After the gig at the Canopy, we headed down the road to our hotel and
everybody was hungry so we figured we'd have a beer, regroup, and drive over
to a Perkins or some-such all night diner near where we were staying... that
or Steak 'n' Shake, whose Happy Meal equivalent comes with an angioplasty kit
instead of a toy, I believe...
The diner won, hands down...
After one beer, no sign of Corso or Hazdra... and it was only a couple of
minutes from the Canopy to the hotel... we're worried (they DO have the
majority of the gear) but we're also ready to eat the complimentary bars of
soap so the rest of us head out...
... all, like, thirteen of us... lookin' kinda ragged, feelin' kinda ragged,
some of us even doing a good job of looking penniless (I myself am extremely
guilty of this lately, sorry mom)... and HUNGRY... this is about the last
thing a late night waiting shift wants to see... in fact, they'd probably
rather deal with a stoned Rosie O'Donnell than our motley crew...
After dealing with several people who obviously didn't want to deal with us we
went back to the rooms where our errant two members had gotten extra keys to a
room and crashed while we were eating... we had a beer or two, listened to
some tunes, and blanked out one by one...
*Brrrrrrrrring...*
*Brrrrrrrrring...*
"Wazzzit?Huhh?"
*Brrrrrrrring...*
"Hey... JOHN... get the goddam ph-"
*Brrrrrrrrring...*
*Brrrrrrrring...*
My hand lashes out at the offending device and the handset clatters to the
floor...
"Yeah?" I manage to mumble...
It's Scott... I think... telling me it's time to get up... there's a few
things I think HE should do, but I don't put them into words as I like my
job... I just hang up the phone...
"John... wakie wakie... Dad says we gotta..." ... but John's already in the
shower... so I forgive him for not answering the phone...
Back on the road, I'm in great spirits... it's only about an hour to the gig
in Peoria and that means we're going to get there in plenty of time to get
rooms AND meet at the theater for a nice, early, long sound check... at least
that's the fantasy... the reality is OF COURSE different...
Rolling into Peoria we are informed that it is Parent's Weekend on the campus
and that we will be hard-pressed to find any rooms in town... Scott quickly
shifts gears and gets us rooms in Bloomington... and then we head over to the
theater.
This place is great (see my last Peoria RRP for a complete description) but
this time around we were following Three Dog Night (yes, the "Jeremiah Was A
Bullfrog" guys) into the place so it had been cleaned up considerably the
night before AND there was a decent monitor rig on the stage, as opposed to the
two mixes from FOH I had to deal with last time...
Dave and I keep our fingers crossed and sure enough, they tell us we are
welcome to use it... NOW I'm REALLY gettin' happy, folks... because that means
DAVE is the whippin' boy for the night (kidding, guys... you are indeed
evenhanded and please don't make me ride in the trunk to Colorado)... there's
only ONE PROBLEM...
Hazdra and Corso (and the majority of the gear, remember?) don't show until
around 6:30p (mind you the load-in has generally been SCHEDULED, that word
again for 5p)... with doors opening at 8p, this doesn't leave us a whole mess
o' time, people... so I begin to crack the whip...
"Dave, can we be pinned in a half hour and monitors done twenty minutes after
that?"
"Sure thing," Dave shouts back... but I have a feeling...
At about 7:45p I finally start getting sounds in the house... and two out of
six inputs on Ahmer's kit aren't functional... much shouting about this back
and forth... lines are changed, mics are changed, 8p rolls around... lobby is
filling up... Jay wants a "go" time... the end result is I settle for a half-
assed check and we open the doors to the theater...
...and the people just start flooding in... In spite of all my frustrations,
this sight brings a smile to my face... "Weeeeee'rreeee Baaaaaa-aaaaaack..."
Backstage, the usual hangout is happening... bottled water is delivered and we
all listen to a rippin' "Dancin'" from an around-the-same-time-period show
we're gonna do tonight... last-minute cramming y'know... and MAN if that
forty-five minutes doesn't shoot by and it's time for the show...
I walk out to the mix position and survey the crowd... bigger this time, but
the same age mix... older and younger... and ALL excited... as the band walks
onstage there is a rush to the floor and the house lights go out...
This being a '77 show, the first set is long and varied in texture... as the
band gets into it with "Might As Well" I get the mix in order, and by the
third song I'm getting comfortable... a lilting "Cassidy" and jaunty "They
Love Each Other" later, the band lights into it's most recent "hurdle song",
"Lazy Lightnin'->Supplication" which sounded tight and got stompin' on the
"Supplication" half... and towards the end of the set, Lisa stepped up to sing
"Sunrise"... this was the first of four times I got genuinely emotional that
night as she brought the house down with the sweeping last lines of the tune
to rabid audience response... heck, even the "Samson" was good for me after
that... finally Mike told the crowd to kick back and I was free to get another
bottle of water as well as drop one off... those long sets can be brutal on
the bladder...
The second set opened with the aforementioned "Dancin" and it SMOKED... right
down to the complex changes and flips of the '77 version, which blew the
lighting guy Bob away... in fact, by this time Bob, the house tech Eric, and
Todd the system tech were all hanging out at various times running lights or
just grooving on the band and crowd... I love it when the house tech staff is
into what we're doing... and after "B.E. Women" there was a long pause where
you could see the band discussing something and during this pause, the crowd
whipped into a frenzy again, making so much noise that when the band actually
did kick into "Playin" it was hard to tell what it was at first... "Drumz" was
thunderous starting out as Ahmer and Corso attacked their kits... I love the
way Peoria effects our drummers... and they finally set up a groove with Ahmer
playing kit and Corso playing talking drum that fed seamlessly into "The Other
One" and from there into a beautiful "Comes A Time" which made me proud of
this band once again beyond words, and then they slipped into "Playin" again
to finish the set...
Side Note here: Bob had been waiting for "Comes A Time" all night long and had
made no secret of that fact... so in good tech-form, Todd shouted "Is this the
song you've been waiting for? HUH??? HEY YO BOB..." in his ear for most of the
song... we (the other techs) thought this was HILARIOUS... Bob, however, was
decidedly NOT amused... sorry, Bob... we'll get you tapes ASAP...
The audience cheered and whistled itself into a frenzy again until the band
took the stage to perform "Brokedown Palace" which brought a tear to my eye...
it was perfect and very intimate sounding... and as the crowd raised the roof
the band slammed into an elective encore of "Shakedown" that went on for at
least ten minutes and put the perfect topper on the show with John tearing up
his guitar getting those of us in the house to that "Over The Top" point...
Earlier in the afternoon Eric the house tech and I took a ride to get some
masking tape and other little useful items with Beau and I think Eric put it
best when he said "Oh, they love their Dead down here in Peoria"... after all
the love (and low-flying beach balls, balloons, etc. narrowly missing band
members) I had seen that night, I can only agree... and we thank the people of
Peoria heartily for including us in that devotion... to all you loonies who
stood in the street after the gig and screamed yerself hoarse - To quote Mike
Hazdra...
"You folks're NUTS".
We packed up, had a beer with the crew, shook hands with Jay the owner, and we
were off to Bloomington...
Side Note here: We all left the hotel at slightly different times because
Maraat's room didn't get their wake-up call so I didn't actually witness the
following exchange, but I guess the woman running the desk chased after Mr.
Maraat and Sprout as they were pulling out of the parking lot so Mike
stopped...
"May I help you?" he asked.
"You ruined my chair with an iron!" she said.
(Mike looks at his clothes... then up at this woman)
"I WHAT?"
"There's a big burn mark... it's still warm!"
(Mike does the runway model routine)
"Lady, do I LOOK like I used an iron?"
(The woman, confused, tries desperately to maintain her conviction)
"I check those rooms every day before I rent them out and it WASN'T like that
when I -"
(Don't make Maraat angry, you wouldn't like him when he's angry...)
"DO YOU WANT ME TO EMPTY MY BAG??? I don't have a #@%*& iron!!!"
(The woman, now realizing she might have to look at this hippie's skiddy
drawers, begins to backpedal)
"No, that won't be -"
(Too late... Mike dumps his bag on the desk)
"SHOW ME A %&@$ IRON!!! WHERE IS IT???"
(The woman obviously knows this has gotten out of hand and she MIGHT be
incorrect in her accusations after all and PLEASE OH PLEASE PUT YOUR UNDERWEAR
AWAY)
"Take your trash-mouth outa here..." she says and begins to walk away.
"DON'T YOU TURN YOUR BACK ON ME..."
Aaaahhhhh the road...
The ride home was great... well, aside from Scott sneezing out the window not
realizing I had mine open directly behind him and my face in the Indian Summer
Breeze... and SPLAT! ... true story... but "Other than that, Mrs. Lincoln...
how'd ya like the play?"...it was a quiet drive with some good friends to end
a great bunch of shows...
Come to think of it, this reminds me of being on tour, following the Dead in
the '80s & '90s...
...the only difference being I'm not flat broke and I still have all my
stuff...
...this is MUCH more fun... even on DSO Time...