The Last Goodbye - EQ's Perspective

Postby BongoBoy on 14 Aug 2008 17:43

You didn't think we saw your tears?

Nope, I didn't...

I was struggling with my own fer Fuck sakes !

Phaty would have thrown me over the railing for being such a wuss.

I was moved Man.

So many years ....and there it was....and the Flag was up there.

and about my stupid dance...

It was one part Non-Asshatery (quick flashes as not to ubstruct those behind me), one part nervous energy, and a couple parts what the Fuck is going on? Stewart gave me a front row, and I mean FRONT ROW tickets ! and leaning forward over the rail (which I did a few times) was the best sight...I wish I had a camera...all those tranfixed Nutters, arms on the rail, in the air...one beautiful Fucking sight.

Did that shit really happen.

Thanks EQ, this is an awesome re-living.


BongoDancingFool O !
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Postby TheEqualizer on 14 Aug 2008 17:47

The Bongo Flag dance was certainly not stupid.

And I kept hoping that someone had gotten a good Nutters Against the Rail pic. That was really a cool sight. My camera sucks.
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Postby BongoBoy on 14 Aug 2008 19:06

Ok, not stupid, heh,heh...but Goofy !

This is great tale EQ, I really appreciate it.

It like we're old wartime buddies.

"let me tell ya something Sonny boy, we were in the Snake Pit....me n my pals, we even had to hold our pee for a long time Man!, not like you kids today...let me tell you, lights flashin!, loud as Hell !, but we held our Flag high!, us and all the brave troops we had there in the trenches"

heh,heh.
Cheers EQ.

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Postby stevel on 14 Aug 2008 20:13

Bloody hell
MORE MORE!!!!!!!
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Postby Grace on 14 Aug 2008 21:20

You heard SteveL EQ
MORE MORE!

P.S. Agree wholeheartedly on the miniflags. That turned out to be awesome.
If I'm holding a beer, some of it is probably going to get on him, you know?
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Postby conroy on 14 Aug 2008 21:48

i didn't see the tears either, EQ or realize how low I was holding the flag. But I think I was in Idaho with Andy. I couldn't believe Sting and Andy's kids had been standing behind us for most of the show and we didn't even realize it. At first, I even thought one of Sting's daughters might have been Paris Hilton but then I remembered that Stewart had dissed her in an interview when he was promoting Everyone States and knew that it would be absurd for her to be there.

I definitely had warm fuzzies when it turned out they were Sting and Andy's children and thought how great it was they were dancing on stage with their dads. It wouldn't have taken much more for me to be tearing up with you, EQ, especially since we were sharing the moment with so many wonderful people.
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Postby TheEqualizer on 15 Aug 2008 01:11

Pt 17

Ok. Going back a bit. During Hole in My Life, St. Jeff came out like he always does to twiddle with Stewart's drums. The Nutters go craazy and Jeff is obviously have a great time as well. Does Jeff do some points while he's out there? Honestly, the show has become such a mash up in my mind that I can't remember.

Really, there is a lot about the performance I don't remember. I remember the energy of all three being outstanding, with Stewart being particular nutso. I remember Andy being more precise than usual. I recall Sting seemingly like he was generally in good voice, but the one thing that I specially recall not hearing the whole night was Sting's bass. Not that it was down in the mix. But I was so focused on the other components of the show that have no memory of what Sting's bass was like that night.

I forget if Wrapped is the song where Stewart completely whacked part of the percussion rack right off (could have been KOP). But Jeff had to come out at some point and make some make shift repair. I remember it not sounding quite right after the repair (though I am sure it was the best that could be done given the emergency) but the coolness if Stewart breaking his percussion rack mid song was worth the slight off sound.

De Do Do Do began with Sting doing the Do Wop Diddy Diddy Dum song (what the hell is the name of that) but he did not seem to really return to that theme during the song like he did at Jones Beach.

Next was Invisible Sun. Not my favorite song of the tour to say the least, but I always like the photos displayed on the screen during this part. They would be what would make this song manageable. But there was no screen behind the stage, so I could not see the fucking photos!! However, the photographer who took those pics was in the camera pit in front of us for most of the show. He seemed pretty cool (more on him later).

As this was an obvious lull in the show, Pecos came up to me, to my surprise. As noted before, Pecos kind of scared me. Not because she was not nice in any way. To the contrary. In my observations of Pecos from afar, Pecos seemed very warm, funny, approachable, and sharp as a whip. But she is such a legend (lacquered pancakes anyone?) that I was intimidated nonetheless.

Pecos asked me if I wanted to have my picture taken with the band behind me. I was DYING for a chance like this. I didn't want to be an asshat and bother someone during the show to ask them to do this. But Pecos is such a total sweetheart (I know she'll laugh if she reads this, "Me, a sweetheart?") that she volunteered this without my needing to ask.

My camera is a piece of shit. ALLEGEDLY, it is supposed to be a pretty good camera. But it takes shit pictures during concerts. I always have to fuck around with the settings. Portrait. Sport. No flash. Its hit and miss. One pic will be fine when on Portrait mode but another pic just two seconds later on the same setting will turn out like shit.

So I had my camera set for sport mode and no flash. This kind of take multiple pictures in a row automatically. I didn't want to waste Pecos' time during the show fucking with my camera, so I just handed her my camera and hoped for the best. Pecos snaps the picture, but she tells me immediately they didn't turn out. I look at the view finder and series of dark blobby photos. So switch the camera mode to Portrait with Flash. I normally would not put a flash on, but I figured it would be just one fucking picture.

So Pecos starts to take my picture again when Mr. Douchebag Asshat decides to be funny and knock Pecos' hand while taking my picture. We end up with a very nice picture of Dermot's backpack. :evil: :evil:

Right then, I feel like Samuel L. Jackson at the end of Pulp Fiction when he decides not to kill Tim Roth. Had I not been in such a great mood, had I not been at the final show of the Police, the guy would have had his head fucking torn off his head and shove waaayy up his ass. I may come off as a nice, easy going guy. But I have that other side that unfortunately has to rear its head from time to time given that I spend most of my day dealing with fucking lawyers. And trust me. You don't want to see that fucking side of me. But this jackass has caught me on a good day at a good time, so I kind of laugh it off and Pecos tries to take my pic one more time.

I didn't notice this at first, but Bongo Boy had been watching this all go down. So before Pecos takes my pic, Bongo Boy steps between Pecos and Mr. Would-Have-Been-Dead-On-Any-Other-Day. Pecos is able to take my pic, but Mr. Fuck Face decides to grab Bongo Boy's hat. Now, Bongo Boy is like the definition of easy going. I imagine him listening to Marley not even having to toke up to be as mellow as the others listening to reggae with him. However, Ass Bag has crossed BB's line. It was almost like "Bongo Boy isn't home right now, but his really pissed off twin brother is and he wants to kick your ass." But BB is too good hearted to pop the Shit Head, though he deserved it. Instead, BB gives him this "I should SOOOOOOO kill you, but I'm watching Stewart right now" look. It works and the guy steps away. The pic by Pecos only sort of turns out, but there was no way in hell I was going to ask her to try one more time. But I am still eternally grateful for what she did.

TO BE CONTINUED . . .
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Postby TheEqualizer on 15 Aug 2008 01:57

Pt 18

So the end of Invisible Sun means one thing . . . the start of Cant' Stand Losing You. Frankly, I had been dreading hearing this song at the final show. Not the way I dread hearing EBYT. No. To the contrary. CSLY is certainly one of my favorite Police song. It was one of the songs that really turned my into a die hard Police fan. Particularly the cover of the 45. I thought it showed such a dark sense of humor that it really touched my soul. This was one of the songs that helped me get through my father's death (kind of hard to explain, but its was its humor which tell you to not be so serious about things even if you think you are confronted with a overwhelming situation - my musical "Lighten up, Francis."). I was worried since Utah that I couldn't hear the line "I guess this is our last goodbye" without crying since the Utah show, and I knew I was already emotional enough to cry this night. For me, it always felt that CSLY would be the end.

Something that I think helped was at the very start, Andy's guitar or amp or whatever was not working. He was playing the intro already, but you couldn't hear anything. It was fixed quickly, though. But not hearing the Andy's intro alone helped me control my emotions.

Frankly, I can't remember a lot of details of this song. Right before the sing along part of RDB, I expected Sting to say something like, "Now this is the LAST TIME EVER that we will be doing this, so make it good" similar to what he said in Hyde Park for his last show in the UK. But to my recollection, he didn't. And maybe its because he only did one round of the sing alongs during RDB. But for some reason, this song was kind of a let down. Don't get me wrong, Stewart was fucking on fire during that song. But I guess nothing could have matched my expectations that had been building up for months for that song. So I though I cared, I didn't cry.

FUCK! Forgot something. During the end of Invisible Sun/ right before the start of CSLY, someone (was it Brad) walked into the camera put and approached Dirty Martini. This was it. The Flag was handed off to him from DM. As Brad or whoever walked though the camera pit towards backstage, the whole front row of the pit watched as The Flag left us on its way to its final destination.

So back to where I was, I waited during the break after CSLY wondering what the fate of The Flag was. And the break seemed like it took FOREVER. I assumed that it was some technical issue involving the Best Buy webcast. I was hoping that it was not something to do with a special guest coming out for the encore. Little did I know that the rest of the area (who could actually see the video screens) was watching Sting get shaved. Jumping ahead a bit, I had no idea that the showed Sting getting shaved until waaayy after the show. I recall during the encores looking at Sting and noticing that he didn't have a beard. I figured that he started the show that way but I just didn't notice because I was too busy staring at Stewart and Andy the whole night.

Another fucking thing was that my camera's battery had already died. Usually, my camera battery could last just about a whole show if I was conservative with it during the show. However, I had taken so many pictures earlier that day during the pre-show meet ups with all the Nutters that my camera battery could not make it even to the start of the encores. I would have probably bought a spare battery (this thing does not use Duracell but a specialized rechargeable battery), but it was not until like a day or so before going to NY that I learned that I would probably be able to bring a camera into the venue. Before that, I was convinced that I wouldn't even be able to bring a cell phone into the venue (by cell battery was just about to die at this point as well). So, I really didn't have time to think about buying and bringing a spare camera battery. Not like there is going to be anything worth taking pictures of once the encores started, right? :evil: :evil: :cry: :cry:

So after a nearly intolerable wait, I see Stewart emerge from back stage . . .

TO BE CONTINUED . . .
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Postby policerule on 15 Aug 2008 02:03

omg, Rob... seriously. How am I going to read all of this?!?

I need 2 lives.
READY THE BLADE!
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Postby TheEqualizer on 15 Aug 2008 04:27

Pt 19

Stewart emerged from backstage bearing The Flag! Yes, include one Stewart Armstrong Copeland amongst the list of Flag Bearers for the Police's 2007-08 Reunion Tour. He was strutting with it, like he was victorious regarding something. Like a dog who had just snatched a NY strip off a plate. No more rules! The Flag was his to with as he liked. He could wear the nasty green thing as a little cape if he wanted.

If only they had put a light on him. :roll: Yes. THE moment we/he had been waiting for and he was essentially doing this in the dark. Yay. :? Now, given the last minute nature of all of this, I guess its not that surprising that the lighting people might not have been expecting this little display. Heck, the lighting people, like 99% of the people at MSG, probably had no fucking idea what was going on. But we/he did. And even in the dark, it was fan-fucking-tastic.

In reality, it really didn't take all that long to get a light onto Stewart. I had expected that the Flag would be displayed on The Gong. I really hadn't expect this little victory lap by Stewart. I kind of expected that during KOP, the percussion riser would come up and the Flag would be there. It would just be there while Stewart played, kind of a coy acknowledgement of the Nutters. But Stewart has never been subtle. He is not a shrinking little wallflower. He had his flag and he was going to live it up!

I suspect that this next little part may be a little unpopular amonst some of us, but oh well. Remember that little incident with the Flag in Mexico? Flag-gate? The event that was supposed to cause us all to want to pour gas on ourselves and light ourselves on fire? Well, I can attest that Stewart's little South of the Border brief dalliance with the Flag did not diminish this final presentation of the Flag to Stewart one iota. Stewart was going bonkers. All the Nutters were going mega Ape shit. It could not have gone better. It was totally Flag-gasmic!!!

To my surprise, they had what I can only describe as a make shift crucafix on stage. The Flag was mounted onto the pipes of the little flag stand, and Andy started playing some jam.

Before we go further, I want to talk about Mr. Conroy Jett. Holy shit. Conroy fucking RAWKS. Want to debunk a little myth first. Contrary to common belief and folk lore which started in Savannah at a little music festival, Conroy does not go WHOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!! very much at concerts. I have experienced concert mates with lung power and tendancies to scream that would make Conroy seem like a monk who had taken a vow of silence (cough cough Irish Rose). But I am not sure I've ever seen anyone FUCKIN' RAWK at a concert quite like Conroy. This show made me want to move to Virginia so that I could go to concerts with Conroy on a regular basis. Watching him and Policerule just get down in the Pit was quite a sight to see. But it was Conroy's adventures with Sally that solidified Conroy's status as a concert legend in my mind.

During the break between CSLY and the first encore, Conroy inflated Sally with a hand held pump. I was amazed at how quickly he was able to get her fully inflated. Must be noted, though, that I had no actual experience with inflating love dolls (really, I don't) so I am not sure how long it normally takes, but Sally was fully functional in no time.

I had never been at a show with Sally before, but I guess she is usually pulled out during Roxanne (appropriate given the hooker theme of the song). However, the Police did not start their encore with Roxanne. Instead, the ripped into Hendrix's Purple Haze! :shock: :shock:

The crowd goes nuts over Purple Haze. But the nuttiest has got to be Conroy with Sally. Conroy is totally rocking out with Sally, making her head bang along with the music non-stop like a teenager at a Metallica concert. Conroy has some jumbo balls on him as he was right in front of this security guard the whole time. While he was inflating Sally, I tried to block the guard's view of what Conroy was doing, but I later realized that I probably didn't need to do that. Conroy is FEARLESS. He was pretty much rocking Sally right in the security guard's face from Purple Haze right to the end of the show. He was rocking her so hard, Conroy had to partially reinflate Sally a few times before the end of the show. It was quite the sight to see, and anyone who was there to witness this will not soon forget it.

Pretty much right in front of Conroy in the camera pit was the photographer that took the pics for Invisible Sun. He was so impressed by Sally's rocking that he took a number of pics of her with Conroy and I think he might have also caught some of this with a video camera as well.

As BongoBoy and I later discussed, I think Andy was really amazed by all this. Andy has seen Sally a few times by that point but I doubt it had ever been like this before. I wish I could adequately describe Andy's eyes as he watched Sally headbang in the front row. I think he was almost stunned as how long Conroy was head banging Sally. It was non-stop and Andy LOOOOOOOOOOOOOOVED it.

Man, I've got to party with Conroy some more in the future.

TO BE CONTINUED. . .
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Postby rapa on 15 Aug 2008 04:38

:D Sally's rocking looked absolutely amazing all the way to section 119, I enjoyed that so much! Great to hear the story!
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Postby conroy on 15 Aug 2008 10:02

Shucks, thanks for the kind words, EQ. It was A TON of fun getting to share the pit experience with you. Your recollection of events is 110% accurate!!! I think I was WOOOOOed out by MSG, especially after the Elvis Costello Spectacle taping where I really went bonkers on some WOOOOOOs. The key to getting Sally to headbang is to only inflate her to about 75%. That enabled her head to really flop around. I was sort of worried she might spring a leak when I was able to get her head to go around in circles. Yep, I also noticed the photographer taking photos and video. The girl who was with Patricia Arquette tried to ask us about Sally but I couldn't hear what she was asking. Sockii pulled her shirt up so she could see the CHA on her green shorts, which I had put on backwords so it was on Sally's front and not her butt.

Like EQ said, it was hilarious watching Andy's eyes as he kept returning his gaze to the action in the pit. I had thought about tossing her on stage at the end, but with the security guard right in front of us, Andy's family right behind us, and the fact that I didn't think she would make it to the stage, I decided not to toss her up there. I think that worked out for the best because it was a trip watching everyone stare in disbelief as I carried her out of MSG and up 33rd st to Fat Annie's Truck Stop where nutters who hadn't had a chance to see her up close were able to do so and get more signatures. We'll have to figure out a way to get her to Andy somehow. I hope he does some shows at Birdland again.
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Postby BongoBoy on 15 Aug 2008 12:59

Beautiful memories.

It was already a week ago.

BIG LOVE.
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Postby TheEqualizer on 15 Aug 2008 13:40

I LUUUV these little supplements by my partners in crime. Helps fill in the gaps a bit, and validates my story. :D :D :D
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Postby dontboxmein on 15 Aug 2008 13:44

Got back late last night... you drew me in like a moth to the flame. Your story was very entertaining.

But I must be biased as hell....I especially love the parts about me and you signing the flag for me ...your awesome dude!!!!!!


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