My Borgata Review- sort of longish

[Lee]

Just got back from The Borgata today & had a good time. It’s the start of my vacation & what a way to start it off.

The Borgata is a very nice venue. Quite small though, holds about 3,000. Besides the casino, as you come in from the parking garage, it has shops & restaurants. It’s like its own city. Can you tell that this was the first time I’ve been there? And no parking charge on leaving. I guess they didn’t want traffic to back up getting out of there.

Chris Isaak came on first @ about 8:00 p.m.. I’m really not into his music but he was really funny. He also interacts with the audience. He jokes around, comes out into the audience several times, all the way to the back. Once he waited for a woman to take his picture & he said, “Well, take it! I can’t hold this pose forever!” He said that the audience was the best dressed crowd that he’s seen, & he’s seen some scruffy audiences. He jokes with his band. He told us several times that he’s there to save us money, keeping us from spending money in the casino. And Waddy came out once & played guitar with Chris & his band. Chris is quite the entertainer.

Stevie came on at about 9:30 p.m. Now when Chris got done, they started playing music. Bootylicious was the first song they played. I think everyone thought that Stevie was coming on then, even though the stage people were changing the stage set-up because some people started clapping. I thought at first, they were playing a Stevie iPod play list because right after that, they played Janet Jackson’s, That’s the Way Love Goes. And they played Tom Petty & Maroon 5, two of Stevie’s favorites.

I was in Row 4, far to the left. I did try to upgrade, but the woman @ the box office said that all they had was Row 19. (Hmm... thought it was a sell-out). She said that Row 4 is good. Yeah, but only if you’re in the middle of Row 4 because Stevie doesn’t move around stage that much, so it was not good for me.

The audience was pretty well behaved at least where I was. Over on the far side before even Chris went on, some woman threw up & The Borgata worker had to come clean it up. Glad it wasn’t near us (me & hubby). I like when the audience is into the concert. Before Stevie came on the woman next to me asked if the audience would stand to which I replied, “Oh yeah”. Clearly this woman had never been to see Stevie before. Her friend with her was a Stevie fan, up & dancing. Very excited girl came out of no where in front of us, dancing to Edge. Put hair up like Stevie during B&TH, & took off past security woman to the stage. Very slick.

The Borgata said no cameras or video recorders. The woman security guard looked in my purse. Didn’t really search it, but alas, I did have my digital camera, it’s no SLR though. So the shots I took are from a distance. At first, I was afraid to take pictures because we were on the end of the row where a security guard could see us. But as the night wore on & everyone was taking pictures & security didn’t do anything, I took some.

Same set list minus FFG. I thought Stevie was spot-on with her singing. I didn’t think anything was off-key, though hubby insists that Stand Back was a little shaky, the only song he thought. Landslide & B&TB were awesome. Landslide showed a lot of Stevie’s family, a young Stevie & pics mostly of her dad. Her family is dear to her you can tell. A very touching moment. She dedicated Landslide to our families & fathers. B&TB is so good live. The B&TB video was showing in the background. This song always gives me chills when she sings it live. I don’t know why, but it’s her only song that does. Outfits; black top & pants & boots, coo, but the black dress & brown boots don’t go too well, JMO. Hat with feather, cool. Gold shawl a must during GDW. Gloves now during Edge, I can understand this, germs. The audience loved Stevie last night & let her know it several times, by shouting, “We love you, Stevie”. I tried to get up there for the Edge walk. Husband went up first & I was right behind him, but we got stopped though people snuck down from way behind us. The audience went down even before How Still My Love. Edge has the longest intro when it’s live. The drummers were great as usual.

At the band intros, Stevie announced that it was Sharon’s birthday. Stevie lead the audience in singing Happy Birthday. Stevie said to Carlos, don’t get so teary-eyed, it’s not your birthday & laughed. And then introduced him.

At the end, Stevie said to us to go out to concerts, listen to the radio, save the music. It’s a dying breed or something to that effect. Maybe people aren’t buying the CDs, but they are still buying the music; it’s just on-line. I was kind of puzzled by that statement.

Another rocking performance by the Queen of Rock.

Pics to follow later, but nothing to get too excited over sorry to say.

Hopefully some other Ledgies went (I didn’t get to meet any though) & maybe they got good pics.

Lee

[Lee]

Oh, for some reason, I can't do an edit. I forgot to mention that for one song, Chris had some girls from the audience come up & dance during a song. I've never seen a singer do this before. Another entertaining moment.

Lee

[Kelly]

I love that Borgata venue and was bummed I couldn't make it down for the show. Glad you had a nice time and thank you for the review.

Waddy came onstage with Chris at Holmdel too. I love when he takes off into the crowd. He ran all the way to the lawn and sang up there. The gals onstage were amusing but he had to discipline one in Holmdel. She got up on the piano riser with Scott Plunkett, so Chris said she had to get off of there "for insurance reasons". He then made her come stand up by him.


I knew that damn Borgata show was not a real sell out. Why they say that is beyond me. Many good tickets came up in the last few days before the show. Lots of third, forth, fifth rows...center and on the sides. I know they hold alot of tickets for possible comps to their high rollers but still. I got third row or something on the GD tour, an hour before the show started. Stood right at the stage that night as security caved after the show started.

[paleshadow]

Originally Posted by Lee

I was in Row 4, far to the left. I did try to upgrade, but the woman @ the box office said that all they had was Row 19. (Hmm... thought it was a sell-out). She said that Row 4 is good. Yeah, but only if you’re in the middle of Row 4 because Stevie doesn’t move around stage that much, so it was not good for me.

Hi Lee. My friend and I upgraded. We were supposed to be in section 100 row 8, but we got section 300 row 14. I figured center would be better than far left, and it was. We were dead center. I don't know why they said they only had row 19 because there were 3 empty seats in my row, unless those people didn't show up. The only problem I had was that seated 2 rows directly in front of me was a giant. I had to position myself just right so my field of view was between the guy in front of me and the giant in front of him. It was fine, for the most part, except every once in a while the guy in front of me he kept getting in my way with his swaying and spaztic dancing.
If he is reading this, Buddy, dancing is cool, but maybe next time rock back and forth instead of side to side!
I noticed security was pretty strict about letting people move around. Some crazy Chris Isaak stalker girl kept sneaking up front and kept getting hauled back. It was pretty crowded up front, so I decided not to try to go up to the stage. They were only letting the first 4 rows up. My friend who is a casual Stevie fan wanted to get a closer shot of her on his cell phone so he decided to try and get closer. He is a teacher, and it turns out that one of the security people is the parent of one of his students. He told the guard up front that he knew the other security guy and they let him through. So after 20 years of going to FM and Stevie concerts and never getting the coveted hand shake, my friend manages to get one from Stevie. He won't stop talking about it either.

I thought the show was great. Stevie sounded fantastic and looked great too. It was Sharons Birthday and we sang to her. Stevie said we had to.

[Farrah]

Originally Posted by Lee

Over on the far side before even Chris went on, some woman threw up & The Borgata worker had to come clean it up. Glad it wasn’t near us (me & hubby).

I was the lucky recipient of the Throw-Up Seat. The usher saw my ticket, said, "uh-oh," and told me I'd have to wait while they cleaned it up. Apparently someone was standing by that seat 5 minutes before I got to it and threw up under it. But 4th row center was an excellent view, even if it did smell like throw-up every time the air conditioning blew a certain way.

[Musicman408]

Glad to hear you all had a great time.

[Lee]

I forgot that I wanted to comment about some of the women dressed up like Stevie. There was this one that I saw; long blonde hair, in black, man, it was scary. She really looked like a young Stevie. I saw her hanging around out front before security let anyone up to the Event Ctr. & I saw her in one of the bathrooms. Then there was this couple, man & woman. They were both in black. My husband & I were sitting in that little eating place, starts with a "P" I think. Anyway they both were walking around, up & back, by us a few times. They came in like they were going to eat there, but I guess they decided not to. She was in full Stevie attire, long black dress, black boots & even a black hat. Her hair was blonde, but not long like Stevie's. I didn't get a good look at her face though. My husband says, "Yeah, she's going to the concert." Then I saw another woman, with a strange outfit on. She had blonde hair, but a long mint green, lacy dress on. She just seemed a little overdressed for a concert.

Lee