This weekend I was off to an East coast adventure while hubby would also be out of town. My oldest daughter Jen had decided that Boston was the best place for her to meet me for s show, so I was headed to the TD Garden, a venue new to me although I have been to the city of Boston a couple times. Then I would be heading to more familiar territory - the Mohegan Sun Casino in Connecticut for the rest of the weekend. I decided to fly into Providence rather than Boston, since it was familiar and between the two concert stops.
Providence offered an additional benefit - my niece Ali is in culinary school there and is currently a ‘chef-in-training’ working as a line cook in a great Providence restaurant called Local 121, which features the freshest of local ingredients turned into creative and beautiful dishes. So I planned to visit her and sample the food of Local 121 while in town. The stars must have been in alignment this week because, completely coincidentally, my sister and brother-in-law were also visiting Ali in Providence, so we were able to have a wonderful dinner together. Ali couldn’t dine with us - she was cooking, but she did select and prepare some of our dishes and came out in her chef’s garb to say hi. I can’t even tell you how many appetizers or small plates we sampled before our main courses (mine was a fantastic almond-crusted fresh flounder surrounded by fresh steamed clams and a tarragon scented cream) before four or five desserts, but we cleaned every plate. I think it was only the classiness of the restaurant that kept us from licking the plates!
The next morning I was off to Boston, rendezvousing with Jen outside the city at Natick Mall so that both of us wouldn’t have to drive the crazy, confusing and congested streets in Boston. We drove around our rather odd Bulfinch Hotel (just 2 blocks from the Garden) looking for parking options but felt like we were risking our lives at every intersection, so gave in and paid $42 (!!!) for overnight parking. Jen was such a sport - she knows how I crave the fresh east coast seafood so, even though she’s a vegetarian, she suggested we go to the historic old Union Oyster Bar for an early dinner : ) I had my beloved raw oysters as well as steamed mussels and some chowder. We also had a couple drinks with her friend and former office-mate Jerel, but couldn’t talk Jerel into using an extra ticket we had for the show that night. Happily another of Jen’s pals was available so the ticket didn’t go to waste.
Our seats were in the 8th row of the right floor, on the right hand aisle! : ) Jen, like myself, thoroughly enjoyed Jake Owen’s opening set. Jake went down to the left side floor during Don’t Think I Can’t Love You and was captured in a long embrace for a bit. During the break the rather small front floor area began to fill. Also during the break some of Keith’s stage crew were loudly trying out the various instruments - wonder if they didn’t have a full soundcheck? By the time Keith sang a song or two several front rows in our section were nearly empty, so we moved up even closer to the 4th row : ) and Jen’s friend Arjo was able to join us. It was a perfect position for a wonderfully exciting night. Here is the Stupid Boy solo I love.
Keith first greeted us “Hello Boston! Are you feeling good tonight?” before going into Only You can Love Me This Way and of course later sang “And I’d have never had this feeling, that I feel playing for you in Massachusetts tonight...”. A beautiful song as usual.
Then I knew it was time for You’re Gonna Fly, so I excused myself and slipped out of our row to stand immediately below Keith right platform microphone. What an incredible view!! Oh my. I am always torn - should I just sing and dance and give it my all, or should I record this moment. Tonight I could not help but record from this amazing vantage point! although I did take time to give the toe of his boot a rub for good luck! : ) Keith leaned over and slapped my hand before he left the right platform.
Back on the mainstage Keith gave another “Good evening Boston! Hell of a crowd tonight!!” He greeted each area of the arena in turn “ Yes”, he confessed “I have been down on the floor in Boston on a Friday night.” “Firstly I want to say a big congratulations to the Boston Bruins!” which elicited a huge response from the audience. He went on “ I don’t play hockey, but I do plan on trying to make you feel as good as they did that night.” (more cheering) “As you can see we have an entirely new stage this year with none of those stupid fences or security people.” Then, correcting himself, “That’s stupid fences, not to be confused with stupid security people! That’s not what I meant. I just meant that tonight is about you guys doing whatever the hell you want to do.If you want to scream or dance or cheer - whatever you want to do - have at it tonight Boston! It is your night!” (I was happy that “stand on your chairs” had been omitted from that list - thought that was a change for the good, but unfortunately it returned to the list the next night.)
Then it was time for Long Hot Summer. It was then I really noticed that the acoustics of the Boston Garden were really the worst I had experienced this tour. Very echoey. When my daughter walked further back on the floor she said she had a much harder time hearing the vocals from the back than from our seats up front. Consequently it seemed the audio guys had upped the volume (a bit too much for me) and the echos got worse. I imagine it is not easy coping with the construction of the different venues.
The small stage was set at rows 15-17 tonight. Jen and I were ready on the right hand aisle when Keith came off the stage to head back there - Jen reported a biceps squeeze and I gave his back a little rub. Front right side is a good spot! The audience loved having Keith back in their midst - I have to say that the Boston audience was totally into the whole show, matching Keith’s enthusiasm with their energy. Keith attributed their energy “It is amazing what a Stanley Cup win will do for the spirits!” but we all know that it wasn’t just the win that was creating the palpable excitement in the Boston crowd.
Keith had fun telling the story about the guy and girl to lead into Georgia Woods (“This guy thinks he’s got it all together - he knows exactly where things are going, but this girls is totally unhinging this guy completely. She is turning his world upside down, backwards and sideways - and he loves it! They are getting it on in the Georgia Woods.”). They have added (or perhaps I only just now noticed) an interesting ‘woods’ graphic constantly changing on the big screen during the performance of Georgia Woods. Keith’s guitar solo here (and throughout the night) was just astounding. (After the sweltering solo for Til Summer Comes Around, I turned to my daughter with that usually post-coital phrase “Was that good for you?” (hee hee) She just “Mother!!”ed me. : )
Jen made her way up to the very front of the front stage crowd and waved her hand furiously, volunteering to be one of the singers in the Kiss a Girl contest. (She also told me that she yelled to Keith that her mom was his stalker, but I don’t know if I believe that : } ). She wasn’t selected however. There weren’t many kids visible at the Boston audience, so Keith selected 2 young women and an enthusiastic guy. One girl was so overhwelmed that I thought she was going to hyperventilate herself into a faint!! (Keith had to sooth her a couple times “Keep it together, keep it together..” They all made valiant attempts (but shouldn’t quit their day jobs! : ) ) and the guy won the audience’s massive applause tonight.
Somebody Like You triggered some of the loudest singing of the night (altho this audience sang almost all of the time!). The You Look Good in My Shirt offstage journey took Keith high into the left sider risers. When Keith returned to stage his did some extra fancy guitar fingering on the final YLGIMS melody before saying thank you and waving the first set of goodbyes.
For the encore Keith came out in a Bruins shirt, complete with his name on the back “In case I forget who I am,” Keith quipped. It was quite a sight seeing him sing Tonight I Wanna Cry in his big shirt!
Keith gave his heartfelt thanks to all and good-naturedly mocked the folks up in the boxes before the final song of the evening, Better Life - another song where, happily, he once again visited the right side platform near me. Boy, it is going to be very hard to top my Boston show experience!!
Saturday morning we met friend Jerel for brunch at an excellent breakfast/Jewish deli place called Zaftig’s in the Brookline area near Boston. Yum - bagel and lox, whitefish, and chopped liver (satisfying a number of cravings from growing up in a Jewish neighborhood on the northside of Chicago). Then I was off to Connecticut and Jen was heading to Utica, NY for a popular running competition on Sunday. More videos coming...
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