Humphrey’s By the Bay San Diego 8/27/10

Of course I do not mind, LWJ, quite the contrary… 😉

We FINALLY arrived in San Diego moments ago. What should have been a 2 hour drive turned into a 3 1/2 hour drive due to 35 miles of mid-afternoon bumper-to-bumper traffic on I-5 between Long Beach & San Diego, all for no apparent reason. We are rushing to get a bite before heading over the venue. Not much time for pre-show festivities tonight, as West Words was about 45 minutes behind us in the same traffic…

And, we have a surprise, last minute appearance by a Friendly Forum member who just flew into town. I am on the way to meet him in the hotel bar. Three guesses who it is, and the first two do not count…

Tom

Um, it’s a Friday night, my guess, is stoger.

It’s an addiction we understand.

Just got back from the show, following by after-festivities & a final stop of the evening at everyone’s favorite health-food restaurant, Denny’s. I will let those who accompanied Sarah & me ‘fess up themselves if they so choose. 😉

The show was very, very good, awesome even. The “Chrissie & Lu encore collaboration” hinted at for two weeks finally came to literally historic fruition on “Sweet Side”; an excellent choice IMHO, and one made by Chrissie & J.P. per Miss Lu after the show. Lu, Chrissie & J.P alternated singing the verses, with all joining in on the chorus.

I’ll defer to Roger & his ever-dependable memory on the setlist. Suffice it for me to say that Lu & Co. did an incredible job fulfilling requests from the forum & FB, while playing only 4 songs that they had played last night in Long Beach. Tonight’s set list featured more new material than either Long beach or Saratoga (“Buttercup”, “Seeing Black”, “Awakening”, “Blessed” as opener, and maybe another I am missing) and was less of a rocker than last night.

It is late, I am tired, and I have a mini-rant about some of those in attendance – for the first half of Lu’s main set, at least (many left & their exit was actually a blessing, however – think “Chatty Cathy & Chatty Chet”). Lu even asked at one point why there were se many empty chairs in the front row (reserved for only those who buy the Humphrey’s “full boat” package of room, dinner & show. But, I won’t darken my mood tonight by reliving that part – the sound was very good, the setting fantastically beautiful (if not indeed very airline-like cramped) and Lu & the Boys were in fine, fine form (Val particularly kicked a$$ tonight, again in my ever-so-humble opinion.

Good night,

Tom

Thank you Tom & West Words, for staying up late to file your reports. I hope you enjoyed your healthy meal at Denny’s. I had retired earlier to my room at Humphrey’s, just after midnight.

I’ll just add some comments about Humphrey’s.

Pro:

1. Humphrey’s realized they had soft ticket sales, and removed several rear rows of unsold seats, and allowed folks to stand, stretch, and dance in that area. That offered some relief from the cramped seating and yak-yak audience. They also kept a few rows of rear unsold seats, and allowed guests to just sit as they wished.

2. Humphrey’s security seemed more relaxed. They allowed the audience to move-up and stand by the stage during Righteously and Sweet Side.

Con:

The well-documented horrible seating, with the cabled chairs and minimal leg room. After the show, we noticed the staff had to cut each cable, and remove each chair, so the AstroTurf could be cleaned. What a chore for each show, to cable each chair to its neighbor.

I only have 15 minutes on this computer–so I’ll end.

Really, a remarkable show. Perhaps, the Lucinda-Chrissie performance of Sweet Side will appear somewhere on the net soon.

Man, wasn’t that chicken fried steak w/gravy some of Denny’s finest, Tom? Since Chrissie was not among the four of us in the booth, we all went carnivorous. She did catch a whiff of hog early in her set and, apparently like Long Beach, let fly with some anti-barbeque sentiments. Seemingly she and Lu “bonded” during the first part of the aftershow, but no Chrissie appearance to the masses with backstage stickers. Former Humphrey’s Lu opener Lisa Sanders was among this crowd, however.

West Words, fine setlist: Unlike me once and Paul once, you actually got song number seven listed accurately. “Buttercup” was in fact not played, Tom, but you nailed the others. In addition to Sarah Palin and the “fear mongerers,” Lu bade us not let The Tea Party pilfer our joy either.

Thanks to all for welcoming me back into the fan fold. A one-off definitely worth it. . .

Great photo, LWJ–this was a “public” bonding moment, with apparent private ones following. Forgot to mention that all I needed to do on Internet Explorer here at the North Harbor Dr. Holiday Inn business center computer was type in the one letter “L”–and immediately I could click on this Forum website. Wonder which other guests might have preceded me 😆

@Lafayette wrote:

Lu looks so very happy.

She was indeed in great spirits after the show, reveling all with stories about “the bonding”…

Stoger, we actually passed by Wynola Pizza and Red Barn outside Julian, CA where Ms. Petite is playing tonight at about 5:45 PM (I almost stopped to see if you were in early attendance). We also noticed a flyer for the show in downtown Julian at Diggity’s Dog House were we ate lunch. We drove up into the mountains east of San Diego late this morning, and continued on east through the Anza-Borrego Desert State Park out to the Salton Sea to tip our toes in the warm, salty water. We’re sitting at our gate at the San Diego airport as I type this…

Safe travels to all “Lu-heads” who are headed back east this weekend!

Tom