Craig's Blog of Destiny

The Venues: 

We started by taking the whole family to the White River Amphitheater in Seattle.  We had great seats, just behind the boxes, just to the right of center.  Sam and J’Neil had a great time with us, although I’m a little worried about Sam’s reaction.  After the show, which was his first concert ever, I asked if he was now thinking he’d like to go to more concerts.  He said, “no, after seeing Rush what would be the point of seeing anyone else.”  He also said that he was worried about going home and listening to Spindrift (from the new album) again, because it just couldn’t compare to hearing it live.  That started a tradition that we kept up through the remaining shows of calling Sam during Spindrift and letting him listen to the live performance over the phone.  It was a big night for us as after the show we went right to Wal-Mart to pick up copies of the last Harry Potter book, released at midnight that night!

Next I was able to see them at the Hollywood Bowl in Los Angeles.  Right downtown in Los Angeles; just blocks from Hollywood and Vine.  I actually parked just off  Hollywood, and walked up the sidewalk with celebrity stars on it.  On the short 150 feet that I walked on Hollywood Boulevard I saw several of the Hollywood Stars but no one that I recognized.  The Hollywood Bowl itself was a little older and run down than I expected, the wooden benches were much more reminiscent of old weathered park benches than of stadium seats.  It’s also set on a hillside that you have to hike up to get into, even had some escalators going up the last section.  I had a great seat, right on the aisle, so there was no one in front of me the whole night.  Right behind me at the Hollywood Bowl was the first repeat fan I met this time around.  He was going to four of the California shows, this was his first.  He asked a lot about the Seattle show that I had already seen and was surprised I hadn’t gone to the Portland show just two days before (and one day after the Seattle show).

I then found myself in San Diego, where I was able to see Rush at the Coors Amphitheater.  On the drive there I got a little sidetracked looking for a convenience store:  I was worried I would need to pay for parking and needed an ATM  It was a little disturbing as I found myself wondering through an area of junk yards and body shops all with signs in Spanish out front.  Indeed, the amphitheater in San Diego is just across a gully from Mexico, I may have been able to through a rock into Mexico from where I was.  Turned out I didn’t need to pay for parking, there or at any of the rest of the venues:  the Hollywood Bowl in LA turned out to be the only one.  In San Diego I was eight rows back, again right on the isle.  I took the most pictures in San Diego, as being eight rows back it was easy to hold my phone up inconspicuously and being on the isle had a clear view to the stage.  So here are some of the pictures I took that night. 

From San Diego, I flew up to San Jose, where I met up with Kris for the show at the Shoreline Amphitheater in Mountain View, just south of San Francisco.  Oddly enough, I remembered more of the Shoreline from the previous tours than I had some of the other venues, so it had a sort of “home” feel to it.  Kris and I stayed just up the road at a Hampton Inn, where I was treated as the frequent hotel guest that I am.  That day we spent having a leisurely lunch and checking out old record stores.  There was a great one there in San Jose where we saw some great T-shirts and challenged ourselves to get out of the place while something good was on the PA so the crap that was on at times wouldn’t be in our head when we left.  I also talked Kris into going to a Guitar Center, never a pleasant experience for her, where we saw this drum kit: it’s the set Neil used on the 30^th Anniversary tour, complete with gold plated hardware.  Actually, it’s only half the set, as it didn’t include the back set of electronic drums that he rotates to for some of the songs and during his solo.  They had it behind glass, and the price tag was $30,000.  I don’t know why Glenn doesn’t get one for our Four Rivers gigs. 

Kris and I enjoyed the Shoreline show, watching from the lawn area, where the sound actually arrived just a little later than the visuals.  It was hard to watch the big video screens and listen at the same time as the actions that produced the sounds could be seen just minutely before the sound would be heard.

Next time:  The Venues continued