*yay* Sunday!
After the usual Saturday shopping and running around, we drove down to Livermore (about an hour away) and checked out the area. We parked and had lunch at a place called El Caberello (Mexican - sp?). Chris had his usual two enchiladas rice and beans and I had the special, chili rellanos. They are so good! Then we headed back to the theatre to wait. John had told us that load was at two, but once we got there and spoke with the production manager, we learned that it was 2:30 and we couldn’t come in until then. So, we waited.
At 2:30, the techs arrived and we went in to discover it was a very short walk (even shorter than San Jose) to the stage. Then I noticed there were six techs there. John arrived and they attacked the van like it was water and they were dying to thirst. Chris and I hardly needed to do anything. Best of all, Mike Stern attended - he is John’s drum tech and knows how everything goes even better than John. He was supposed to have been gone, but his plans changed. We were really happy to see him. The set loaded in without an issue, smooth, clean and just perfect. Everyone else started arriving and we were completely done with everything by 5:30.
We were told that the house was only about half sold and there were no comps, so I went up and got tickets for us (while having a lovely chat with the folks running the box office. Then Chris stopped me and said that they had arranged for comps for us. That saved me $79 dollars. While I was backstage, John handed me an envelope with Chris’s name on it. He’d paid us for San Jose. That was impressive, especially since we weren’t officially working the event.
We headed out to grab some dinner and ended up at an Indian place called The Clay Pot. The food was fabulous and the place was empty so we had great service. It was so nice, we sat outside and ate.
The show started and the house was about ¾ full. It was a quieter crowd until we developed a mosh pit. Chris and I handed out tambourines for Dancing Queen and I was a little worried about going into the crowd, but it was great. Show ran without a hitch and the sound was never better. Seriously, I was very impressed with the techs.
Then came load out and we sailed through that in about forty minutes (usually ninety) and again, didn’t have to do a thing, besides put some lids on cases and keep an eye on stuff. The crew was so fabulous. We finished just after eleven and were home by 12:12, two hours earlier than I had hoped. That’s it for us now until August 17 in the park. John said after that he was going to have a band meeting and tell them that everyone had to commit to at least one show a month. If they couldn’t, well, then “changes will be made,” according to John. Not sure what that means, but we will see.
And that was my very busy Saturday. It was great, but I am so glad it’s Sunday. :D
At 2:30, the techs arrived and we went in to discover it was a very short walk (even shorter than San Jose) to the stage. Then I noticed there were six techs there. John arrived and they attacked the van like it was water and they were dying to thirst. Chris and I hardly needed to do anything. Best of all, Mike Stern attended - he is John’s drum tech and knows how everything goes even better than John. He was supposed to have been gone, but his plans changed. We were really happy to see him. The set loaded in without an issue, smooth, clean and just perfect. Everyone else started arriving and we were completely done with everything by 5:30.
We were told that the house was only about half sold and there were no comps, so I went up and got tickets for us (while having a lovely chat with the folks running the box office. Then Chris stopped me and said that they had arranged for comps for us. That saved me $79 dollars. While I was backstage, John handed me an envelope with Chris’s name on it. He’d paid us for San Jose. That was impressive, especially since we weren’t officially working the event.
We headed out to grab some dinner and ended up at an Indian place called The Clay Pot. The food was fabulous and the place was empty so we had great service. It was so nice, we sat outside and ate.
The show started and the house was about ¾ full. It was a quieter crowd until we developed a mosh pit. Chris and I handed out tambourines for Dancing Queen and I was a little worried about going into the crowd, but it was great. Show ran without a hitch and the sound was never better. Seriously, I was very impressed with the techs.
Then came load out and we sailed through that in about forty minutes (usually ninety) and again, didn’t have to do a thing, besides put some lids on cases and keep an eye on stuff. The crew was so fabulous. We finished just after eleven and were home by 12:12, two hours earlier than I had hoped. That’s it for us now until August 17 in the park. John said after that he was going to have a band meeting and tell them that everyone had to commit to at least one show a month. If they couldn’t, well, then “changes will be made,” according to John. Not sure what that means, but we will see.
And that was my very busy Saturday. It was great, but I am so glad it’s Sunday. :D