No one else can see things like I do.--William Blake

"Nights on the Road" I like the title of this tour. The Full Moon last night must have been wonderful to drive under (there in lovely Georgia), I bet the Moodies went on ahead from Atlanta to Greenville and slept there. A place with the name Greenville, how could they not want to get to those golf courses?

Off North through more back roads. I passed a place "Possum Kingdom" a picture of a cute little possum in overalls, and strumming a banjo, apparently a local honky tonk. There is so much music in the South, it�s behind every bush. Mostly I went into a time warp, and just enjoyed the scenery going North. Once I got to Greenville, I immediately realized my mistake: again no map (oh why didn�t I mapquest it?) The place was an over-grown, unplanned cow town, and I wandered a bit trying to find the theatre. Downtown was a friggin� nightmare, and I wondered how I would find a place to park without having to pay the usual bloodsuckers for valet service (grrr). They had a Farmer�s Market, which was apparently a huge event, people everywhere, many pushing baby buggies or trailing small children. I think the entire county must have been there. I got out of there somehow and once I had a spot to stop, called the Embassy Suites. Found it easily (with directions), and admired the golf green under the sweltering heat. Was that John Lodge I see swaggering along like John Wayne, �way out there?

I still don�t know. Once I got checked in (gulping at the price) I found the work-out room, and had lots of fun with the glass elevators. If you stood looking down as the elevators dropped, you could get a little rush, because it went quite fast and you felt like you might not stop in time! YIII!!! In the courtyard, they had really wonderful koi ponds, and if they really were there, I bet Paul enjoyed them just like I did. What beauties! Koi are so nice, if you just stand there, they come up and glup for food, the silly things. There was a sign saying "we are on a special diet, please don�t feed us".

BUT were the Moodies there? I got the tremblers, thinking about it. It was nice, there were no stalkers or fans in the building (pretty dead actually). Those might have been roadies in the hot tub, they seemed the types. I didn�t want to stare, but I might have spotted both Gordon and Paul around 4ish, Gordon headed to the work out room (he did a double take at me, too). Either that, or they were similar looking dudes, and I didn�t look close enough (and I do have bad eyes). If it was Gordon, he�s into watching the Disney channel while he works out <chuckle>

Well I didn�t hot tub (for the price I paid, they really needed to hire better jacuzzi cleaners, it was skuzzy and not very hot at all) but I did swim a bit, and walked around outside on the edges of the Green, enjoyable to move around after a day of sitting in a car. I actually looked ok in a bathing suit, for the first time in a long time. Then, a good bath, and find the right earrings, and off I goes to the theatre.

After finding some free parking (the damn Farmer�s Market had finally ended) got my tickets, so on so forth. ROW F!!!!! Geeze I could have done that well on Ticketmaster! But my seat actually turned out really nice, up front and off to the side where I could see Justin�s fret work again. I was sitting next to some very nice folks, one was a lurker on MBT, and they were very cool to hang with after all the fan behavior of the last show. When it was glowstick time, I was READY and handed them a couple��. So there we were, three glowsticks all lonely over on the left.

This was a nice theatre, clean and new, the chairs were the BEST I�ve ever sat in, in a theatre, there was leg space, it was roomy, and I loved sitting there! It�s picky, but I didn�t like the shape of the bricks in the walls (square, looked cruddy), they slipped up there in the design. Some folks on the balcony were getting warmed up, they had a really cool sign (couldn�t read it though) but it lit up around the outside with blue lights. Bummer, someone made them take it down. The Ushers were really mean, and nailed someone in front of me with a digital camera. I snuck my non-flash AE-1 up a few times and managed to take most of a roll, I was pretty quick. Luckily the old guys ushering had pretty thick glasses, so I got away with it, by being very careful. But I�ll have to crop out heads in several shots I suspect. 

The show was wonderful: The songs I thought dragged in Nashville were a bit peppier tonight. Justin really makes women feel special from a distance, he understands us, you know? In Nashville, Cindy and I were muttering "I wonder why they still tour?" the energy was so low. In Greenville, I was ready to proclaim Justin the Fifth Element, the Supreme Being. It wasn�t due to the audience, that�s for sure�. They were sorta quiet, resting after the hard work at the Farmer�s Market, and enjoying those comfy chairs. I think Justin might have been rising to the challenge of a dead audience to pour on the energy like he did (I wasn�t dead, I was having a great time!)

 

The slideshow was back. I got to see that wonderful yonic mandala that goes with "Are You Sitting Comfortably" and got a level to it that made me BLUSH. I think Justin and the light tech have done this as a sort of "Ode to the Feminine" and � well I�m into Jung, I don�t know if others see what I do in art. But I bet it was all intentional on Justin�s part. Whew. Now officially my favorite erotic song of the show. The beginning (first song slideshow) has a great marbled egg effect over the photos, and I was glad to see those a bit toned down, it doesn�t come over as a flashing billboard so much any more.

This picture is really from Hershey, but it gives you the idea. This is one of my fave photos from this tour, cropped up nicely didn't it?

JH was mostly in his Gibson for the show, but swapped into his Martin and other axes here and there. I got to see his fret hand a lot better in Greenville. Sitting on that side, I really enjoyed "Never Comes the Day", the man has magic fingers. I always try to watch fret work; most don�t realize that even though one might be skilled at music, there are very different levels to guitar playing. Justin REALLY is up there (true magic with the finger work), while Norda, and that cute little blonde songwriter I saw in Nashville are really rudimentary with their fret work (doesn�t mean you can�t write songs, and make good music, I'm at the basic level myself).

Justin likes to torment John I think during ILS, he is usually a hair late on his cue, and according to someone on line , this tour John once sang Justin�s line for him, as Justin missed it totally (forgot where I read it).

I am really beginning to get superstitious about that "magic spot" over in the left side of the House (band�s right). For the last year, and in many shows previous, it always seems I make all sorts of eye contact with Justin over there, he gets to grinning, we grin back and forth, and the show turns out just wonderful. (When Justin�s happy, everyone�s happy). Hell I dunno, maybe he�s grinning at the pretty blonde in front of me, but hey don�t spoil my fantasies, ok? This was one of those nights. Justin was being droopy again, no umphf. Usually by NCTD he perks up a bit, but not tonight, nor really at the Ryman, usually it�s like a light bulb coming on. Well tonight it got to IKYOTS. You know the part where Justin sorta does this "Big O" yell, and humps the guitar a little? (well a knee job anyway). Tonight it just sorta slipped out and I howled BACK at the appropriate time. Felt good too! Justin looked over my way, cracked a huge smile, and he TORE into the song, and was quite up for the rest of the show. AND either the gal in front of me, or behind me got "Nights" sung to her, and it was wonderful, one of the best I�ve seen in performance. After he finished, applause was literally redundant, I sat there in that comfy chair, drained, clutching the armrests. Getting all that energy thrown at you (whether you are the target or not) is pretty overwhelming. THIS is why you go to a lot of concerts. Every so often, something like this happens, and it�s all worth it then.

All through this trip I�ve been dealing with aggressiveness, not just in me, but in other Moody folks. How to deal with it? It started with my son�s future mother in law, she is a real terror, and is so abusive to her daughter, I�m not sure if I should say anything or not. You know how families can be sometimes, and how much do you interfere? Why are some women like this? Then on line, I was dealing with this blind bitchy flaming stuff, and it wasn�t me (I work very hard at being pleasant) some women are just bitches in our on line group. They are nutso. At some point I finally arrived at saying "pond scum" when I started thinking about the nuts on the fan sites, because so many Moody fans are REALLY nice people, and not "regulars". But letting the anger happen in YOU drags down the spirit, and I was trying to deal with it. During this show, it just so happened one of the two "special" lights in OMTTL during the lines "he who starts to fight begins the end of time" hit MY chair, and one other on the other side of the room. I shrank down. I don�t like anger in myself, yet so many have attacked me on the newsgroups, and do you fight back? Roll over like a wimp and take it? This is alpha bitch stuff, and my daddy didn�t raise no wimps! (and I have my Mars in Aries, I can�t help my hot headedness, but I do try to divert it). So all this is perking around my brain, and then this light hits me. YIKE. No I don�t think it was intentional, but maybe God is whispering to me. He does that sometimes during Moody shows.

Intermission was nice, everyone was waving at friends from boxes on the sides, a really friendly town. I love the accents of the folks down here, they were so nice and soft and had that cool accent I can�t get quite right. They were all around me at the stage door. If I were a guy, I would fall in love with Southern girls the first time they opened their mouths! After the show, I went out to the bus with a bunch of other really nice folks (one gal was a Brit!) the cops shooed us back and the band got on-board without comment (Justin wearing a brown leather coat, lugging something, probably a pet guitar). They looked tired, and didn�t wave much, probably not looking forward to the 12 or so hour ride to Baltimore. The bus was pretty nice inside, they had a good-sized plasma telly going. Off they went, Knights on the Road, seeking the Holy Grail perhaps. Under a spectacular Full Moon.

I heard nothing but praise from many fans for the MBT tickets. My complaint was I kept getting set dead center, and I have more fun on the sides (and can get closer) so sometimes it�s just as easy to get them through Ticketmaster in my case. JoAnn loved her seat. So did Theresa in Greenville (sat next to me).

Back to the hotel, and I stopped at the business center to check the Internet. All my thoughts about curbing my anger fled out the window when I did a fast scan on TER, and found the news about the Station Inn, pbaub all happy and bubbly and "oh what a wonderful show"!!!!!! Ok I chewed on pbaub enough, I shan�t repeat, and I think I was rather clinical considering. But you don�t want to know the words I was saying after I posted a few whiny tired notes to Lost Chords, and MBT, and huffily stomped off to bed, steam rolling out my ears. I crawled in the rack, pissed, angry, wishing I could slap a couple of people. I turned my blue glow stick over and over in the dark, and thought very ugly thoughts. What really makes me angry is that I let others do these things to me.

I had just seen one of the best Moody shows possible. But I have riches more than these. OH DO I. No one else can see things like I do.

I finally went to sleep after a long long time, absolutely heart broken at having missed Justin�s sittin� in show. Please let there be another chance some day.