Gord's gold!
Oct. 25th, 2008 09:54 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lumy12First of all, ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
archerstar and gizzi1213 need to click here and listen for a minute. ^_^
It was the first time I'd been to Dodge Theatre in downtown Phoenix. I left early enough to allow for getting lost, construction, and traffic. Naturally I missed a turn and ended up having to figure out a different way (damn one-way streets!) but it really wasn't hard. I coughed up the $10 to park in the appointed garage; maybe next time I'll seek out cheaper parking now that I know the area slightly better.
I didn't realize this place is like a museum! I'm glad I went early. I didn't need to wonder how I'd pass the time. The walls were adorned with music memorabilia from classic to current, mostly autographed guitars and posters. One of the ushers noticed me looking closely at the walls and she called out to me, told me I should check out all 3 levels - everything was from the owner's personal collection. Which answered my mental question of "are these all from people who have played here??? I didn't think this place was around for THAT long!"
I'm going to try to remember as many of the artists as I can (will probably add to this later as I remember): Sting, Rush, ACDC, Beatles (they had a whole wall of stuff), Jerry Garcia/Grateful Dead, Mars Volta, Coldplay, Linkin Park, Ozzy Osbourne, KISS, the Allen Parsons Project, Tori Amos, Live, the Monkees, Megadeth, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Nirvana (though that was just a poster and I don't think it was autographed - I would have been really impressed if it was!), Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Santana, the Eagles... I'm sure I've forgotten some.
No one else was bothering to go up the stairs and check out the other levels. I of course wanted to open every door I could, and I kept finding staircases to go up! I did end up going too high, where there was nothing... but no matter. And I entered a suite I wasn't supposed to be in, but they said I could look around. Heh. They had actual armchairs owned by Ozzy Osbourne on display (though roped off so people couldn't sit in them) - wonder how much those cost!
I wandered back down to the main level shortly before showtime. Since there were no T-shirts'n'crap for sale, I decided to splurge on a $12 foo-foo drink in a nifty cup. I found my seat, textedgizzi1213, and fiddled with my straw -- the ladies next to me probably thought I was drunk but it stopped working and I had to pull it out and chew on the other end a few times. It finally worked when I flipped it over and sucked on the other end. Whew. I did see some people there younger than me, but they were all with older people -- I wonder how many of them were actual fans. (I told my 19-year-old concert-loving "girlfriend" I was going to "an old person concert" - and she'd never heard of Gordon. Hehe. And when I said the same thing to Aaron, he guessed I was going to Tina Turner, who was also in town last night. Ha! Then he thought I was going on a date and just didn't want to admit it to him. DOUBLE HA!)
The owner (Danny Zelisko) opened the show thanking us, cracking a couple jokes about the economy, and of course, introducing Gordon.
Gordon opened with "Cotton Jenny" (which I thought was "Ginny" but I guess I'm thinking "cotton gin"? Heh), and next he did "Carefree Highway" - I was really surprised he did that one so early, as he wrote that ABOUT our Carefree Highway in Phoenix and it's probably a lot of AZ people's favorite Gordon hit and all. Latecomers were still filing in then (this concert actually started ON TIME! Wow!). His voice sounded raspy for the first few songs, but once he got going he sounded more like his younger self. The man is 70 years old and still touring! He had 3 guitars he kept changing - I don't really know why, because I couldn't detect any real difference in the music. The last song before intermission was the haunting "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
I was content people-watching and textinggizzi1213 to pass the intermission period. I thought people might ask me why I was there by myself but no one did. Maybe no one noticed?
During the second half I was more annoyed because there was a different person sitting in front of me, and he was taller than the lady who'd sat there previously. He kept leaning in to talk to his friend so I kept having to bob my head back and forth to see Gordon. I began to worry, like I always do when I don't hear "my song" for a while, that maybe he wouldn't actually do it... but of course he DID get to it, towards the end: "If You Could Read My Mind." And I cried a little. LOVE that song!
Two encores. He finished with "Song for a Winter's Night."
Didn't even get lost going home (the traffic peeps always force you on to streets you might not necessarily want to go on at these events).
Tl;dr version: I enjoyed myself!
Now I must quit procrastinating on my chores.
archerstar and gizzi1213 need to click here and listen for a minute. ^_^It was the first time I'd been to Dodge Theatre in downtown Phoenix. I left early enough to allow for getting lost, construction, and traffic. Naturally I missed a turn and ended up having to figure out a different way (damn one-way streets!) but it really wasn't hard. I coughed up the $10 to park in the appointed garage; maybe next time I'll seek out cheaper parking now that I know the area slightly better.
I didn't realize this place is like a museum! I'm glad I went early. I didn't need to wonder how I'd pass the time. The walls were adorned with music memorabilia from classic to current, mostly autographed guitars and posters. One of the ushers noticed me looking closely at the walls and she called out to me, told me I should check out all 3 levels - everything was from the owner's personal collection. Which answered my mental question of "are these all from people who have played here??? I didn't think this place was around for THAT long!"
I'm going to try to remember as many of the artists as I can (will probably add to this later as I remember): Sting, Rush, ACDC, Beatles (they had a whole wall of stuff), Jerry Garcia/Grateful Dead, Mars Volta, Coldplay, Linkin Park, Ozzy Osbourne, KISS, the Allen Parsons Project, Tori Amos, Live, the Monkees, Megadeth, Pink Floyd, Frank Zappa, Nirvana (though that was just a poster and I don't think it was autographed - I would have been really impressed if it was!), Alice Cooper, Led Zeppelin, Santana, the Eagles... I'm sure I've forgotten some.
No one else was bothering to go up the stairs and check out the other levels. I of course wanted to open every door I could, and I kept finding staircases to go up! I did end up going too high, where there was nothing... but no matter. And I entered a suite I wasn't supposed to be in, but they said I could look around. Heh. They had actual armchairs owned by Ozzy Osbourne on display (though roped off so people couldn't sit in them) - wonder how much those cost!
I wandered back down to the main level shortly before showtime. Since there were no T-shirts'n'crap for sale, I decided to splurge on a $12 foo-foo drink in a nifty cup. I found my seat, texted
gizzi1213, and fiddled with my straw -- the ladies next to me probably thought I was drunk but it stopped working and I had to pull it out and chew on the other end a few times. It finally worked when I flipped it over and sucked on the other end. Whew. I did see some people there younger than me, but they were all with older people -- I wonder how many of them were actual fans. (I told my 19-year-old concert-loving "girlfriend" I was going to "an old person concert" - and she'd never heard of Gordon. Hehe. And when I said the same thing to Aaron, he guessed I was going to Tina Turner, who was also in town last night. Ha! Then he thought I was going on a date and just didn't want to admit it to him. DOUBLE HA!)The owner (Danny Zelisko) opened the show thanking us, cracking a couple jokes about the economy, and of course, introducing Gordon.
Gordon opened with "Cotton Jenny" (which I thought was "Ginny" but I guess I'm thinking "cotton gin"? Heh), and next he did "Carefree Highway" - I was really surprised he did that one so early, as he wrote that ABOUT our Carefree Highway in Phoenix and it's probably a lot of AZ people's favorite Gordon hit and all. Latecomers were still filing in then (this concert actually started ON TIME! Wow!). His voice sounded raspy for the first few songs, but once he got going he sounded more like his younger self. The man is 70 years old and still touring! He had 3 guitars he kept changing - I don't really know why, because I couldn't detect any real difference in the music. The last song before intermission was the haunting "Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald."
I was content people-watching and texting
gizzi1213 to pass the intermission period. I thought people might ask me why I was there by myself but no one did. Maybe no one noticed?During the second half I was more annoyed because there was a different person sitting in front of me, and he was taller than the lady who'd sat there previously. He kept leaning in to talk to his friend so I kept having to bob my head back and forth to see Gordon. I began to worry, like I always do when I don't hear "my song" for a while, that maybe he wouldn't actually do it... but of course he DID get to it, towards the end: "If You Could Read My Mind." And I cried a little. LOVE that song!
Two encores. He finished with "Song for a Winter's Night."
Didn't even get lost going home (the traffic peeps always force you on to streets you might not necessarily want to go on at these events).
Tl;dr version: I enjoyed myself!
Now I must quit procrastinating on my chores.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2008-10-25 06:37 pm (UTC)I'm glad you had a good time. We loved our show although I never thought Gordon really got his voice under control at our show. However, I think part of that was the sound system because my complaint was that he sounded a bit "tinny" on a few songs, and I doubt his voice could do that on its own!!!
Glad I could help you pass the time with texting!!!!
no subject
Date: 2008-10-25 06:45 pm (UTC)Gordon told one joke I was gonna ask you about, cuz I didn't get it, but now I forget what the weird word was that he used! Damn.
Now to figure out my Halloween costume...
no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 09:16 pm (UTC)I've been in places like that, usually in London which one reason I'm bad at catching the train back before at least 8.00PM. Good to hear you had fun. :)
(BTW, Can I ask what that icon ^ says under the "Master and Apprentice" bit? It's too small to be legible.)
no subject
Date: 2008-10-26 10:27 pm (UTC)Hee @ your coffee spilling icon!
You can ask what it says but I have no idea. XD I don't think I ever knew, I just liked it and yoinked it. ...now I'm kind of wondering, though...
no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 03:06 am (UTC)I'm sure I'll get lost this time too. You know, I've never been there in December! I usually go in like May. The last time I went to Arizona was in January of 2007 when all of us in the south west were having that freaky cold weather. IT WAS SO FREAKING FREEZING!
no subject
Date: 2008-10-27 03:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2008-10-28 06:50 am (UTC)WHOA
DAMN!! i cant believe you went out of the house, alone! good job!! i'm glad you had fun!! :D
no subject
Date: 2008-10-28 01:20 pm (UTC)I do stuff by myself all the time! (okay usually it's just going across the street to watch movies)
no subject
Date: 2012-02-23 05:04 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-24 12:10 am (UTC)Or show it to you? ;)
no subject
Date: 2012-02-24 04:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2012-02-25 01:43 am (UTC)