06/04/2004 - Cleveland Gund Arena
This was the second
concert I went to with my wife.
Also the second time in this arena.
If you know me, or have
noticed my other concert reviews, this show is a little off the
path for me. Actually, I don't care for country, and am not
really into Alabama at all.
I went because my wife wanted to go. She loves Alabama. So when I
saw tickets were going on sale back in November, I figured this
would be a perfect xmas present.
Though Alabama are not among the few country groups that I like
to listen to, I knew enough about them to know they were supposed
to be really good performers. So I thought it wouldn't be to bad
a show.
I was right.
First about the venue. The
first time I was here, I was not impressed.
You can read about that in my review of Kiss '96.
While the traffic and parking haven't really improved, better
seats can make a world of difference on the perceptions of a
venue.
Instead of being in the nosebleed section we were in the lower
section.
The seats aren't nearly as straight up-and-down which made it
feel more comfortable. Even though the seats are a little on the
cramped side.
Discovered one other problem with the venue though.
They have thee worst set-up for a smoking area.
You show your ticket to a guard, who then stamps your ticket and
lets you out a door. After you go through the door, then you have
to go down a flight of stairs and out another door to get
outside. There they have a section barricaded off for the
smokers. Complete with another guard. When you go back in, after
going back up the stairs, you show your stamped ticket to the
guard inside to get let back in.
This all works ok when things are slow. But during the
intermission it was a disaster.
Got outside ok. But while out there, I noticed the problem.
Trying to funnel all the traffic in and out through 1 door
created a huge back-up. While there were like 8 doors outside,
only 3 were to go in. The stairs were also 8 sections across,
with railings separating each section. You could only use the 3
sections on the right to go back in. These 3 sections were backed
up out the door. The problem was at the 1 door off the concourse.
The would stop the people going out to let some back in. Then
stop the people coming in, to let people out. So there were
really long lines waiting to go both ways.
On to the concert itself.
As you can see on the seating chart, we had a great view. 10 rows
off the floor, one section over from the stage. We could see the
whole stage quite well. Also, on either side of the stage were
large screens. We were far enough back from the screen to be able
to see it well, but close enough that it was really big. It was
directly in line with our section, so you had to actually look
away from the stage to look at the screen.
There was no opening act.
The band played for an hour and a half before the intermission.
Then there was a 20-30 minute break. After which they played
another hour+.
I could tell right away that the show wasn't going to be too bad.
The singer did a great job of involving the crowd. Plus they
actually seemed to be having some fun on stage. Goofing around
and just generally adding to the fun atmosphere.
I don't really know a lot of the songs, and didn't sing along
much, but I was toe-tapping most of the night. I also had fun
watching some of the crowd having fun too. There was a group in
the front of section C110 that were having a blast. Between
section 110 and C110 is one of the box seat areas, so the front
of C110 is actually like being in the front of a balcony. The
whole front of that section was filled with people dancing and
just generally having fun. The singer looked over that way and
laughed more than several times during the night. The were also
shown on the screens a couple of times.
Which reminds me of another nice touch. Not only did the screens
show the band, they also showed a lot of shots of the audience,
as well as some stock video footage.
During one song the clips shown were time lapsed shots of the
tour bus traveling. Gear unloading, stage set-up and tear-down.
The place went wild during one clip when a couple of the local
highway signs were shown during the bus-travel stuff.
Couple other highlights that I remember.
The first time I have ever seen a lime-green fiddle.
The accordion player
breaking into "The Chicken Dance", polka style!
Not only were a bunch of the audience actually doing the chicken
dance (including that fun bunch I mentioned earlier) but so was
the about half the band.
Towards the end of the show, after a very good drum solo. The guitarist came over to the drum kit, looks at the drummer with a look that said "oh yeah, watch this". He then proceeded to crunch the first few notes of Back in Black. To which, the crowd went wild. After a brief pause for the crowd , then the guitarist and drummer both went to town on Back in Black. Man, these guys would make a decent rock band too!
A few songs after the
intermission, they performed the National Anthem. Which was
followed by a short speech praising our troops. The bands
appreciation for all that they have done, and a call for the
politicians to get off their asses, put aside their differences
and win the war so our boys can come home.
Then they started playing the Anthem again, only this time, the
audience sung it while the band played.
Over all, a pretty
enjoyable night
I always said, I can appreciate a great performance, even if I
don't like the band. Guess I was right.
The most important thing though, was that my wife had a blast.