Although I am enjoying each of my fall semester classes, tensions on campus had me looking forward to the Labor Day weekend. Add that to a highly anticipated visit to see my 'East coast' daughter and 2 Keith concerts, I was positively giddy with excitement as August drew to a close!
I headed to the airport after my last class on Friday. It had been quite a while since I had made my flight arrangements, so I was surprised that I was flying to Portland, Maine via Atlanta. Who knew that Georgia was in between Iowa and New England!? But I made it safe and sound and took the free hotel shuttle to my hotel rather than deal with car rental at midnight. The same shuttle brought me back in the morning to pick up my Enterprise chariot. Before I left Portland I had a wonderful lobster omelet with fresh hollandaise for brunch at a Sea Dog Brewing Company Pub. (I was intent on making this a seafood weekend!)
I had all day to make the couple hour drive to Bangor, on a lovely sunny day, so planned several stops along the way. The highlight of that journey was my excursion over to the town of Belfast, Maine on the rugged coast for an early dinner. I had used one of my favorite sources - the book and website "Roadfood"- to find a fun local spot for lunch and picked Young's Lobster Pound. The Lobster Pound was a large open-air (at least in summer) warehouse filled with big metal tanks of different sized lobsters brought in by local lobstermen. A steady stream of customers ordered off the menu on the wall, I ordered lobster and littleneck clams and was told the number of the net bag that my fresh seafood was loaded into before it was placed in their cooker. When my number was called the bag was emptied onto a disposable platter, the lobster cracked so nothing more than a lobster pick would be needed to eat it, cups of butter and slaw were added, and I was ready to eat my very fresh, very un-fancy seafood out on the picnic tables on the dock. Yum!!
I usually listen to audiobooks while driving, but - a bit of Keith karma - happened to switch on my car radio just moments before Keith was interviewed by the local DJs. It was so nice to hear that voice!
Keith mentioned that he and Nic had been at the US Open the evening before and that he had flown in that morning and caught a good view of the Waterfront venue from the air. He said that Nic and the girls had flown back to Nashville and he would be joining them on Monday.
My hotel was out on the rural outskirts of Bangor, with farm fields surrounding the White Barn Best Western. When I headed towards the concert venue, I was surprised to find that the Bangor "Waterfront" was right on the downtown Main Street, across from the grocery store. I drove through the neighborhood looking for street parking but then discovered that the grocery store was allowing some of its parking lot spots to be 'sold' for parking by some local fund-raising group, which could not be more convenient.
The concert venue was surrounded by tall fences, but it appeared that many of those in Bangor who had not bought tickets to tonight's show had brought their lawn chairs and blankets down to Main Street and planned to listen to the music from the street. The sidewalks and curbs around the venue were lined with people as if they were waiting for a parade, but they were waiting for Keith Urban and David Nail!
I knew from the Bangor Waterfront seating chart that there was a "pit" or general admission area in front of the reserved seating, but I was unprepared for the size of this area. It was a huge area - far larger than needed for even the most popular of stars. It was probably 30 feet deep, so that, even though I was in row 3 of reserved seating, it was as if I were in row 23 in terms of my distance from the stage. I was disappointed with my view, especially since the GA crowd naturally pressed close to the stage ( the first 10-15 feet of space) leaving a big, unnecessary empty gap in front of reserved seating.
To their credit, once the show began the Waterfront allowed people from reserved seating to enter the GA area, but since I cannot stand for hours I stayed out in the seating area.
Another bit of disappointment: no video screens at all at this venue!! : ( So there was no 'visual aid" for those of us farther back from the stage. But - stop complaining Linda! - it was still a Keith concert on a beautiful summer night under a star-filled, full moon sky - shame on me for being ungrateful!
I have to admit that I was at a disadvantage seeing David Nail for the first time from such a distance. I was not familiar with his music and consequently did not give him the attention that I should have (I did better the next night), so I will jump right to Keith's set.
As expected Keith and the band opened with You Gonna Fly with an extra "Bangor look at you now" thrown in and a bit of Boondocks following. Then a rousing Put You in a Song.
Keith took some lovely new liberties with a quavering guitar intro that gave me chills before going into the more familiar opening to Raining on Sunday.
Then it was time for a little chatty interaction with the audience, and a bit of a new gag. Tonight instead of using a big spotlight to highlight distant parts of the audience, Keith had his stagehand bring out a huge set of binoculars. Looking through them at the audience far out in the venue Keith described some of the individuals he was seeing! : ) He then read a few signs and settled on one which claimed the signholders had waited 11years to finally see him live and one which said "We came from up north, we headed down south" a la YGF. The gals said that they had come down from north of the Arctic Circle!
Keith was tickled by this and brought them up on stage, saying that "north of the Arctic Circle" sounded "vaguely dirty". They all hugged and took multiple photos together.
The highlights of the night for me: The performance of an oldy but oh-so-goody:
Your Everything http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLHCSmnPleo
And Keith coming out to see me for I'm In:
I'm In http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnNd2M-Sdw0
For You http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xnQ-nz1r698
You Look Good in My Shirt http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUSQWxXYM3w
Georgia Woods guitar solo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R3_BUNTQzkQ
Kiss a Girl Sing- Off http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b84jBqtX4pg
Ended the night with an after midnight supper at a Bangor truck stop restaurant which had a huge crowd. I thought perhaps many, like me, had come there after the concert. But no, I was shocked and amazed when the table full of college age gals next to me, when asked by the waitress if they had just come from the Keith Urban concert, cried out in dismay "We missed a Keith Urban concert???!!!"
How could anyone living in Bangor have missed the fact that Keith would be playing right down on mainstreet???
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