Mid-Hudson Civic Center...Poughkeepsie, NY
Halloween! Its just about my favorite holiday!
This show turned out to be pretty unusual, so the story
is abit longer, and instead of sticking the links for the picutes
at the end, they are scattered throughout.
This, in combination with a show in one of my many
former home towns, already had me looking forward to it. I
had an in at the box office too, so when tickets went on sale,
I was able to score 3 in the front row center section. I
was bringing along Kathy for her second show, and Dave was joining
us. Since Dave bears a passing resemblance to Kurt Cobain
(especially since he got his hair cut) it seemed logical to go
as Kurt and a pair of cheerleaders. Kathy was a great sport
about the entire thing...she even requested to see the "Smells
Like Nirvana" video for a first hand look at the cheerleader
outfits. I went into Poughkeepsie early to meet up with
my mom (who was serving as my dog sitter for the next week) and
then I got dressed and went over to the Civic Center to meet up
with Kathy, my brother Don and Dave for dinner.
I got a decent parking spot and hung out in the rather
cold weather in front of the Civic Center waiting for everyone
for a bit. Dave eventually walked up, and then went to move
his car closer (and I'm glad cause he didn't leave it in a reliable
part of town the first time.) By the time Dave moved his
car, Don and Kathy had arrived and we went over to Fresno's for
dinner. Then we made our way back to the Civic Center (Don
had to work) and Kathy and I reminiced about other concerts we'd
gone to...the very first concert I'd ever seen was Richard Marx
at the Civic Center (I still have that T-shirt somewhere too...)
We got to the venue and found out that our seats were
pretty much dead center in the front row! WOO HOO!
Me, Dave and Kathy in our awesome seats!
The comic who came out to warm up the crowd was a local
DJ, and not a guy I particularly care for. And he was pretty
gross. After about 10 minutes, someone in tha back yelled
"THERE'S LITTLE KIDS HERE!" and then his mike went dead.
A stage hand wnet to shoo him offstage and he flipped off
the stage hand. Then the crowd began to boo, so he flipped
us off too. A few minutes later, Skip came on the PA and
apologized for the opener and said the show would start in a few
minutes.
Funzone started and once the lights went off, I saw
Jon walk across stage in what seemed to be his Jedi outfit for
Saga. About a minute later, Dave pointed to Jim, and sure
enough, Jim was wearing his Jedi stuff too. Kathy didn't
have any idea there was anything unusual going on at this point...and
then "Gump" started and sure enough, the entire band
was in the Saga costumes! They did the entire first
set dressed as Jedi, and I wondered if they'd be ending the
show in Hawaiian shirts or something. That was answered
pretty quickly when "Dare to be Stupid"
was performed in the "Its All About the Pentiums" stuff.
I think about that time Kathy leaned over and asked me "This
isn't how they usually do it, is it?"
This was easily the most fun show on the tour for me...it
was like watching the band for the first time all over again!
Pentiums was done in the Germs shirt...and
during Germs Al writhed on the floor
in his One More Minute jacket. For One More Minute, he changed
into the jacket and headband from Beverly Hillbillies. The
first scarf went to a woman a few seats down from us. She
had a little 35 mm camera that Al took from her while he singing
to her. He looked at the camera and then gave her a funny
look before giving it back. He then wandered through the
audience for the rest of the song. As he got back on stage,
he picked out Kathy and tossed her the boxers! Kathy went
bonkers! She held those shorts over her head and cheered.
Like a Surgeon was done in the
Dare to be Stupid costumes. Since he wasn't wearing the
conebra this time around, Ruben entertained the crowd by slowly
unzipping his suit until he pretended to catch some chest hair
in the zipper (ouch!) After Al hopped around with his leg
behind his head, Ruben sat himself down on the stage and tried
to do the same. I wish I had taken more pictures during
this song, but I was laughing so hard, I almsot had tears in my
eyes.
Much silliness in the Medley...Al
came out in scrubs (and Ruben in his conebra) to start, and he
gave Kathy that scary look (much to her delight) right before
Laundry Day. Free Delivery was done with the Eat it jacket,
and Achy Breaky in the Free Delivery stuff. The hat from
Achy Breaky showed up during Eat It. To wrap up the show,
Nirvana was done in the Fat suit, Bedrock Anthem in the Amish Paradise
gear (and vice versa...with Steve giving a "eh" gesture
on the "my homies agree I really look good in black"
line.) Fat was performed as Kurt
Cobain, and instead of Santa, Mongo came out in the Fat suit!
And yes, Saga and Yoda were done
in the Hawaiian shirt. Jon wandered out onto the stage on
his knees and wearing an Anakin Skywalker mask at the beginning
of Saga.
Afterwards, Kathy decided to go home, and Dave and
I decided to wait around to see if anyone would come out. We
spotted Steve inside signing stuff, and eventually got back into
the building to say hi. Dave asked Steve for a copy of his
new CD, and Steve then asked us to watch his stuff while he went
back to the bus to get a couple copies. He also had us sign
his shirt. Steve gave us both a copy of his new CD and then
we all split up and went home...
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On to Sewell....