Friday, October 9, 2009
Ok, I guess will pick up where I left off….headed to the Portsmouth, VA show. Not a long ride and it was a good day for traveling. Our route took us right past the Hampton Coliseum which made for a good feeling given how many times I’ve been in there before. The Portsmouth venue was pretty cool being right on the water and having a huge wind sail for a roof. It reminded me a lot of Orange Beach without a cover. Prior to the show, I had to find the time and connectivity to keep somewhat ahead of the blog curve. Honestly, that has truly been a challenge so far……being able to create the text, crop, compress and upload pictures….and then take it all to the internet side of things. Traveling around in an old school manner, with all of the late nights and daily chores, really eats at the time you have to work on the blog. No complaining here….I’m just saying….it’s a tough task sometimes. Take today for example….I have a broken internet connection that I have to deal with…which means I can’t upload until I get to the venue. So then, it all becomes a time crunch….especially when everyone you’re traveling with has zero responsibilities….and your friends are texting and calling to work out all sorts of details. But I digress…..
Back to Portsmouth………I had set up some time with Chris Rabold where he was going to explain what goes through his head when he sees the night’s setlist for the first time. Rabold, in his sound engineering role, obviously brings that technical brain side to the table each night, but being one of us a long time ago, he also understands how a Panic fan looks at a setlist. We thought it would be cool to capture his stream of consciousness when he set his eyes on the list for the first time. So we got the night’s setlist and set off to do our video thing. After we were done, I was thinking I could’ve done a better job on the video side of things and that I might want to do it over in a day or so. The video was basically me introducing Rabold and then zooming in and out between Rabold and the setlist. During the ABB opening set, I was out in the crowd and got a text from Chris. He felt the same way about his side and wanted to do it over as well. Not knowing I was feeling the same way, he was very apologetic and started his text out with…”I know you are going to want to kill me….but….” I texted him back to ask him where he was and that I needed to see him because he was the one that was going to kill me. After finding Chris in the production office, I was able to make him think I had already posted the video. He said no harm done…not a big deal. I responded that it was a big deal since it had tonight’s setlist on it….and the band was still a couple of hours from taking the stage. The look on his face was priceless…and as I got a good laugh I realized he wasn’t freaking out for himself…he was thinking what was going to happen to me had I really done that. Talk about some rope to hang yourself with.
After the Portsmouth show ended we finally made it back to our hotel…and didn’t get to sleep until sometime around 4am…..then up at 10am, out at 11am and then 9 hours of driving to Athens. I finally arrived back at home about 8pm and then crashed hard….and woke up on my sofa the next morning with my travel clothes still on and feeling like I was really on tour as I was worn completely out. I only had a couple of hours before Chris would get home from school and we would take off for Birmingham. That’s where this tour provides another segue for me. First, I started off headed to Charlotte with the family. Once they left on Sunday, I took off with my friends Hardy and Dan for the second Charlotte show and then Merriweather and Portsmouth. Birmingham is back with Chris…but with no kids. Nice to have some adult show time. From here, I will get on the crew bus tonight and make it to Raleigh, Knoxville and Nashville in that fashion. From there, I’m hitching home while the band heads to Texas for a couple more shows to end the tour. So, I’m kind of half way through this thing now. Taking stock, I have had some great fun and worn my self out as well. I have felt like a 20 year old at times, but have also felt twice my 45 years as well. But all is good. I’ve reconnected with some great venues and great friends…..and opened up some new friendships as well. I’ve seen some great shows so far and I’m sure more are out there to be had over the next week.
One thing I have been successful at is this…..I’m not taking this for granted. This is a unique tour with both of these incredible bands…..so, you have to keep reminding yourself to soak it up because this ain’t normal. The interplay between these groups is amazing to witness. Last night’s Birmingham show is a great example…..After a great first part of the WP set that included a Machine>Arleen, the drums segued into Maggot Brain with Derek Trucks sitting in. Outrageous. And then Colonel Bruce took a mic, Dave stepped off stage, Oteil stepped on stage and then we basically had The Widespread Allman Rescue Unit for an incredible Time is Free. Then for the ABB set, at one point we had Dave taking Oteil’s place for Dreams. A quick aside here…..I’d seen Dave play Dreams with Gregg before at one of Warren’s Christmas Jams in Asheville, NC some years back, but to see my old buddy hanging with the full band and playing my all time favorite ABB song… needless to say, that was a moment. Once Dreams was over, Dave stayed on stage and JB stepped up for a killer Highway 61 Revistied. Now this one was interesting for another reason as only a few minutes before I was talking to JB about the WP set and how good I thought it was. After our conversation, which was taking place backstage….but pretty much parallel to the soundboard, JB said he was getting ready to head out….and he took off through the door to the floor – not the stage. I thought it was strange for him to head out to the floor by himself, so I told him I’d go out there with him. Once through the door, JB turned to me with a look that said it all…..and I quickly redirected him to the stage entrance, thinking he was just going to check it out from the side stage. 10 minutes later, there he is on stage doing Highway 61 with the ABB. That’s a perfect example of what it’s like knowing these guys personally but still having a certain transformation take place when they take the stage….from friends to heroes. Moments like those over the years are invaluable and keep me grounded in both the moment and the overall experience.
So, here I am in the hotel on Saturday morning realizing I’m halfway through this little journey and I’ve had a quite the time. I’ve celebrated, danced, laughed, cried, slept a little and ridden a lot…..you know……all those real life things that take on a different meaning around the WP experience. I’ve been with my wife and kids….I’ve been with my friends…..I’m in the middle of a no-kids type of weekend….and tonight I head out on the crew bus. I’ve got a lot of experiences left to tackle….and the first one starts tonight on the bus and then tomorrow in Raleigh with a wake up and load in. I hope to provide some glimpses of how all that takes shape….from the set up to the take down. And Rabold and I plan on doing our setlist video again. We’ll see how all that goes….for there is a show tonight……and in the morning this whole world won’t be the same…….
