me that CT is doing these meet ‘n greets at all the Aero shows. The tour schedule’s a bitch, so to give up a bit of what little free time they have is a wonderful gift to us fans.
Back in front of the venue, we noticed the looooooooooooooooong line at the gate. I *so* did not wanna wait in that. Much to our surprise, our backstage passes allowed us in the VIP gate – which had a considerably shorter line. Woo hoo!
Before the gates opened, I met Andrew and his sister who were in all the way from Oklahoma City. Unfortunately, they’d heard about the M+Gs too late, so they missed out on that *and* had to wait in the long line to get in. :(
As we waited, I commented that I was so hot, I’d be willing to pay $5 for a bottle of water. They got a chuckle out of my supposed hyperbolic statement. Turns out, that’s about the going rate.
Kiss my ass, Smirnoff Center! :P
Crappy concessions prices aside, the SC is a nicely thought out venue. Inside the main gates there’s a large area dotted with trees and landscaping with picnic tables, plus several beer and food tents. Plenty of merchandise tents, too. Even though I knew I’d catch hell from Tim, I scooped up another black CT shirt for my collection. :D The S1 style, with all the Aero tour dates on the back was too good to resist!
The performance area is a large pavilion-style space with several sections of reserved seating in front and a lawn (GA) section in the back. As reported elsewhere, the Aero set up includes a large runway down the middle of the center section (that CT doesn't use). As one would expect, CT’s gear was set up in front of Aerosmith’s.
FASHION REPORT
NOTE: The accuracy of this bit is suspect. I was many rows back so I don’t know how well I saw what the guys were wearing. LOL!
| Bun E | Black jeans and a black t shirt plus the usual bball cap |
| Rick | Maroon suit, Jenny Candas shirt |
| Robin | White suit, with a pin stripped dress shirt, some Bing Crosby lookin’ white hat, shades |
| Tom | cream colored suit, dark shirt |
| Hello There | Lots of folks in the crowd were on their feet right from the start. Because we were outside, there was still daylight. Kinda weird! |
| Big Eyes | Rick gave me a thrill when he spotted my Homer sign, waved then flicked a pick all the way back to me… Yes, I’m a goober. LOL! I’d managed to scoot up a couple rows into some empty seats - Kathy joined me. |
| IYWML | The usual Joe Dirt intro. :) I got the boot from the seats, but a group across the aisle let me join them. :D |
| Pop Drone | Love. The. Song. |
| My Obsession | "This one is another new one, getting airplay all over the world – even in Dallas." |
| IWYTWM | |
| Dream Police | RZ took off the hat and let his hair down. Thank you! :) |
| The Flame | Robin crossed himself before this one as Rick introed him as a "former resident of Texas." LOL Is RZ scared of that note? Can’t say as I blame him, although he needn’t’ve worried. He popped that bad boy and blew everyone away! Bravo! |
| That 70's Show | |
| Surrender | I was *this* close to getting the flat! Someone else beat me to the punch, snagging it from the grasp of a woman a couple rows in front of me. |
| Scent of a Woman | As reported in many other places, CT was unplugged before they could finish the song. Needless to say, the CT fans in the house were NOT happy. |
RICK SEZ
There wasn’t much time for banter, but here goes…
You had the usual, "In case you’re confused we are the one, the only, accept no substitutes Cheap Trick!" Then there were the more crowd specific comments…
"Is it just me or is it hot in here?!" Ummm… yeah. Way hot. Things cooled off by the end, what with a storm blowing in and all.
He talked about S1, adding that they’ve got it on sale for only $10. I think he also mentioned the new DVD due out this month.
He thanked the band responsible for bringing them along, pausing for effect. "No, it’s not Kiss." LOL
MISC.
The crowd was really with CT, I’m proud to say. The big 3, plus "Flame" got the biggest response, of course. I'm sure there were plenty of fans who wondered who the screaming chick was. LOL! A couple folks saw me waving my sign and came over to check it out. They were all polite enough to tell me it was cool. ;)
Despite the short sets and astronomical ticket prices, I’m proud of how they’ve held their own on this tour. Kudos to CT all around!
And a big FU to the venue, Aerosmith, the weather or whoever is responsible for the power going out in the middle of "Scent." *Supposedly* there was a lightning strike nearby. However, it just seems too coincidental to me that this lightning struck almost 45 minutes to the SECOND after CT took the stage. :P
Everything went dead, all the lights went out, except 2 spots. The guys looked startled, if not embarrassed and tried to make a graceful exit. Funny, there was power to run the spots and keep the mic live while Rick waved and said, "See you next year!"
Needless to say, I was pissed. Were folks stepping away while Kathy and I ranted?! LOL
POST SHOW
Kathy, John and I chatted for a bit while the storm kicked up outside. It was looking pretty scary - some huge wind gusts! While I bought a beer, there was a guy in the tent whose main job was to hold it down! Yipes!
By the time Aerosmith took the stage it was raining, but good. Although I was impressed with what I saw, about half way through their set, I left the shelter of the pavilion to check on the weather.
Out in the concessions area, I met a couple fans who’d actually been shoved from their seats by folks on the lawn who stormed the pavilion when the skies opened up. Despite the numerous security folks on hand, they could not control a crowd of that size. As a result, folks like these ladies got the s*** end of the stick.
On that happy note and with the storm looking worse by the second, I decide to get the heck out of Dodge. I kept having visions of tornados…
I took shelter in a nearby McDonalds down the road. So much safer! LOL! Seems that my punishment for complaining about the heat earlier in the day was to freeze my ass off in every place I went after being drenched in the storm. Doh!
Brian & Co. stuck it out and we met up after the show so I could follow them back to his place. I was mocked by some in our party for my slow driving on the freeway. LOL Sorry kids – the rain showed no sign of letting up and my lil’ rental was hydroplaning the instant we got on I-45.
Yikes!
Although we were all wet and tired, we decided to keep our post-show breakfast tradition. :D
At Denny’s I caught more flack along with Gene and Christopher when we ordered a cup of hot chocolate. Who says you can’t have that in the summer? Especially when you’re dining at a restaurant that keeps their thermostat on the "meat locker" setting!!!
Besides, as Gene pointed out, there wasn’t much that was "hot" about that hot chocolate. "Luke warm chocolate" would be more fitting. ;)
HEADING HOME
The next morning I made it back to Dallas Love in plenty of time… Check out Southwest’s thoughtfulness: at several gates, they provide free juice, coffee and donuts in the morning. Free stuff! At an airport?! Whodda thunk it?!?!?
I scored a whole row for myself, since it was not a crowded flight. Not too many folks wanna go to Midland on a late Thursday morning I guess. ;) There were many storm cells along the way, so it made for a bumpy ride. Thanks to the "CT Slow Songs" playlist on my iPod, I remained calm.
THANKS
Many thanks to many folks…
Cara – for proof reading! :D
Brian – thanks as always for the place to stay. Always a pleasure to see you and your sons! :)
Mother Nature – thanks for holding off on the tornadoes that night. ;)
Chris – thanks for the pass! What a nice surprise!
CT & Co. – thanks for spending a little time with us pre show as well giving us another outstanding concert!
Tim & Zach – thanks for putting up with me! They had to do it again the next day when Junko and I headed for another show in Houston. That review's coming up...
Peace,
Lisa J.
<insert Homer quote here>