Adventures in Camden

[skcin]

I know how much you all love my reviews, in all their rambling/pointless unrelated info/sarcastic glory. So here ya go.

For those of you who hadn't read about my panic in other threads, I was afraid that I wouldn't make the show in time. That fear was unfounded. Hubby & I left Buffalo around 10:30am & made it to friend's house in York, PA by 4pm as planned. Friend was already home from work awaiting our arrival, but friend's wife was not. I take a deep breath, open up a beer & try not to panic. I freshen up & change clothes, brush my hair, etc. while waiting. The show started at 8pm, so I knew Stevie wouldn't go on until at least 9pm. Mapquest gave me an estimate of 2 hours, but I've heard about the nightmarish traffic, so I hoped 3 - 4 hours was enough. Friend calls wife at 4:30pm & she hasn't even left work yet. Again, trying not to panic.

She arrives home at around 4:50pm, and I'm like "hey, great to see you, now go get ready!" To her credit, she's ready in 10 minutes. There was some discussion about the need to stop at the bank (I almost hit her) but it was determined it would be easier to take $ from her husband. We stop & get gas ($2.89 a gallon - that's a bargain for me!) and kid's meals from the drive-thru @ Burger King. She ordered a hamburger, they gave her a cheeseburger. She hates American cheese. I half-heartedly offer to go back, and I don't know if she felt my panic about being late, or if laser beams shot out of my eyes when I offered, but she sucked it up & took one for the team, eating the vile cheeseburger. Somehow, she survived.

The traffic was, compared to Buffalo, horrendous. See, in Buffalo, even a 10 minute traffic jam is rare. Because nobody lives her anymore, so there's planty of room for everyone. It took us at least 40 minutes just to get out of York. Oh, did I mention I ended up driving? Being the control freak that I am, her husband & I thought it was best. I read the directions 15 times before we left so she didn't f*ck them up (a very real possibility, since she couldn't follow my directions about navigating a website the day before.)

The whole drive out, I was nervous, but not in a tizzy. I drove calmly & didn't cut anyone off or tailgate....too badly. I felt so much better when I saw this:

That sign made everything better somehow.


The only time I truly knew we were OK was when we got on the Ben Franklin Bridge (which I knew was almost at our destination) & it was wide open. It was also only 7:20pm. Arriving in Camden was....um....well.... Anyone recall when I complained that Cleveland was a pit after the time carrie & I almost got carjakced? Yeah, Camden reminded me of that. So, not exactly a desireable vacation destination. We were stuck in the middle of the flow of traffic, and I was not about to try to turn around, so we went tot eh pay lot & forked over the $15. Slightly annoying, but I didn't think it was worth the hassle of trying to get somewhere else. Besides, since I drove, I made her pay.

[skcin]

YAY! We made it!


We head in & I immediately spot Gardenstategirlie working at the radio station booth. She and her eyebrows look gorgeous, as usual. We say a quick hello & make a beeline for the bathroom (not crowded, very clean) and to go to get a drink. Well, of course, husband's friend's annoying wife doesn't drink beer, or hard lemonade, so we have to go inside & get something from the bar. She decides a Jack Daniel's cooler would be OK, so I buy her the $7 drink. I order a Corona, afterwards realizing it's a "jumbo" bottle. I think it was 22oz - $11. I try not to focus on the fact that I could have bought a whole CASE of beer with the money I just spent on 2 drinks. The woman asks if I want lime, I say yes. She puts 1/16th of a lime in the giant cup. Great. Thanks.

We head back out to check out the merchandise. I flip throught the cheesy program & decide on the $5 keychain. The burgundy baby doll Tshirt calls my name, but I pretend not to hear. The burgundy hooded sweatshirt didn't dare even look at me, let alone call me. Perhaps I will meet up with them again at the end of the tour on Nickfix. At a discount.

So, we run into Mike (wildheart69) and Rox & Lisa from Mick's board, as well as their friend Gia (who I've seen countless times in their photos, but had never met up until now.) Very cool to see them again, it's always great to run into people who "get" you. If you know what I mean. We go back over to Marissa & take a couple pics.

Me & Ris:


Me making out with my front row ticket. Oh, and husband's friend's annoying wife:


We hear Chris go on & decide to make our way down front. Somehow, we ended up missing 1/2 his set. I don't know how this happened, honestly. What we did see was Mike being invited to sit on the stage for the rest of Chris's set. I saw his Petty Tshirt from afar & squinting, I asked Kelli "is that MIKE?!?!" It was. Very cool.

Chris Isaak puts on a fantastic show. He's funny, very flirty, and a damn good singer & performer. I felt a little naughty when he made eye contact with me. Teehee. Love the suit too.

[skcin]

Oh, and did I mention I had front row? Since we came in about halfway through CI's set, there were people about 5 or 6 rows deep standing in front of us, but I had such a spectacular view of the stage, I didn't mind. We we literally DEAD CENTER. I was worried that if I moved right up to the stage I wouldn't be able to see anything, so I debated with Kelli after CI's set & we figured we'd move up a bit, but could always go back to our seats if we were too crowded.

It's at this point we meet Kirsten (Kirstnumbersafterhername .) What a cool chick! I am so pissed that we did not get a pic together, I don't know how that happened. Oh, wait, yes I do - when I took the vid of Chris with Mike on stage, my battery warning light went on. I was saving power for more pics later - turned out I had plenty for the entire show, so I'm not sure what the deal was with the battery. I took only short video clips to be safe, though. Anyway, she agrees about the front row thing & decided to hang back in the pit a bit so she can dance. While they were setting up the stage, I stand at my seat, turn around & holler "WHERE MAH LEDGIES AT?!?!" a few times. Nobody responds. You guys suck. I pointedly ask a few fans if they post here, they look at me as if I'm insane. I wonder why....

OK, so security made everyone go back to their seats between the sets, and said rows 1 & 2 would be allowed up to the stage right before Stevie went on. This was good. People, of course, got through after the first song or two, but at least we had the choice of being right up front. I personally don't care if people come up front, but dammit if I have actual front row, I want to be in the front rowwithout people from row 25 blocking my view, yelling & shoving (more on this later.) We went up a little closer to see how it would be, and stayed about 3 people deep right at Stevie's feet. I will never forget this experience, it was unbelieveable. I've been close before (5th row a couple times, made it closer for short periods/Edge rush) but this was simply amazing. I truly feel that I have accomplished everything I've ever wanted short of meeting Mac members, within the last 2 years: shook Stevie's hand (as of last Friday, twice!), played LB's guitar, took some great pics at several shows, got incredible video to share with fellow fans, and finally got front row. I can die now. OK, that's ridiculous, not really.

I won't go through the entire setlist. Cuz I don't remember it in order. I will say that IAF was a huge highlight for me - when I saw it in Vegas 5/05, it was OK but too slow, IMO. They're upped the tempo (to my ears anyway) and those a capela harmonies are still phenomenal. HSML is another one - in Vegas, it was sultry & sexy, but she didn't go for most of the higher notes. Friday night, she did. I Need to KNow was rocking (she even did the "wai-eee-aye--eat" notes.) The outfits were great, I was just so thrilled to see something different. OH! And her nails looked more dark pink than hooker red, so I was thrilled about that too. I think she looked absolutley stunning, she seemed happy, smiled a lot. Wore boots the entire show, I believe. In good voice for sure.

OK. The low points. First of all, Edge rush was really rough. REALLY rough. I warned Kelli about it, since she's only 4'11" and I didn't want her to be unprepared & get crushed. Kirsten ended up near her, so she tried to protect her a bit. There was a lot of elbowing, shoving, yelling, etc. I almost got smacked in the head with the corner of a picture frame several times. In the end, I was able to shake her hand again (no, I was not able to touch a legwarmer this time ) and I said nothing, I just made eye contact with her & smiled like a fool. She truly is beautiful. I'm not one that freaks out when people talk about her flaws, I'm a realist, the woman's only human & certainly not perfect. But Kirsten & I agreed that we turn a little bit gay when we're at a show. But don't get any ideas, Carrie!

Backpedaling to Landslide. Should have been a very touching, extremely moving performance. Father's Day was 2 days away, and Stevie tells the crowd how she lost her dad last year, dedicated the song to our families, tells us to be together. The song begins, the photos of Stevie & her family start rolling on the screen & a woman just behind me (so about 10 feet from Stevie) screams "Yeah! Landslide! This is for you daddy! Stevie, daddy! This is for you daddy! I lost my daddy too Stevie!" A few of us turn around, and this woman is obviously drunk. We try to gently shush her, but she keeps going. Same thing, nonsensical "Stevie daddy, this is daddy, Stevie, you're beautiful, my dad died Stevie...." Screaming. Loud. Waddy heard it, kept looking over. We try to shush her again, and the guy next to me turns around & shouts "would you shut the f*ck up." Oh ****. I understand his frustration. But. If there's one thing I learned from my parents owning bars, it's DO NOT argue with a drunk.

So, it proresses to "No, YOU shut the f*ck up!" I pat the guy on the arm, and say "let it go, please, don't let her ruin the show for you." He tries to ignore her. She yells "you don't tell me what to do, you're illegally taping the show, that's illegal." The guy was taking pics, nothing more -no flash, he wasn't being rude, and security was fine with it. He tried to ignore her, so she called him a "f*cking faggot" and pushes him. Waddy saw it, and security steps up & tells her she's out if she doesn't stop it. Guy next to me remains calm, I keep telling him "don't let her ruin this, she's drunk."

On & off for the next few songs, she'd shout something like"don't tell me to shut up...." here & there. Her friend tells guy next to me "you know, you have to understand, she really loves her, you didn't have to be rude." He starts defending himself, so I finally turn around & say "please, can everyone just let it go? You're all ruining the show for the rest of us." It settles down, but it was just terrible & uncomfortable for a while. I'm sure Stevie heard it too. Anyway, she was in tears after Landslide & her voice cracked, she had to take a moment to compose herself. I'm sure it was because of Father's Day, and not the drunken hag/rude guy. At least I hope not.

Pics to come soon, guys, I have to go & do some work now.

[skcin]

OK, a teaser:

[danax6]

Okay, give me about an hour to read all this... I'll be back with comments soon.

[bikerchic]

Excellent review thus far Sounds like you had a blast! Great pics, but where's the picture's of you? All I see is pics of some skinny girl. Who's she?

[amber]

Fun review, you all look great in the pics. I'm so glad you got those seats. I don't think "day of" works as well here.
Anyways, your teaser pic of Stevie is great, it's very teasy - she looks all swoopy like she's about to be taken by the wynd. ~*~

[MacMan]

Originally Posted by skcin

OK, a teaser:

Oh My Christ! Nice shot!!

Great recap of the show and the lead-up. This was completely entertaining....

[skcin]

Originally Posted by bikerchic

Great pics, but where's the picture's of you? All I see is pics of some skinny girl. Who's she?

I have never loved you more than I do right now.


Here's a few more. Please don't use them without my permission. They may not be the best pics ever, but they're damn sure the best ones I've ever taken.

[skcin]

[skcin]

This one's just begging to be captioned. I'm torn between "Bitch, please" and "Yeah, I'm a sexy bitch." Or "so, Curtis, you don't like my beige boots? Kiss my ass!"















Still a few more to come later.....

[wheart]

your pictures are breathtaking. Stevie looks absolutely beyond beautiful in all of them. She looks like she's really enjoying this tour.

[danax6]

Originally Posted by skcin

This one's just begging to be captioned. I'm torn between "Bitch, please" and "Yeah, I'm a sexy bitch." Or "so, Curtis, you don't like my beige boots? Kiss my ass!"

Can I use this one for a sig? I'll credit you.

Your pictures turned out amazing, I am in awe. That front row was at least good for something.

[Chrislit18]

[QUOTE=skcin;697499]





QUOTE]

I WANT THOSE BOOTS!!

her boots kick A$$

the show sounded really fun [except the rude people, but you have to expect it everywhere ]
and Stevie looks soo pretty in those shots
and Skcin, don't diss your pic taking abilities, those are sure better than the shots I got of Lindz on his UTS tour

[mikeschmike]

This is going to make such a good STFU picture.

hint hint

nudge nudge

The rest of the pics (and review) are great as usual. You and Marissa are looking good!