by DirtyMartini on 02 Nov 2007 01:54
(Haha. Love the thread title, mardee.)
Hey, folks.
Holy mother of crap am I tired. Forgive me if I start speaking gibberish at any point, but I'm not sure if my brain is fully functional, and I have now rubbed my tired eyes so often today that my mascara has created big black circles akin to the ones Stewart wore last night. I'll probably sound rather subdued because I am just nauseously tired -- so please randomly insert many SQUEEs and WHOO-FUCKING-HOOs throughout in order to feel the excitement that I felt but am just too fucking tired at this point to convey.
So let's see . . .
The pre-show gathering was wonderful. It was a big and boisterous group but not so large that you felt like you were lost in a crowd. And, of course, the festive spirit was amplified by the costumery. Always nice to have an excuse to wear green eyeshadow -- haven't done that since the 8th grade. (BTW, as a neckerchief I was actually wearing a remnant leftover from when we made the flag that I found the other day. Not sure if any photos show it close enough, but just wanted to mention it because I tied and pinned it with the "I <heart> Stewart Copeland" button the kimmy sent to me. Thank you, kimmy!)
Was able to reacquaint with lots of SC.netters and TP.commers, met some that I'd still never met, and met a few brand new ones. Amongst many others, I finally got to meet jennym, who just about jumped out of her skin when she saw the flag. (That girl sure can squee!) Lots of chat, lots of laughs, an old Police concert playing on many screens. A really great gathering. Too many people to name; too many costumes to describe. Thanks to sect404 at TP.com for setting it all up (and for being the all-around Halloween Hero last night).
Smuggling Sally into MSG went very, very smoothly because I am an insane genius. (One who just had to retype the word "genius" 4 times in order to spell it correctly.) --Bloody hell! I just realized that I never took a picture of Sally wrapped up -- shit! But picture an extra large bag of Always maxi pads because that is indeed where Sally was hidden. (Had to tape pads together to cover all the clear "windows" on the bag and really jam her in there in order to tape it all back together into the correct shape.) I very happily showed the security guy the contents of my Duane Reade bag: a sweater and a large bag of maxis. Guy waved me through without a blink.
Moeskido and I had very nice seats at the stage-left sidestage. SC.net was seriously representing from the left sidestage to the rear, with mtobinjones, nancyrose, and plutonic four rows in front of us in the same section, sockii, vespa, and SamburuSunset just slightly upstage (back) from us, GinaSuperCat a little further back than that, and perryl (The Most adorable bumble bee ever) at about backstage center.
FP was okay. They were FP. I was glad to hear that they'd moved "Two Sisters" to the end of their set -- much better way to exit. Loved seeing them come out in costume, and Pete's ode to Stewart was incredible: the white pants, the black shirt w/ yellow piping, the hair, the headband, the headset, the glasses. Major props to Pete last night.
When the real Stewart came out to bang the gong, I could see his shimmery silver cape -- and honestly, my very second thought (the very first being "COSTUMES!!!") was "What the fuck are you thinking?!?" When the lights came up, you just knew that there was no way in hell that that cape was going to make it through til the end of the night. As you guys have no doubt seen, Sting was rocking the Harlequin tights, codpiece, and mask; Andy the Charlie Chaplin look (he really played up the walk and faces throughout the show), and Stewart was some kind of bleeding/dead/Eqyptian god/marching band/Evil Knievel/Mexican wrestling hybrid. I still have no fucking clue. (Apophis seems a possibility, but it really wouldn't quite explain the outfit.) But it was shiny and fun and so totally impractical. (Seriously, Stewart, what the fuck were you thinking?!?) The cape didn't even make it through the opening of "Synch II" if I remember correctly -- and it came off with a bit of violence as rather than untying it (not enough hands while playing), Stewart just ripped that sucker off with a yank. That quilted-looking shirt didn't last much longer -- and no surprise since it looked hot as hell. I can't remember which song it was that the shirt came off (loved the suspenders), but it was a pretty priceless moment: Stewart started stripping on his way offstage; Sting introduced Andy, turned around to intro Stewart, asked something like "Where did he go?" and Stewart rushed back on, still topless, to get redressed and launch into the next tune.
It was certainly a nice Halloween surprise -- but seriously, Stewart, what the fuck were you thinking?!?
(Please don't smite me, you whatever-the-hell-you-were you.)
The show was very good, despite some flubs: a few jumped cues; during one song (can't remember which); Andy wasn't quite in Idaho but he was certainly not in the right key; and Stewart was rocking but had some problems, especially at the percussion riser. He seemed lost at times, especially during "Wrapped" where it seemed like he had forgotten the kettle drum part. At one point, both his arms seemed to almost trip onto the drum as if they had somehow escaped his control. But he was working extremely hard, and I was especially amazed at how hard he was playing during the "Voices"/"World" solo.
"Voices"/"World" and "Driven" are always great and last night was no exception, and "So Lonely" was especially big and fab and energetic, a real highlight. I still don't like the "Don't Stand" chorus, but I was happy to finally hear live (rather than on a boot) Sting singing the lilting "Please don't stand . . . " bit at the end. The one thing that I admit that I hated was Sting singing the first couple of choruses of "Truth" in a weird lower melody -- I'm not sure where that came from, but I thought it sounded rather terrible. Everything else about the song was good, but that struck me as being really blech. But I LOVED hearing "Hole" finally, and the crowd was wonderfully responsive during the big pauses that the band milks at the end.
I was kinda pissed at the audience though. For a normal audience, they were okay, but for a Garden audience, they kinda sucked. There was a good amount of call-and-response and singing, but it was nothing like the roar of the audience at the August MSG shows. And I could not believe the number of people sitting down for huge chunks of the show -- and they weren't just sitting through slower songs but through the really big rockers! (Not to mention, who the hell SITS when they're in the front row?!?) So I was rather disappointed with NYC's performance last night.
Flag-wise, it took a little while for Stewart to find it -- he didn't aim for it early in the set like he usually does. Although with the wardrobe malfunctions and all, he had a few things to deal with. But just at the top of "Hole," he got up -- to change a snare head, I think? -- and when he sat back down, he got a visual at the sidestage of mtobinjones and nancyrose and from there found the flag with enthusiasm. I can't remember exactly how many flag points there were -- I remember Stewart pointed at it at the beginning of "Hole," after "Roxanne," and after "Next to You," but I can't quite remember if there were more. And at one point there was a flag point that was followed closely by a pointing-randomly-at-all-the-SCnetters-in-the-area point that was a kick.
Moeskido was quite bowled-over, particularly at that first point. Perryl (so fucking adorable, that woman!) has a really nice flag point photo that she said she would post eventually. And while skimming the thread, I think I saw that sockii has video? So thank you sockii and perryl!
Sally-wise, as I texted to Mardee, Andy was either ignoring her or is seriously blind because with the way that Pluto was waving her in the air at times, it would have required a miracle for Andy not to have seen her. He was concentrating, of course, but I'm really surprised that he didn't acknowledge her just once, which makes me wonder about his eyesight a bit. There was no way to get her to the stage or to the floor seats because of the space, but she certainly rocked out.
So overall I wouldn't say that it was the band's best performance technically, but it was a very good performance nonetheless and it was a rollicking good time. Watching a great band perform in costume made it especially special (seriously, Stewart, WTF were you thinking?!?), and I have to say that watching Stewart smile and point at the flag and his peeps with blacked-out eyes, bloody mouth, cobra headband, and glasses was one of the funniest sights ever. The masks and "Happy Halloween" cards placed at every seat were a nice bonus. And it was amusing to see Stewart point to some guy in the audience and ask "what the hell is that guy?" since so many of us were asking the same thing about his costume!
The post-show chaos at Tir Na Nog was a trip, as was the diner run that lasted til 4 am. Despite being exhausted, I was too excited to sleep very well though. Around noonish (I think?) today, nancyrose, SamburuSunset, Plutonic, GinaSuperCat, and I went downtown to Andy's exhibit; mtobinjones eventually found us there as well. Got to see some photos that I hadn't ever seen before, including one of Stewart with krazy eyes winding up to smack a kettledrum. Great shot. You feel sorry for that drum for what it's about to go through. Pluto was nice enough to take a photo of the flag and us in front of the photo -- will post it soon.
After the exhibit Pluto left, but the ladies and I had a pleasant (if sleepy) lunch at Chelsea Market. When I last saw them, they were catching a cab to head further downtown to Andy's book-signing.
My thanks to all of the fabulous gang that I met/re-met last night, including Conroy, Donna, perryl, Plutonic, mtobinjones, Susan, jennym, jennym's friend (Scott?), jdez, sect404, sect404's friend (Steve?), SamburuSunset, nancyrose, sockii, vespapod, GinaSuperCat, and whoever the hell else I met/hugged/kissed last night whose names or faces are escaping me at this particular second. (And my apologies to Kim because I seem to have seen her quickly, not realized who she was, and somehow never actually met her!)
Looking forward to hanging with some of you guys again tomorrow night. I absolutely adore you people and the assloads of verve that you each contain. Thanks to all for one krazy but ever-so-klassy evening!
Again, please insert a few SQUEEs and WHOO-FUCKING-HOOs because it really was a blast last night, and the band and the gang kicked some ass!
And as always, thank you, Stewart!!!
Dramatic highlights & a unique musical cosmos. Guaranteed.