Fanzine:The Salt Lake City Experience
The Salt Lake City Experience was AMAZING!!!
Ok. This is not a "show review" per se. As noted later in this thread, my mind was completely MELTED by the show/whole experience. So . . . this is kind of my characteristic ramblings about EVERY surrounding the Salt Lake City show.
I had COMPLETELY decided to have the May 23 Vegas show as my final show. I had planned to have my final show be the Milwaukee show. End my live Police experience where it began waaayy back in 1984. But it was not in the cards. So I figured Vegas was a good second choice given that is where I first saw them on the reunion tour.
Yep. Everything was set up for the best possible "last show" experience. Great seats. Flag bearer. Got to hang out with Amy, Meg and Dan again. Got to meet Charlie Arnold and Andy (from TP.com, not the guitarist). And got to sit next to about as fanatical as Stewart fan as there it - Irish Rose.
The show was good. Got to seeBring On The Night. BUT Stewart seemed off. Tired. Sure, he was still better than 99.9% of the live drummers out there. But for a Stewart performance . . . eh. It was the anniversary of Ian's death, so I couldn't blame him for having a somewhat off performance.
I was ok with this being my final show, though, until . . .
Anyway, like 3 weeks ago, I get an e-mail from NancyRose. Never met her before. Was supposed to have met her in NY back in November 2007 but personal tragedy nixed that. So it was quite a surprise to find that she was inviting me to join her, Gina Super Cat, and Dirty Martini to see the show with them in Salt Lake City. SLC ain't all that close to Vegas and is not particularly the place I think of going when I want to have a good time. BUT, this invitation was nearly irresistible. The ticket being offered was in the FUCKING FRONT ROW!!!!!!!! FUUU UUUU UUUUCK!!! Guess it a good thing to be the only Nutter anywhere near the general vicinity of SLC.
For reasons I can't remember now, I wanted to see if someone could talk me out of going, so I e-mailed my two closest friends - one that I saw the Police with in NY and the other that I saw the Police with in Vegas the first time around. They are both VERY conservative financially so I figured they be able to come up with some sound reasons to justify my not going.
Nope. The consensus was that I HAD to go. No excuses.
I had to juggle a dog sitting committment but after that was sorted out, I e-mailed NancyRose. I was going to Salt Lake City to see The Police in the FRONT ROW. I totally felt like D-A-O right then.
I flew to SLC early morning on the day of the show. I was EXHAUSTED. I had gone to the midnight showing of The Dark Night a few days before a combination of event led me to having about 4 hrs of sleep a night for about three days leading to the show.
Got to my hotel and was glad to find my secretary arranged for me to stay right next to the arena. Called up NancyRose to tell her that I was in SLC and that's when I learned the show was not at the main arena in SLC but in an amphitheater way on the outskirt of town. That is also when I learned that Nancy, Gina, and DM were on an extended road trip following The Police from Shorline to Concord to Wheatland to SLC to Red Rocks. I would get to experience a tiny sliver of this monumental task of those three. They were still tired from their 10,000 hr drive from Wheatland the night before, so I decided to go out on my own.
I had been to SLC a few times before on business but never got to see it recreationally. There is a pretty cool outdoor mall called The Gateway. There are tons of restaurants, movies, a childrens museum, a planetarium, etc. I would highly recommend the area. Its right next to the area. That's were I was able to eat all the sushi in the world. After that 48 trillion calories, I went to hotel and crashed.
I was awoken by a call from Nancy Rose. She asked if since I had already eaten all the sushi in the world if I would mind if we ate at a vegetarian restaurant. Apparently, they were eating just greasy fried stuff on this road trip, so they wanted to eat something actually nutritious for a change. My wife actually does not eat meat so I really didn't mind the restaurant choice. Also, every year, I go vegetarian for a month and a half.
I got to the restaurant before the other three so I had a beer while waiting. Before long, I saw Kellie, Gina, and Nancy. There was no mistaking that they were going to a Police show. Gina was dressed in a KK t-shirt, black and green knee length socks, and barrets in her hair in Synch colors. Kellie had a krypton green shirt. Nancy had her Roxanne badge shirt. I was similarly dorked up in my green Cameroon football jersey and cucumber and lemon Nikes.
Had a great meal and even better pre-show conversation. I had only met Gina and Kellie once before but from the posts at SC.net, it was like we were friends from waaayy back. The problem with was the same thing that happen in Vegas with Amy, Dan, and Meg. The conversation was so good that we had a late departure for the show.
Time for some random comments:
Gina has the longest hair I've ever seen. Seriously. Shit it's long.
The bathroom at the vegetarian restaurant had a hole in the wall that was at about waist level. I swear to god, it seemed like a glory hole. Wasn't going to mention this to the gals, though. Figured it would creep them out.
So we all go to the rented SUV which the gals named Pedro. At this point, the organizational skills and tactics of the girls almost scare me. They have printed directions from MapQuest AND Gina has a Crackberry with GPS. They consult both in determining the best course to the venue. DM in the front passengers seat with the MapQuest directions. Gina in the back with the GPS. Shit. I have determined that if these gals had an extra day off between shows, they could successfully invade and conquer Canada just among the three of them. Sorry, D-A-O, Tamadude and the like. It just a FACT.
Traffic sucked and it was getting really close to start time. Nancy seemed a bit worried because she still had to get two of the tix from Will Call. However, I was just too tired to really care. DM was majorly yawning too, though as was Gina. Shit. Would Stewart look into the front row and see 4 Nutters fast asleep?
Due to the military like precision of the gals, we arrive ten minutes before show time though we had been scared we would be much later. However, in the parking lot, I could hear Costello already playing the first song of his set - Stella Hurts. FUU UUU UUCK! I'm a huge Costello fan, so Nancy says I should just go ahead while they get their tix from Will Call and use the restroom, etc. Nancy later described what I did as a commando roll out of the SUV and sprinted towards the venue.
No real security. I could have fucking brought in an AV equipment I wanted. But I hadn't. Oh yeah, and my sprint to the venue turned to a jog before long. Ok. I intended to sprint but I really kind of just jogged the whole way. Before I took it to a brisk walk. After all, I couldn't enjoy a show from front row if I was dead from a coronary.
Missed two songs, but I was ok with it. Discovered my seat was Andy side. I suspected we would almost be pretty much right in front of Andy.
The sun was still hot. And Elvis was wearing a black suit. And he was clearly BROILING. But Costello is a COMPLETE pro. I remember he played a show once in Vegas the same day he had a tooth extracted. So he played flawlessly. But he didn't draw his songs out like he usually does. But very good nonetheless. Sting came out for Allison wearing the same white PJs that he wore in Vegas. I was a bit concerned as his voice did not seem at top forum.
Costello's set was done and the countdown to gongtime began. Went to get some swag and a drink before the big event.
Kelly was seated next to me but I soon discovered Gina and Nancy's seats weren't next to us. They were seated Sting side. RIGHT IN FRONT OF STING. I asked Kellie if we should ask if the people next to us would trade seats with Gina and Nancy. I was concerned because I knew Stewart tends to almost always look Andy side and so Andy side seats were better for flag bearer. Also, the flag would be right up Sting's ass all night. Kellie said the girls would be fine. And ya gotta defer to Kellie regarding flag issues.
GONG TIME. AAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!
At the end of MIAB, Stewart easily sees The Flag and gives it the first point of the night. Both Kellie and I try to take pics of the point but we BOTH miss. Kellie misses it cuz Andy's in the way. I miss it because my camera sucks and I'm a goober.
At this point, the details are really kind of fuzzy. You get go engulfed in the whole front row experience that you can't think straight. No one is front of you that it really feels like no one else is there. Then you look back and you see 15,000 people out there. For some reason, I thought there'd be only like 8,000 people there. No. The fucking place was packed.
Anyway, early on in the show, Stewart gave the Flag another point which was followed by a point to DM (who was right next to me). Shocked Shocked She was not anywhere near the flag. A peep point!! Of course, all decked out in green, we were like human flags. I wore the Cameroon jersey to plant in Stewart's mind the though of Oysterhead and Gizmo.
Later, Stewart did the "psych out" point. He wound up his arm like he was going to point at the flag but then twisted his wrist and actually pointed at DM!!! Very Happy Very Happy
We were clearly up for quite a night.
A common camera shot used on this leg is the over the shoulder of Stewart shot so you see Stewart as well as his view of the crowd. I quickly figured out that whenever this shot was shown on the huge screen, you would see me and DM!!!!! Shocked Shocked I fucking FREAKED!!!! I pointed this out to DM in some incomprehensible gibberish, and DM kind of laughed, indicating that she had known about this for a LONG time. Embarrassed I felt like a total asshat. Here I was, not even holding the Flag but I was still concerned about not being an asshat in front of DM.
Another thing that just blew my mind was the realization that I don't think I was hearing Stewart through the speakers but from his kit itself. This was fucking awesome.
Andy was directly in front of us. From the front row, it is so easy to not even notice Sting cuz he's on the other side of the stage. So for the whole show, it was pretty much the Andy and Stewart show. Can't really comment on how good Andy really played. My mind was too melted. It seemed really fucking good, but I don't trust my objectivity due to the overwhelming subjective experience. Sting was in very good voice and they all seemed very relaxed and having fun.
Stewart was AMAZING. 1,000 times better than when I last saw him in Vegas. More animated.
I suspect they were so relaxed and consequently had such a great show because this was a show with no expectations. Who expects a great show in Utah? Coming off the shows in the SF area esp. Stewart's birthday and right before the big shows at Red Rocks, this show was a no pressure show.
I have having so much fun I even like Don't Stand and Invisible Sun.
Before the end of Invisible Sun, I knew CSLY would be coming up. I was worried. I was afraid I was going to lose it. Being so emotional and knowing this might be my very last show, I was not such I could handle hearing Sting sing, "I guess this is our last goodbye." I didn't want to cry in front of Kellie. I was scared.
At this point, I left my body. My soul floated around the amphitheater. This is waaay not objective, but I never heard Stewart play like this. He played much of the song with his eyes closed, really putting everything he had into to.
Quick aside. In our seats, Stewart naturally looked essentially right at me and DM for much of the show as he played. I swear we had direct eye contact at several points in the show. IT FUCKING FREAKED ME OUT!!!!!! FUUUUUUUUUUUUCCCCKK!!!
I cannot begin to tell you how weird that is.
Anyway, I was having such a good time that I did not cry when Sting sang about the last good bye. I was just feeling so good. There is no crying at a Police concert.
At the end of CSLY, Stewart gave Gina and Nancy a big flag point which I got on video.
So Nancy comes over and says she wants to switch seats with me. So I go over with Gina and become flag bearer. Shocked Being Flag Bearer is cool in many ways but it is also kind of never racking.
The first encore is Roxanne. Before I go into this, a little flashback. In Vegas, Stewart didn't see the flag until the very end. I was terrified that he would never see it. So the only points came at the very end of the show. He did what Phaty coined A Flag Bow followed by a flurry of points like Susan got at MSG on 11.2.07.
Back to SLC. I never got any midsong flag points before. Its fucking freaky. And it seemed like Stewart wouldn't stop pointing. To be the recipent of a point like that is UNBELIEVABLE. Just the fucking look on his face. Thinking, I'm standing next to Gina Super Cat and he's got his attention on ME! Shocked FUUUUUUUCCCKK! He was doing these little multiple point things. FUUUUUUUCCCCKKK!!
I told Gina that I wanted to her to hold the flag for Next To You as I wanted to capture the final points on video.
At the end, Stewart comes out for the final bow. As always, he's in the center with Sting to the left and Andy to the right. While standing right in front of me and Gina, Stewart then takes Sting's hand and tries to force Sting to point at the flag. Shocked Shocked Laughing Laughing Laughing Sting resists and then Stewart does a point himself and walks off. The "gals" tell me later that Sting spanked Stewart on the ass when he did this, but I honestly missed this. I have this whole thing on video though.
I will leave some of the immediate post concert stuff unsaid for reasons DM, Gina, and Nancy know. If they want to bring that stuff up (and they know what I mean), I'll let them do it.
Eventually, we got back to the "gals"'s hotel. Odd. Above the front desk registration area, there was a lute and a snare drum. Shocked
Uh, more stuff happened, including my seeing a dog that resembled Gio's avatar, and uh, we eventually went to a small bar across from the hotel. They had live music. A trio playing jazz-ish renditions of song by Radiohead, Sublime, etc. Slightly more hip than you'd expect from SLC. The guitarist had a flying V with an ancient amp that had like vacuum tubes.
I was exhausted prior to the show, was buzzing high on adrenaline for the whole show but I had now crashed. I wanted to go back to my hotel and sleep before my early morning flight SOOOOOOO bad. But its tough not to want to have a few drinks with these nutters as well.
Luckily, after a drink, my second wind kicked in and I was able to have a great conversation with Kellie. It was kind of tough to talk with Gina and Nancy given how the seats in the bar were.
Unfortunately, the night ended much too soon. Bars in SLC close at 1 am. I'm used to the no closing time of Vegas. So we said our goodbyes. Nancy thanked me for coming, which I thought was a bit odd since I should have been the one kissing her feet for getting me front row seats.
As Kellie said, I am now officially spoiled. But I think that's ok, cuz I don't see any more shows in my future. But after SLC, I'm more than fine with that.
Thank you SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO much, Gina, Kellie, and especially Nancy Rose for this opportunity of a lifetime. It was unbelievable.
Kopelandia has the best peeps.
