Night of the Crickets! or Pass the Old El Paso Show

[darklinensuit]

The El Paso concert:

This is going to jump around, so you're warned.

The crickets had a four minute solo at the start. It was too weird. I must say that the acoustics were better for them than for the band. Vocals and instruments faded in and out throughout the show in this smaller venue. I'm thinking the crew has the same adjustment woes they had at the start of the tour. Now they have to adjust to smaller venues.

Basically, the El Paso crowd was apparently comprised of casual fans. I saw nobody dressed like Stevie except the woman next to Deanna, and she was just in a bowler hat. Lots of bathroom and concession breaks for people. (Lots of breast implants as well, if that means anything to anybody. The band could have played at Hooters and drawn the same base.) Lots of groaning at Lindsey's eccentricities, lots of gasps at Mick's eyes, lots of people asking me if Gypsy was Sara and if the bass player's name was Chris.

A snockered and very friendly woman next to me said she is a steamer who had to turn down steaming Stevie's wardrobe due to scheduling. She said she does all the celebrities who come, the last being George Lopez. She was upset when she realized it would have been easy money since Stevie really never changes the dress.
Being obvious diehard fans, she and her friend and most of my row left for the bathroom during I'm So fraid and never returned. (Yes, I had used mouthwash and deodorant, and I had only rubbed my infectious rash against them a few times between songs to stop the itching.) But I'll remember this quote from the woman next to me, which I dedicate to Christy. She and her friend called over to me during WTWCT and asked "Who does he look like, Simon or Garfunkel?" I said Garfunkel, and that it must be the hair that was making them say this. Like I said, drunk. (Are you SURE it's not Artie who gives you goosebumps, ladies?)

Beautiful Child is Stevie's power vocal on the tour. The long aaaah is similar to Beauty & the Beast. I get the feeling Stevie wants the crowd to get more into it, as she always introduces it as a song that's so special to her.

Stevie almost missed her cue for the second verse of Dreams and had to run over to the mike. Didn't this happen in the RR video? I don't know why this song gives her trouble. She does it enough.

For two lines, Gold Dust Woman contained some of Stevie's lowest range vocals since the Whole Lotta Trouble Tour. I got scared for a moment that her voice had reverted, but I think she was just experimenting.
I love the shoulder dance that Stevie does as she spiders up to the mike at the start of the song.

Peacekeeper was poor. Lindsey has so many great songs that could replace it. PLEASE change the set. Be spontaneous. Please. Prove us wrong. After all, not so long ago we were sure that Stevie would never get rid of Old Blackdress, but she did, so this band has surprises left in it, I'm sure (I hope). But still, every time I see this same set (and hear the same Lindsey speeches and Mick one-liners) I'm reminded of Johnny Carson's quote about Chevy Chase, that Chevy couldn't ad-lib a fart after a baked bean dinner.

WTWCT is too thin a song for the stage, lacking all the big production of the album. Stevie's tambourine was loud and clear on this one. A tambourine should not be the loudest instrument on the stage at a Mac concert. Also, the guitar part at the start fools several people into thinking GYOW is starting, and then they get this song.

Rhiannon was AMAZING. This woke the crowd up finally, though briefly.

Gypsy was good. I like it much better than The Dance version, which had that annoying "Hey" lyric. I think Stevie should synchronize her moves at the end to the Gypsy video behind her. Just pull the side of the dress, throw up the other arm, throw the head back with the eyes shut, and spin slowly. The crowd would eat it up. We all love that video.

At one point in Tusk as Stevie backed away from Lindsey, I really thought she was going to fall off the stage (and maybe wake up the first row losers).

Only one woman did the SYW dance, and on one chorus Stevie forgot to do it. Mick's wiggly hand thing at the end is not as cute as he thinks it is.

In Silver Springs, Stevie went all out for the first time I know of on this tour. She did the fool lines, the last one being "Still I'm just a fool!" Really, this vocal was as good as The Dance version. I hope she keeps it up for those of you going to future shows.

Landslide had everybody singing, of course. Dedicated to El Paso. Loved the screen showing just their hands clasping.

For those who care, Stevie wore the Reeblechs the whole time. Sharon has abandoned the leather and has wrapped herself in velvet (does anyone...know her name?). I think when Mindy leaves the tour Callista Flockhart or Lara Flynn Boyle could replace her and share outfits with Ms. Celani.

Stand Back was FANTASTIC. The guitar at the start sounds like an elephant and feeds the energy. Stevie did thirteen FAST spins like in Philly, not the slow ones like I saw in Dallas and Phoenix. She was rocking. She belted the Taaaaake me home line. This song got the crowd so animated, FINALLY.

GYOW had everybody singing, moreso than at the other shows. Lindsey at his best. (Actually, Big Love shows Lindsey at his other best.)

Between the encores, the crowd was SCREAMING like no crowd I've been in since Live Aid. Was this the same crowd that had been sitting for 3/4 of the show??? "WE WANT MORE! WE WANT MORE!" And stomping their feet.

Perhaps it was the cheerleader five rows ahead of me. This guy who was an obvious Stevie devotee kept jumping up on his chair, turning his back to the stage, dancing maniacally, and raising his arms and voice to get the crowd pumped. It was hilarious. He was like a cross betwen Richard Simmons, Ed Grimley, and the Will Ferrell SNL cheerleader dude. "You know what the Don Haskins Center needs? The perfect Stevie cheer!" Then a guy one row up and over from me started doing the same thing. How comical, two nut jobs in a crowd of zombies. (Of course, Deanna, her sister, and I all had the perfect amount of enthusiasm, and I say that with no bias whatsover.)

I was going to post about Stevie's El Paso speeches, but the new article on the Nicksfix pretty much has them paraphrased already. I will add that right before one song after Stevie had been gushing over El Paso, I think it was NGBA, Lindsey said he'd love to be able to say he wrote it in El Paso, but he really wrote it in his garage. Stevie threw her arms up and rolled her eyes.

Taku is some secret weapon. He brings so much energy, smiling with the tambourine in Don't Stop, for example. I love the elbow thing Brett does in Don't Stop as well.

I wore my blue concert polo shirt from the Dallas show, the one they don't have anymore, and that seems to convince women I'm with the band, not that that's my purpose. It was supposedly pre-shrunk, but has shrunk about 40% in the wash (I bought it huge). In El Paso they had a similar pale blue one in a softer cotton material, but only in a medium. Be warned, unless you dress like Mariah, you will not be able to wear this shirt after washing it if you buy it in a medium.

Now the tickets. I called a kajillion times to get floor seats, but none were available. We went before dinner to get a ticket for me and to pick up Deanna's. The woman behind the glass insisted the best available was section Z all the way across from the stage. I asked if she had anything next to Deanna instead, and she said no. I went to walk out with Deanna, and I heard the woman THEN mumble something about the floor. THEN she mentioned she might have row 12 on the floor, as if that's not better than the other end of the venue in Z. I went with the floor seat, of course.

I stayed by the airport at the Radisson and was very happy with it. A suite that's bigger than my apartment and less money than the Dallas hotel. (They give two free cocktails a day, Strand, but I did not partake. Can't be needing to pee during a Mac concert.)

Speaking of which, after the show security would not let anybody but radio winners go to one end of the venue, the end with the little cowboy's room, and I had to go. They told me to go in the women's room, and I did, and let me just say, y'all are pigs. Two broken toilets that kept flushing, toilet paper all over the place, beer splashed all over the sinks. I expect a certain quality of ambience when I fly to a Mac show to use the ladies' room. I expect the kind of a women's room that Stevie likes to write poetry in. I'm not talking fancy with blue lamps and Janis beads and a pink piano, but I should not have to hold my nose while I aim, and I'm not a priss. So please, if you are a female and you are at a show on this tour in the future and you must relieve yourself, remember that some of us peestanders might have paid a lot of money to fly there only to get so-so seats near drunks and listen to great songs in a place with poor acoustics, and even though we don't drink much before or during the show, we might have to go all the same, and it could very well be the stall that you used that security sends us into, and we like it to be reasonably nice. In other words, it should be evident where the toilet starts and ends. (Really, for a hundred-plus bucks a seat plus fan club membership costs, TPTB should be bringing me the friggin' pot to go in.) Anyway, thanks in advance for your cooperation, fellow fans.

Let me say that security at the show was the best I've seen. Much better than the incompetents in Phoenix (who let the folks in front of me smoke while standing on chairs) or the mean ones in Dallas who befriended Livia for life.

Watching Deanna with Lindsey on the screen was a kick for me and her sister. No, she did not grab his ass. That seems to have been a tradition laid to rest in Phoenix.

Again, I'll repeat that this tour is better than The Dance tour, no doubt. Even with the crappy acoustics (and restroom), the show was a thrill. I want more!

Well, I might add more concert details later. I apologize for all the typos, but I really don't feel like editing, said the teacher.

Before I sign off, let me add spontaneously and originally, "The Moc is bock!" (not that I'm quoting anybody.)

- Jake