Unlimited Sunshine Tour w/Cake
Roseland Ballroom
NYC
September 5, 2003
CT hit the road with Cake this month, to serve as their opener. While this decision left many of us scratching our heads, after seeing two of these gigs, I get it. More on that later…
In the mean time, if you wanna skip the pre-show junk, click here for show schtuff and here for the set list. The other openers were fun – if you care to read about them, click here.
When I heard that 3 of my favorite CT fans would be in attendance for the NYC and Boston stops on this tour, I couldn’t resist the chance to attend myself. Thanks to Priceline, I got a good deal on airfare, so on Friday morning Tim dropped me off at the airport.
I should say before I go on that when I booked the flights I TOTALLY FORGOT our anniversary so I would be out of town for #11. DOH!!!! Tim was all over that, as you might imagine. Truth be told, I think it was more upsetting to him that he couldn’t play golf that weekend since I wouldn’t be around to stay with Zach. LOL
YOYOY does Tim put up with me?!?!? The world may never know.
ANYWAY, the American Airlines dude tried to put me on a flight to Ontario, which about gave me a heart attack. We got that sorted and I headed for the gate. As I’m heading through the security check point, I got a sudden sinking feeling that the ticket for the NYC show was sitting on my desk back home.
DOH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After a frantic call to Cara, she was good enough to get to a Ticketbastard outlet to buy me a replacement. *Sigh* Just doing my job to keep the ticket sales numbers up. :P
At the gate, the AA dude offered to let me go to Ontario instead. I’llhaftathinkaboutitno.
On the plane, our flight attendant sounded just like Jan Hooks in Pee Wee’s Big Adventure. A slightly manic Jan Hooks, that is. She could go from sweet and accommodating to downright bitchy in no time flat! Eep! The surly side came out when a passenger got locked in the loo. Whoops. The PILOT had to come back and let the poor thing out. LMAO!!!!!!!
Holy crap! It’s a bad sign when I babble this much before I’ve even left Midland. There’s still time to click here if you wanna cut to the chase! LOL
So the flights were fine – we actually got in to La Guardia 10 minutes early. Who knew?! As we came in for the landing, we got a great view of the skyline, something I hadn’t seen in person since ’97. I got very choked up seeing the void left by 9-11, especially with it being so close to the 2nd anniversary of the tragedy…
Despite a bit of confusion, Mr. Cabbie found Cara’s apartment. We dropped off my junk and headed into the city to meet Stephanie from Boston at Penn Station.
To hear Stephanie say it, we picked her up for the sole purpose of teasing her about her Bostonian accent.
For the record that is not the only reason I like going to shows with her.
I also love making short jokes.
WKBWL!
On our way to get her, we’d noticed that Dashboard Confessional was playing the Roseland Ballroom that night. We also couldn’t help but notice that they’d made folks queue up almost a block down the street. WTF?! The security goons at the doors didn’t play either. Yikes!
The three of us had margaritas and nachos at a Mexican place just around the corner from the venue there on 8th.
I’m afraid the tequila made me quite the happy drunk that night. After working with kids at her daycare center all week, poor Stephanie wound up serving as babysitter on a Friday night. Oh the irony.
Walking by the Roseland again, we met some Dashboard Confessional fans and asked them about the show, the venue, what time they got in line, etc. One of them bragged about waiting a whole two hours before the doors opened. Ha!
Amateurs. ;)
On the way back to Cara’s, we accosted many people on the street (including members of the NYPD and anyone who within earshot of our cab) to tell them that CHEAP TRICK IS PLAYING THE ROSELAND ON SATURDAY NIGHT!!!!!!!!!!!!!
DAY OF THE SHOW
After the Friday night escapades, Saturday morning came very early. The fourth member of our group arrived from Yokohama, via Philadelphia. Great to see Junko again! Woo hoo! Sounded like she’d had a lot of fun at the show the night before. What we’d all been hearing about set lists for these shows had us all very excited about the show that night!
Back on 52nd Street, we staked out our spots in front of the doors to the Roseland. Crazy. Stupid. Early.
WTF? Why must I be so compulsive about that? Did I not get to be first in line enough as a child?!
Spending all those hours holding up the wall of a club on the north end of Broadway only served to make this theatre person feel guilty for not seeing any shows on this trip. Hairspray was just across the street and the revival of Little Shop of Horrors was next door at the Virginia, a theatre that will always be near and dear to my heart…
A little more than 10 years ago I had the privilege of seeing Savion Glover, Ben Vereen and Gregory Hines in Jelly’s Last Jam there. Unbelievable theatre. I never wanted the show to end. RIP, Mr. Hines.
Brian the Trick Driver found us and snapped a picture of the goofs and chatted with us for awhile. Nice to see him, as always.
Across the street we noticed the "Dirty Bird." Quite possibly the $hittiest tour bus in the history of man. If you see any of the Unlimited Sunshine Tour dates, be on the look out for the Hackensaw Boys’ bus, because it’s a trip. Parts are held together with bungee chords for godsake and the thing has 3,000,000 miles on it. LMAO!!!!!!
Watching a guy with the Roseland change the sign was another trip that day. Somehow, he "walked" the ladder along, without going up or down. Somehow, I don’t think OSHA would approve. ;)
Some celebrity sightings that day (aside from CT, of course): Harvey Fierstein and Jerry Orbach. Stephanie got wicked excited when she saw the "Law & Order" star. :)
The kind gentleman working in the garage next to the venue showed us where to line up down the block. He knew we’d been there all day and didn’t want us to lose our spots because we didn’t know where to go.
While waiting in line we met Mark from NJ, who’d been to the Philly show. He’d also found some cool CT picture disks at some record shops. What a find! The only other fans I knew there in the line were Allie and Brian. Nice to see them again, too.
With all of us holding down the front, we took turns going around to hear a bit of sound check and maybe see the guys.
We were there when the van arrived and Rick and Tom were kind enough to chat and sign autographs for a bit. Sound check included RN singing a song called "Congratulations" (or something like that) that none of us had ever heard of. Since we only heard about the song by report, we were left to speculate that it could be the Traveling Wilbury's tune.
Much to my shock, the doors opened at 6:45, as promised. Impressive.
Not impressive would be the security goon at the door who didn’t know WTF he was doing. He’s dicking around and in the mean time, they’re about to let other people in through another door.
All I could think was, "I’ll be damned if me and my buds were gonna get screwed over because of some yahoo at the door with his head up his butt!!!!"
The poor 12 year old who was about to run through that other door looked very startled when I yelled, "No!"
Ummmm…. It would seem that waiting all day on the skanky NYC sidewalks can make a girl a wee bit cranky. If I had seen him inside, I would have apologized to the poor thing. It wasn’t his fault that security didn’t know what they were doing.
As one would expect, the Roseland Ballroom is a large open facility. A balcony wraps around the main floor and there were a couple of bar areas in the back. The stage was about 4’ off the ground, with a barrier another 4’ from the lip of stage. It’s a fairly large place that had a decidedly run-down feel to it.
The "scenery" for this tour consisted of a scrim with a mountain scene (the style reminded me of Seurat) and banners on either side with the "Unlimited Sunshine Tour" logo on them. A large disco ball completed the eclectic look.
Eclectic would also be the best way to describe the bill. First up was a 8 piece bluegrass group from Virginia, the Hackensaw Boys. Now, I’m no bluegrass/country music fan but these guys kicked ass. Nice, tight harmonies, fun upbeat tunes (think O Brother Where Art Thou) sprinkled with some pretty ballads. Some of those boys were damn cute, too. Always a plus. ;)
After their set, they brought out country music star Charlie Louvin. Now, I don’t know country music well.
At all. If it’s not Patsy Cline or Johnny Cash, 99 times out of 100, I’m not interested. But you gotta be respectful of someone who’s been a member of the Grand Ole Opry for almost 50 years and in the Country Music Hall of Fame.
Anyway, Charlie came out and did 5 or 6 songs (mostly ones he wrote) with the Boys. They were all a little ballad-y for the crowd (someone yelled, "UPTEMPO!" at one point. Bwahahaha!) but the set was still entertaining.
Charlie likes to tell stories, which is cute in a grandpa way, but when he used the "beaver" word in reference to women, I almost fell over. His excuse was that it was a miscontrued country colloquialism but when I yelled, "OH NO, YOU DID NOT!" he gave me a smirk that led me to believe that this is probably the most onery septugenarian alive today. LOL
Anyway, it was fun to watch the old and new guard working together. If you see this tour, don’t skip out on these folks, ‘mkay?
However, please feel free though to pass on the Detroit Cobras. I wanted to like them. I’m always happy to see girls rockin’ out, but the lead singer blew it for me. IMHO we were polite and as enthusiastic as can be expected. Apparently that wasn’t good enough, so the chick on vox copped an attitude for most of their set.
Whatevah! :P
Cheap Trick on the other hand, did not let the fact that they were openers effect their performance or attitude one bit. In fact, they did just what any other self respecting opening act would do – work their asses off. Take a note, Cobras.
THE SHOW
Some fun things happened just before CT took the stage….
During the final moments of set up, when the cover was removed, Rick’s checkerboard lighting rig got a huge cheer. Kind of strange, yet cool all at the same time. This got people excited and clapping in anticipation…
We got a "5 minute" warning from a DJ on a classic rock station in NYC, with an intro that is one of the best I’ve ever heard (Dave’s "best f***ing band this town has ever seen" intro aside). I forget the exact wording but he told everyone that Cheap Trick may be considered a classic rock band, but they have a great new album out called Special One.
Way to go Mr. DJ!!!
CT took the stage around 9 pm. I think.
| Bun E | black jeans and t shirt w/ black CT baseball cap |
| Rick | black suit, Uncle Dick’s t-shirt |
| Robin | mustardy, deep yellow brochade suit, white shirt, black tie. So far, so good, right? Unfortunately he didn't stop there. He topped it off with a straw hat, shades and ponytail. DOH! (Is Stevie Wonder traveling with CT as RZ's fashion advisor?!) |
| Tom | black pants, lavender western style shirt |
| Hello There | Got to see Rick’s new checkerboard Hamer up close and personal. Woo hoo! |
| Big Eyes | |
| IYWML | The usual "sing along" intro to this one. |
| Pop Drone | Love. The. Song. "Sorry I’m just blind around yooooooooooooou!" |
| My Obsession | I’d have to check, but I think this is the first time I’ve heard this one live. Sounded great! |
| IWYTWM | A tune that the kids knew. They just needed this show to figure out that it's not a Letters to Cleo song. LOL |
| Best Friend | This one went over great with the crowd! |
| 70s Song | Whoever thought to include this in the set list gets a gold star. It rocked and there were many "I didn’t know they played that!" comments all around. |
| Too Much | I think it was this song where the disco ball was used to good effect. Several automated luminaires plus a fog machine made for more kewl effects. |
| Words | Between a close up view Rick’s solo and hearing Robin singing the "You wanting me and me having you" line they about had to cart me away.... Have I mentioned how much I like this song?! ;) |
| Dream Police | Another 3 fistfuls of picks night... Robin knelt down in front of Stephanie and me. I hate it when he does that. :D |
| Surrender | When Rick brought out the 5 necker, there was a group of teenagers behind us that went nuts – like the kid with 15 piercings on his face. He looked like a kid on Christmas morning. LOL! The flat sailed out over the crowd, then back to the second row. For the first time ever, I got my hand on it (although someone else ended up with it). I did get one of the picks though! |
| Scent of a Woman | Robin did a very cute counting on his fingers move during the "few minutes a night to a woman" line... It rocked, as always, giving the guys a triumphant way to exit. |
Although I didn’t get the Cake/CT connection, now I can see why they did this tour. These dates are exposing CT to a new generation. Thankfully, the guys are seizing the opportunity and really winning over the crowds on this fast and furious tour.
As you can see, half the set is new stuff, so it’s almost the best of both worlds: lots of new stuff for the diehards (plus the accent on the "we’re not just an oldies act" fact) and the songs they’re famous for. The coup de gras is the addition of "That 70s Song": a brilliant move, as most of the Cake fans have no idea that CT plays the intro on that show.
All of us were charmed by the group of teenage boys behind us who were so enthusiastic about CT. Before the show started, one of them was rattling off CT factoids about Rick and his guitars. It was so sweet; it did my heart good.
Speaking of guitars, Rick had some new ones I don’t recall seeing before… So here’s a lame ass gear report…
#1 – red and black and white checkerboard – looked like a Fender, but that wasn’t the name on the headstock. I tried like hell to read it, but I couldn’t
#2 – sparkly green Fender Strat (I think)
YOYOY am I even trying to report on gear?!??! I’m beyond ignorant.
Anyway, they’re beautiful, so congrats to Rick on the acquisition of some fun new toys.
Rick Says
There wasn’t a ton of banter tonight. I have a feeling that the time limitations were strictly enforced to avoid paying overtime to the IATSE crew. Here’s what I recall…
"Yeah! Saturday night in New York City!"
"We’re not the Hackensaw Boys, Charlie Louvin, Detroit Cobras or Cake, we are Cheap Trick."
He introduced "Too Much" as the next single they would put out from S1. He also told us that it was doing well in Japan.
He mentioned the release of the new album, adding, "Here’s hoping it stays on the charts for the next 40 years." Works for me!
He rattled off the chords for "Best Friend" encouraging us to play along.
At one point he "conducted" the crowd noise with his hands. More so than usual it seems…
POST SHOW
As promised to the Cake fans behind us, we cleared out of the front after CT was finished. Of course this perplexed them yet made their day all at the same time. LOL
No offense to Cake, but I didn’t have any interest.
Our post CT time was much better spent seeing other fans and catching the guys by the stage door. The Adams were on hand, as well as Teri. Nice to see them all. :)
Apparently the dressing room was upstairs. Rick and Tom waved to us from a window that opened out to the street and even threw down some drinks. LOL Rick chucked out a water bottle and an O’Douls (much to the recipient’s chagrin (she thought she was getting a real beer). Tom tossed out a bottle of Gatorade.
A fan yelled to Tom that CT should have headlined. Without missing a beat, Tom quipped, "No. If we were, then we wouldn’t be done now." LMAO!
I got a thrill when Rick emerged wearing the TOMCAT shirt I’d given him before sound check. Good thing he pointed it out to me or I might not have noticed it under his jacket. LOL
Thanks to him and Tom for stopping to chat again. I hope you know how much we fans appreciate it.
After such a long day, we were famished. So several of us headed up to Times Square to grab some pizza…
Just so you know, this married mother of one’s still got it. When I went to purchase another slice, the dude behind the counter sold it to me for $2.10, as opposed to the usual $2.12. He said he was willing to save "such a beautiful woman" the two cents.
Casanova behind the counter really knows how to treat a lady, huh? :P
After a nice stroll through Times Square, we said goodbye to Bally and headed back to Cara’s place to try to get some sleep.
Thanks for reading.
Boston is coming up next!
Peace,
Lisa J.
<insert Homer quote here>