Ah, my first concert since the days when I was young and fancy free.........Bought an expensive ticket package, since my birthday is coming up.
In order -
1) Usually, I am going the other way on Snoqualmie Pass on Sunday afternoons. Little traffic, no delays, fine weather, and heading back to God's Country. This time we had a 90 minute delay of bumper to bumper stop and go traffic because two hours earlier there had been a fender bender. Folks, if we wanted to spend 90 minutes or more to drive 30 miles, we would be living in the Seattle area instead of Eastern Washington!
2) Got to Snoqualmie Casino, had not eaten because of all the good things I had heard about the buffet there. With the delay on the Pass, no chance of getting through the buffet but thought that we could find a sandwich before the show after we parked. Despite the delay (
*_#%^@(^%#(+^#$+#^%) we still had 30 minutes before the show started. NOOOO, because the parking garage was full. The parking lot was full. We ended up going back to the front of the Casino and getting in the line for valet parking. Long Line.
3) Five minutes to concert kickoff. Rushed through the casino, got in line. Showed the tickets. Got the arm bands.
Remember that Dutch Brewery at the WC that had the ambush marketing, all the pretty girls in the same dress? SnoCas did the same. And the girls were pretty and smiled nicely. Slapped wristbands on all the guys who simply oogled and all the women who simply glared.
4) Rushed in, found our seats. Plush, padded folding chairs. Narrow folding chairs. Which was a problem because the average age of the men in the first five rows was about 60. The average age of the women was about 40, that I saw, in this section. It made me think. 2,000 seats, average price of $100 a seat. At least four price ranges, with the best section going for about $500 a seat. What is the term for old, rich yuppies? (And yes, I was in the fourth row from the front, about $500 for two seats, but I do not consider myself either rich or ever a yuppie).
Then there was the bar stands behind the seats - with long lines, and people ordering multiple drinks, etc. - and the merchandise stand as you entered. This is a business as well as an experience....... I figure that the ticket sales were at the $200,000 level, drinks and merchandise were at the $50,000 level (minimum, could have been twice that. The program that I bought as a souvenir was $20,)
5) I saw that things would open late, so jumped into a drink line, got a beer for myself and a white wine (4 different whites available) for my wife. Also some bottled water (which was free and plentiful, good planning by the Casino to prevent people from passing out in the heat). Brought them down to our seats right before the first act started. Wife procedes to spill part of her wine on her legs. While fussing at that, 30 seconds laters pours the rest of the wine on her lap and the ground, jumping up and spraying some elsewhere. Much to the annoyance of the people in front of us...........
5) Did not know that there would be an opening act. It was not on the ticket, the advertisement, or in any notice. The opening group was named "Pearl". It was based on the lead, a blonde singer (dye job) named - wait for it - PEARL. She actually was not bad, except when she tried to screach the lyrics too loud. (Eh, What, am I sounding old? Heck, I was under the median age of the audience!!!).
Actually, I liked Pearl overall. Only later did I find out that she was Meatloaf's daughter.
6) twenty minute intermission. half the audience (from up front) got out their canes and walkers and toddled off to the restrooms, the drink lines, and what not. The rest sent some of their parties towards the ever long drink lines.
7) Meatloaf starts about 7:10, when the concert started at 6:00 (I have the tickets that said so.) Hunger is eating a hole in my stomach, only slightly assuaged by the multiple drinks that I took in the intermission. (Hey, if I have to spend 20 minutes in line to get a drink, I am not going to get one or two!!!!!!!)
Concert was great. Well worth the money. I did not realise he took an entire orchrastra on tour with him!!! At least, that is what it seemed like. One Pianist, One Keyboard/Sax/guitarist, 3 guitarists, Patty Russo on tamborine and vocals, CC Colleti (WOW!!! Looking even better than she did a decade ago!!!!) on back up vocals and tambourine, and Meat played some guitar as well.
9) Meatloaf still puts a tremendous effort into the show, into his preformance. Age is showing a bit. (He is 63). Patty Russo was great, the sax/keyboard/guitarist who was not even born when Bat Out Of Hell came out was fantastic. CC was mouth watering. The show was not what I expected but as good as I expected. I loved it. They did 3-4 encores, depending on how you are counting.
10) After the show, it looked like a bunch of middle school band members were packing up the equipment and putting it into the trucks. What was that about?
11) Meat played mainly his old stuff, but about 1/3 was from his new album (which I do not care for, even though it has gotten some good reviews, so that shows what I know about music!
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12) After the concert, the Casino kept their buffet open past closing time due to popular demand. I thought that at $30 a head, it was pricey. But we had buffalo, king crab legs, two kinds of shrimp, a good salad, and there was a great desert bar (which I skpped). So it was worth it, just the price surprised me. There were also many other things - including a Mongolian grill - that we passed on.
13) The Casino seemed to be full and busy, do not know why I keep hearing that they are losing money hand over fist..........
14) The concert is the best birthday present I have ever recieved. (Even if I did buy it for myself.) Any Meatloaf fan would have loved it. It ranks right up there among Queen, Bruce Springsteen and Led Zeppelin that I saw back at the turn of the decade (79-80!) In this cncert, the demographics, the procedures, and the reflection on the causes of those things came as a surprise to me. Probably should not have, but they did.
