Ross and I had the privilege of seeing the Portland, White River and Vancouver shows over last weekend.  The shows were just GREAT, and the fan club seats were wonderful.  Although I am not a fan of the current album, hearing the songs live shed new light on them, and I question why anyone has vowed to boycott this tour for whatever reason.  It’s still a magic carpet ride for a couple of hours, and that’s important to everyone’s health to have these days.

 

The setlist for Portland and Vancouver were the standard.  At White River 1000 years was dropped, and there was just the one encore.  Not sure why, other than it was a bit cold and damp being an outside venue, and the show got started late, so perhaps it was just time to end the show.  However, the absence of this song was more than made up by the presence of a beautiful onstage dancer during Sacred Love.  I understand that she may have not appeared in any other show, so we feel fortunate.  She put a new definition to the term “shake your booty”. 

 

The security at White River was extremely liberal, and we were able to stand at the edge of the stage for the last 5 or 6 songs taking picture after picture.  Cameras were allowed, and not once did security tell us to quit taking pictures or to go back to our seats.  That was a refreshing change from years past.  I was busted twice for having a video camera though.  However, that didn’t stop me J.  Portland also allowed cameras, although there was apparently a sign out front that said they did not.  I specifically asked security, and they said it was fine.  Vancouver had “no cameras or recording devices” stamped on the ticket, but again they didn’t seem to have a problem with pictures being taken.  Vancouver did not appreciate fans going to the edge of the stage.  Too bad, because the band seems to prefer that.

 

It is interesting to note that Dom did not play the Star Spangled Banner in Vancouver.  He did the same joke about having to sell his CD to support his wife’s birthday present, but he did say that he would be happy to sign anything we had for him during his autograph session after Annie’s show.

 

I took several pictures and have posted them to a Shutterfly.com photo album.  I am happy to send an invitation to anyone to view these pictures if you privately e-mail me your e-mail address.

 

Bill