| Great Big Sea House of Blues, Atlantic City March 14, 2008 |
| Under the boardwalk, out of the sun Under the boardwalk, we'll be having some fun Under the Boardwalk, people walking above Under the Boardwalk, we'll be making love Under the Boardwalk, Boardwalk! One of my favorites songs growing up was sung by my favorite band tonight, but I am getting way ahead of myself. So, you'll have to read on! Wow. What a fun show it was at Atlantic City’s House of Blues! A new, never-before-publicly-performed song, a wonderfully-engaged-with-the audience Séan McCann, a spontaneous accompanied Under the Boardwalk, giggles, innuendo, signs, requests, crowd misbehavior, bass so high that it physically moved clothing, whole new setlist… So many great things! I had looked forward to this evening for a while as it is within 3 days of my birthday. Great Big Sea and I share a common birthday – March 11th. Of course, they are only 15 years old and I am more than 3 times that age, but no matter. Somehow for the last 10 years, they have managed to play a show within a week of my birthday in my backyard, so-to-speak, for 5 or 6 of those years. I am blessed. Plus, any excuse to go to the Jersey Shore is worth jumping on. I had met Luthien the night before and wined and dined her at a local hole-in-the-wall which serves the world’s best cheesesteaks and she got the dubious privilege of seeing the neighborhood where I teach and accompanying me to Chorus rehearsal for a bit. I showed her the lights of Boat House Row also – a Philadelphia treat right in center city on the Schuylkill River. She’s a great person as you probably already know from her posts and we had some great conversation. It was already a good day on Friday because we only had a half-day of students, and parent conferences in the afternoon. I saw some parents I hadn’t expected to see and that was a good thing. Picked Vic up at the train station not far from school and we jogged off to Collingswood to pick up Nancy. Nancy’s good company, too, and we grabbed a bite to eat before entering Atlantic City. We found the Showboat without aggravation thanks to Nancy’s written directions and the GPS Vic brought along. Turned down New Jersey Avenue but there was no parking there. We had to make a U-turn at the Boardwalk, but it was good to see the b’ys bus parked outside the hotel right there. We had been afraid they might not have made it out of St. John’s in the blizzard they were having. Having got there a couple hours before the doors opened, Nancy and I decided to got up to Mutha’s suite in the hotel and meet-and-greet while Vic went out and walked the boards. Jim and Kim were gracious hosts and there was plenty to eat and drink. We met some new fans and got to watch some of the Great Big DVD on a large-screen projection system. Nice. Around 7 PM we left to find Victor but there was no sign of him, so we wound our way through the casino to get to the House of Blues. Luckily I had my cane-chair as it was way too long a walk for me on a normal day. When we got to the line-up, there were two sides for lining up but no one was on the left so we joined the people on the right. Nancy and I greeted Lynda, Howard and Cheryl, Endi and Michele, Lou, Kim and Jennifer, among others. So good to see people you haven’t talked to for 6 or more months! We spent about 30 minutes catching up on all the news, then found out, much to our dismay, that this was the line for people with passes. (Those who had spent $30 at the restaurant or gift shop) And the other line, which now contained about 20 people, was for those without the VIP status. So I “scrambled” up from the floor and we joined the other peons. You’re better off not actually seeing me scrambling up from the floor. It’s not a pretty sight, trust me. There‘s only one way for me to get up and it involves a prolonged view of my butt up in the air whilst the rest of my body struggles to be vertical. We had a nice conversation with Hugh and Dorothy, who found out about GBS about the same time Vic and I did AND at the same place we discovered them – Cape Breton. All of a sudden, someone came over and gave Nancy a Pass for two to join the VIP line. Wow! I went from VIP to peon and back again to VIP within about 15 minutes! I figured I was going to fare much better as a VIP trying to get a spot up front so I could use my cane chair and see the band at the same time. What luck! I think I have Lou to thank for that but I’m not sure. Karma is wonderful, you know? After that, we went thru more security than you go thru at the airport. At least that’s the way it seemed with mostly the men being wanded and the ladies having their handbags checked. I had no handbag and no camera so I was okay. They were checking IDs but I am obviously WAY over 21, so I didn’t need to produce mine. (Which was a good thing since it was in the car.) They had been pretty insistent on the website and the phone that cameras were not allowed, but they allowed cell phones with cameras. Go fig. Anyway, I had none so it wasn’t an issue. When we got in there, I needn’t have worried as Endi and Michele had saved me a spot stage Bob, right up at the barrier. The place reminded me of the Troc in Philly inside with the black walls and ceiling. They had a balcony, which was closed to the public. Along the one wall of at the balcony level, were a series of windows that had line drawings on them. Took us a while to figure a couple out, but we finally agreed it was a mermaid, a lobster, a fish, monkeys and a bird. As we stood there, we found a few more OKPers – Horatia, Jenny (who was also celebrating a birthday), seaworthy, Chiarascura, Lyndsay. Jim and Kim and company stood behind/beside us. Squeals of delight accompanied each new OKP introduction. We struck up a conversation with Michael, the Security guy and he gave us earplugs, nice guy. I tried to find Vic to give him a set, but he was nowhere to be found yet. I could tell from the high level of bass on the pre-recorded music that Vic was going to need them for the show. It looked as though the venue could have held about 2,000 people or more. They had a handicapped section set up, mid-room, with chairs set up next to the sound control box. I was tempted to sit there but I didn’t think I’d be able to see anyone with the crowd standing in front. So my cane chair and I stayed where we were. There weren’t more than about 500 there by the start of Pat McGee’s spot. I enjoyed him and his guitarist, Brian. The guitarist was an excellent player! The crowd was not averse to Pat and Brian at all and sang along for a bit. Pat acknowledged that GBS were masters of audience participation. They sang some songs from the new CD, which was on sale for only $5! Off to Maine right after the show, they wanted the crowd to buy them out of CDs so they wouldn’t have to lug them in the van. They did a bang-up job of the Beatles Something In the Way She Moves. |
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