When I finally made it from my car to the venue gate, there was a guy to the side yelling "Paperless tickets!? Paperless tickets!?" I thought perhaps we had to enter in a special line for paperless tickets, so I went over to him and asked. But no, he was actually a news reporter from a local station, doing a report on the new paperless tickets and asked if he could interview me. He initially asked if I had a digital ticket on my phone, but I said no - my paperless ticket just involved scanning my credit card as I entered. So he called over the camera man and filmed a brief interview! Of course I was never around to watch the news while in North Carolina, but I hear at least part of the interview was tweeted! My brief moment of fame ; } http://www.wral.com/concert-tickets-go-digital-to-some-fans-delight/12709318/
It is funny how each of these summer venues (many named Verison Wireless this or that) all have the same basic format: big reserved seating area (shaped like one-third of a pie) under a high roof, with a hillside or sloped lawn area behind the covered seats. Yet there are subtle differences so that each venue has a little bit different personality. In Raleigh much of the parking was on grassy knolls along the LONG driveway to the arena so it was quite a walk from my car to the front gates. But that turned out to be only half the required walk. Oddly The main gate is behind the hilly lawn seating, so when you enter you see several tall stairways allowing the lawn people to climb up to the top of the general admission slope. Reserved seater have to walk around the perimeter of the hill to get to the actual pavilion. I definitely have been getting my walking workout. But as usual I ran into some of my Urbanite buddies in the crowd. One had been the lucky winner of a meet and greet. She confirmed it had been a short one, held in a rather steamy small tent, but that it was nice that photos were being taken in groups of four this year.
This venue is perhaps the most tightly controlled venue I have ever been in. Each section of reserved seating had its own entry point carefully guarded. You could only get into your section at that point and were not free to go to other sections or even walk down the main cross-aisle that separated the 3 sections close to the stage (here Sec 1, 2 and 3) from the upper sections (here sections 4,5,6,7, 8, and 9). My seat was in the lower rows of Sec 8 close to the main cross-aisle but the only entrance to 8 was at the very rear, where the seats end and the lawn starts. Chains and guards blocked access from the main cross aisle. WHY?? It was annoying to always have to go to the rear when all the bathrooms and concessions were at the cross-aisle level. And with this somewhat "prison cell" organization, it was clear that I would not be able to get close to the satellite stage tonight since it was set up in another carefully guarded and cordoned off section.
One plus concerning this arena: it had its area reserved for those with disabilities on a somewhat elevated platform at the front of sections 8 and 9 and it was nice to see that so many individuals in wheelchairs were attending Keith's show that they had to shuffle around things to fit them and their accompanying family members in. I noticed, just before Keith came on, that in the process of re-shuffling them a lone chair that the wife of a guy in a wheelchair had occupied earlier had been abandoned at the front railing of section 8. So when it was apparent that it wasn't going to be used and the lights dimmed for Long Hot Summer, I left my section 8 row 5 seat (in a row where I had already been worn out by the number of people in and out of my row for beer runs) and headed down to this chair where no one would be crossing in front of me. It was a perfect seat if you had to be in the rear sections of the arena!
Like Charlotte, The sun was shining in the rear of the pavilion as it set, so it was initially warm there, but the weather cooled off nicely after sunset. Good thing since Keith heats up things enough!
I don't know if this was new or whether I just noticed it for the first time, but during that swell ganjo introduction, Chris was actually features (on camera) as the band member to first join Keith in that jam, and after a short time of Keith and Chris alone rocking, then Jerry came out. I hadn't previously noticed this "introduction" of Chris. Tonight Brian was wearing a little plaid shirt with very short sleeves (a la Keith 2 tours ago) and Danny was in a shirt and loose tie. All night long all of the guys seemed to be sharing a joke or jokes, in a very good mood, grinning and elbowing each other. At one point Brian even gave Keith a full body block when Keith was returning to stage. Certainly looked like they were having an extra good time.
Folowing Sweet Thing Keith did an extended bit of melodic guitar play, going from the top of the frets to the very bottom. There were little changes in staging - for instance Keith did I Told You So from the opposite end of the stage than earlier shows. I was so happy to finally have a good view of my favorite Stupid Boy guitar solo from my purloined seat at the front railing!
When Keith came out to chat he yelled " Good evening North Carolina! Is it happening tonight? Sounds amazing up here - you guys are in a rowdy mood!" He commented on the Aussie flag that someone was holding up in the audience and then commented that the movie Wolverine was opening this weekend. He then went on to say how people expected him to personally know every famous Australian, but "Why should I know Hugh Jackman??" And just at that moment, a video of Hugh appeared on the big screen with Hugh wishing Keith a great evening! : )
Keith then thanked those of us who had traveled a long distance to the show and, of course, called for
applause for the opening acts, tonight referring to Little Big Town as "celestial". I mentioned Chris earlier. Well he also is now also more actively featured during band introductions. Not only do we get his impressive drum demo, but afterwards he stood up, flinging his arms up in the air and grinning as the audience applauded his drumstick wizardry.
Here is a visually as well as auditorily beautiful Without You from the side screens.
Tonight I caught Dustin's return to stage during Kiss a Girl as well as Danny's little song which I finally recognized it as Fun's "Some Nights". Last time I raised a question about Jerry's sometimes on and sometimes off glasses. Well tonight, at the end of Better Life, Brian was suddenly wearing black framed glasses, looking like a cartoon brainy whiz kid. They also reappeared during his performance of Your Sex Takes Me to Paradise and then later in the evening the glasses briefly moved from Brian to Keith! I thought I had caught Keith in the glasses on film but can't seem to locate it.
Setlist change! Once in A Lifetime Love replaced Making Memories out on the small stage!! Nice! I hope they keep switching things up so that there will always be some little surprises!! During Better Life (and maybe another time) Keith's trilling "bird call" returned. On the more passionate side, here is the ending of You'll Think of Me.
Returning after Somebody Like You for the encore Keith said "We'd play all night if we could!" and then another special setlist change: he teased us all with just a single chorus of But For the Grace of God! Loved it! But please do the whole song Keith!! Tonight, since I was farther away, I paid attention to the videoscreens during Tonight I Wanna Cry and realized they were showing a beautiful 3 part collage of views: a headshot of Keith singing, a sideview of his arms as he played, and an overhead view of his hands on the keyboard.
Very nice!!
Every show recently Keith has gone to his left for You Look Good in My Shirt and I am always off to the left. He is bearing up well to the onslaught of hugs and grabs. He was still in a buoyant mood as that last song of the night closed, so actually joined in and began singing along with the One Love exit music "Let's get together and feel all right!" Yes we do feel all right when we're together Keith!
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