Forum Replies Created
-
Posts
-
In my thread of April 12, I wrote: “There is an extremely strict music curfew at 10:30 PM, with plugs being pulled on famous performers. “
On August 18, Lucinda joined the select club of having the plugs pulled. At precisely 10:30, just as Lucinda was finishing Blessed, the house lights came on, and the stage power was killed. A dramatic conclusion to a great evening of music.
Robert Earl Keen began the night promptly at 7:30, and did an entertaining and efficient set, exiting by 8:20. That allowed Lucinda to start at 8:45 and almost complete the following setlist:
1. Too Kool to Be Forgotten
2. Happy Woman Blues
3. I Lost It
4. Crescent City
5. Pineola
6. Copenhagen
7. Kiss Like Your Kiss
8. Fruits of My Labor
9. Metal Firecracker
10. Drunken Angel
11. Buttercup
12. Out Of Touch
13. Bleeding Fingers
14. Seeing Black
15. Essence
16. Honeybee
17. Righteously
18. Blessed (almost completed, then power killed)Tom, I plan to attend, if Southwest Airlines does their usual good job. At the Winery, I’m at seat 3B1.
Susannah was not at the merchandise table. The new items at the table were all for Chrissie’s group–posters and T-shirts with the complete Chrissie tour schedule into October. Lucinda’s side just had the live show CD’s.
Thanks to tonyg and stoger for covering all the items at the show. I enjoyed “Seeing Black” among the 4 new songs.
Last night, Friday, August 13, I ventured to Long Beach to hear Roger McGuinn and Joan Baez at the first 2010 Queen Mary concert at Harry Bridges Park. I primarily want to discuss the venue for the benefit of those attending Lucinda’s show on August 26.
However, I’ll first mention that the music was very good. Roger McGuinn delivers an excellent solo show, and he knows what the audience wants to hear, and he plays his Rickenbacker 12-string (and other guitars) through the Byrds’ songbook with dedicated experience. And he respectfully thanked Mr. Dylan for writing most of the songs…
Friendly Disclaimer: The following words about the venue describe my observations on August 13. I can not promise the same conditions for August 26. Caveat emptor.
I really liked this venue. The ticketed area includes all of the park, and with minimal facilities and a small audience, there was lots of space to walk and explore before and during the show. The area is beautiful at twilight, with the sun reflecting on the water and the distant buildings, and flocks of seabirds, including herons, diving in the water.
The stage is built at the northwest end of the park near the water. In front of the stage is 1 alphabet of rows of plastic “Humphrey” chairs, cabled together. However, unlike Humphrey’s, these Long Beach rows offer tremendous legroom, perhaps 4-5 feet between rows. Tonight, the alphabet ended about Row “Q”.
All the remaining area is General Admission standing, sitting, or walking. And this area is huge. The map on Ticketmaster showing a small GA area behind the chairs is grossly inaccurate. The GA area extends 50-75 yards back to the concessions (see next), and also wraps along the sides of the chairs, and to the seawall. Again, with the small audience last night, the GA ticket was quite adequate. In fact, many GA folks periodically took seats in the empty “P” and “Q” rows, as the show progressed.
At the south end of the park, perhaps 75-100 yards from the stage, are the concession tents. There is a full bar with wine, beer, and mixed drinks for $7-$9. Bottles of water are $3. There are food tents, selling chicken, BBQ, hamburgers, and roasted corn. Near the concession area, there are portable restroom facilities. I saw no water fountains.
The event staff was helpful, pleasant, and minimal. There were ushers helping people find their seats–but since the row/seat numbers were quite obvious, the ushers soon faded away when the show started. Several Long Beach police officers were present, and they seemed to enjoy their music assignment, in preference to patroling downtown Long Beach on a Friday night.
The mellowness of the event might be attributed to the age of the performers and the audience–this was definitely a 40-70 age crowd.
Some logistical notes: The entrance to the concert is at the east side of the park, just off the parking lot. The remainder of the park is fenced-off, to prevent unticketed entry. If you need to buy tickets, you must purchase them at the Queen Mary ticketing building, adjacent to the ship, about 100 yards east of the concert entrance. There is no service charge for those tickets–the $35 GA ticket was $35 total.
Also, I would advise bringing a jacket or sweater; the temperature falls to the low 60’s, and there are breezes off the water.
Two recent items of interest from www.jpchrissie.com:
1. The ensemble for Lucinda’s shows will be an acoustic trio of JP, Chrissie, and Patrick, as from the KCRW video.
2. Starting in mid-September, they are touring for 28 shows in 45 nights. Check out the schedule from the “SHOWS” tab.
Ticket selections are now showing the row and seat number to be purchased, although the map is not especially helpful in finding the seats. I feel this thread has served its purpose, and I will not make further entries. Let’s move on to the music…
There is now a minimal seating chart, at least showing the sections, but not the row letters or seat numbers (except for a few 1’s). However, the purchasing selection still does not indicate which seat row or number is being purchased. Apparently, a work in progress…
On Sunday afternoon, before the Long Beach Press Telegram article, I visited Long Beach to scout the facilities. Here are my comments:
1. The Queen Mary and Harry Bridges Park are accessed via a closed-loop one-way roadway,
with adjacent parking lots. If you bring your car, you must enter/exit payment gates to approach the facilities, and to park. There are no public streets in the area. Alternatively, you can use the free Long Beach Transit shuttle bus, designated as Passport Service “C”. This bus operates from downtown Long Beach every 8-10 minutes during the day, and every 20 minutes in the evening. The last bus departs the Queen Mary for downtown Long Beach at 12:41 AM. There are a few restaurants and hotels in the immediate area, within walking distance of the park. Of course, the Queen Mary ship itself is a hotel.2. The park is totally undeveloped. It is simply a manicured plot of grass and trees, lying adjacent to the water, about 100 yards from the Queen Mary. There are NO permanent facilities. The concert promoter provides all services, including fencing, tents, stage, chairs, concessions, and portable hygiene. Consequently, while you might bring high expectations for music, I would keep low expectations for creature comforts and gourmet cuisine.
3. If you are not a hotel guest of the Queen Mary, you must purchase a ticket to tour the ship. Tickets start at $24.95 for a General Admission tour, which includes Ghosts & Legends, and $27.95, which adds Haunted Encounters. There are discounts for children and seniors, and combination tickets for the
Long Beach Aquarium (NOT at the Queen Mary site).Thanks for the post. Ticketmaster is alive and well for this show; the TicketFast (print at home) fee is now $5.
Stoger, thanks for your report. Seems like I’m still ahead at $68.10 for a VIP ticket from a Ticketmaster retail outlet (Second Spin in Santa Monica).
Regarding your VIP question, I honestly don’t remember what VIP obtains, except it probably permits me closer access to the stage, either standing or maybe sitting. At this point, I’m a bit apprehensive about the loudness from Chrissie & friends, so I’ll probably experience Chrissie’s set from the rear, and then use my VIP wristband to see Lucinda from closer down front.
In response to lkaufman’s question and my curiosity, I executed the following dummy sequence. I chose not to purchase a ticket at this time.
The Roseland Presale started a few minutes ago, at 10 AM PDT, 1 PM EDT. You can start at the Roseland website, view the calendar, scroll to Lucinda’s event, select the presale, and you should arrive at Tickets West (you can also enter directly from Tickets West). In the promotion code box in the upper-right corner, enter KINK. (Ignore the red line, stating that ticket sales don’t begin until Friday, July 9.)
All tickets seem to be general admission, at $30 + $7 fee + 3.50 order charge = $40.50, either Mail or Will Call.
Note that the Tickets West site does provide seating charts for the Roseland Theater. The floor and balcony chart does show lettered sections of seats in the balcony, but all the tickets seem to be GA. I guess it’s first come, first served, for seating.
I have some comments on recent posts. I want to state very carefully that these are solely my opinions. I don’t want to be scolded for reducing ticket sales, or depriving folks of a good evening of music.
1. I have deleted my prior comments on Humphrey’s. Let’s just say I don’t like the seating arrangements.
2. I have attended several shows (including Lucinda) at the Ventura Theater, and I genuinely enjoyed the venue. They provide single, unattached chairs which can be moved around the upper tiers at your pleasure. You can walk among the bars, drop your chair around the perimeter, and be quite relaxed, watching the show, albeit from a moderate distance. Obviously, down front, it can be quite crowded near the performer, but that’s your choice where to stand. I saw no problem with clothing, but I wasn’t attending a show with clothing restrictions.
3. I have read some disturbing reports about oppressive security at the Roseland Theater in Portland. Perhaps, SamishSeaMike can comment.
In reply to stoger, regarding the Ventura show: I was annoyed to see no TicketFast “Print at Home”, and to pay Ticketmaster $4.00 for a 44 cent stamp–so I wasted some gasoline, and drove to a local Ticketmaster outlet, and purchased the $54.50 VIP ticket for $68.10–that percentage doesn’t seem quite as bad. Of course, that only works because Ventura is in the Los Angeles local Ticketmaster outlet zone.
In reply to Tom Tracy: I priced a dummy purchase for Humphrey’s, using another performer, currently on-sale:
55.00 ticket
11.60 Convenience charge
5.65 Order Processing Fee
No charge for US Mail, 2.50 for TicketFast,
which totals $72.25 or $74.75.I avoid Humphrey’s for my own personal biases, so I will not be contributing to the Ticketmaster revenue for that show. I’ll look forward to a report.
Incidentally, when was the last time Lucinda played 4 shows in 4 nights in 4 different cities, at least 50 miles apart?
For our Los Angeles area readers, note that Kristen Ward (with her awesome guitarist Gary Westlake) is playing this Friday night, June 18, at Molly Malone’s. Kristen is the first of 3 acts for the evening, and is promoted for 8:30 PM, but expect a slightly later start. Truly, a marvelous talent–listen to “Die of a Broken Heart”, available for listening from the “Music” tab on her website.
Also, for folks in the San Francisco Bay Area, note that Kristen plays the Hotel Utah Saloon this Sunday night, June 20.
