Guster/Blues Traveler, 07/13/04, part 2

(When last we left our intrepid heroes, they were hurtling towards the Knitting Factory in a New York taxi. We join them now, already in progress...)

We were about a half-hour late getting to the Knit, but fortunately, doors opened a bit late as well; we only ended up standing in line for five minutes or so after giving an extra pair of tickets to friends we had picked them up for. Got to chat briefly with Gina (Blues Traveler's personal assistant/office manager/band mom extraordinaire) and say hi to Tad (BT's bassist) before the line started moving. Once inside, the tapers congregated in the middle of the room, having already been shot down at getting up into the balcony - VIP only, apparently. It would have been the ideal place to tape as we would have been well out of the way and thus avoid incurring the wrath of the general manager of the venue. The seven of us decided to simply set up shop in the next best place - smack-dab in the middle of the floor, like we always do. To conserve space, we go with two stands, mounting four pairs on one and two on the other, and assemble our bags as compactly as possible. No good - wrath incurred. We can't be taking up this much room, and we have to move, and we have to do it now. Despite a spirited discussion of the physical impossibility of objects taking up less room in a different location (and, no doubt, some muttered suggestion about where certain objects should be located), he basically yelped and stomped until he decided to just banish us to a corner and let it go at that. We moved and set up shop again against the left wall (which never got that crowded - we had about five feet of empty space behind us the whole show) and right next to a huge fan that at the time wasn't moving, but got turned on shortly into the show, probably by Mr. General Manager. The mic stand was slowly swaying precariously the whole show - there must have been 10 or 15 pounds of mics, clamps, T-bars and cables on top of the poor thing - but we managed to not have anyone come barreling through the section (what we in the business call "wook bowling") so it stood up the entire show. What did NOT stand up the entire show was my 6-volt battery that I use to power my rig (preamp, A/D converter, and deck). At first I thought I'd just not fully charged it back in Central Park and then used too much while taping Guster, but I think it may have bitten the dust prematurely, as it simply won't take a full charge now. So I've got all of an hour of the show on tape despite the show only running 90 minutes or so (as did all of the free shows).

But the funniest thing about the show - although we didn't realize it at the time - was that it was a complete reversal of the first show Viv and I had seen together. Back in October of '97, we had our first date at a Blues Traveler show, but since we had bought our tickets prior to meeting, our seats weren't next to each other. In fact, they weren't even in the same section. Thanks to BT's fan club seating (a moment of silence, please... Ok.) I had second row seats. Viv and her friend Matt had seats somewhere behind the soundboard, I think (read: not second row). So although we got to hang out before the show, get to know each other and make nice, when the lights went down, we were twenty-odd rows apart. And now at the Knit, the roles were reversed - now that I tape, I'm never way up front at a show, but we were in so early and the place was so small (~350-400 capacity!) that she had to get her Tad on and stand in front of him the whole show. It was kinda unique for her as well since she's usually back with me, but I got to watch her having fun down front, see her clapping after every song, and even get to "whoo!" into the microphone during the encore when John Popper held it down to her.

Great to see a show in such a small place - which is the point of the tour. The place was definitely packed but not overcrowded. And LOUD. Busted out the ear plugs for the first time in years and glad I did. Also my first show in NYC since the smoking ban went into effect - nice not coming out stinking like an ashtray. Saw a lot of old friends, met some new ones (including one guy I'd been trading with via the BT list for ten years, but had never met!) and in general had a great time at the show once we were properly situated. The show itself wasn't a knock-down, drag-out affair, but that wasn't what I was expecting in the first place. On our way out we barely got to say our goodbyes, as it was off to Penn Station to...miss the train by ten minutes. So at 11:52 at night, we had to wait around for another 50 minutes before we could catch the next one home. Oy. Special thanks to my brother-in-law for trundling us home from the train station at 2 in the morning. And then...craaaaaaaaaash (into the bed, not the car).