tonyg

Ya never know. 😉

Sorry we missed you Grumpy. You could not have dragged me onto the balloon ride kicking and screaming.

The balloon was an enormous orange orb, spotlight lit, that was tethered to the ground with a cable. At the bottom sat a large round gondola. I saw it go up and down all night, you could see it as clear as a bell from the concert area. It went very high in the air, maybe 10 stories. Every once in a while you would look up and there it was, hanging over the stage.

The merry go round was more my speed.

I forgot mention we met Gerald, a long time LW fan. 30 years he said. Way to go, Gerald!

Sorry I missed you Los Doyers. I hope you golfed better than I did.

Etienne and I arrived at the park at 6:30 and met Stoger for dinner in the dinner hangar. Famed website member Paul From Los Angeles joined us halfway thru. The park website said there was limited seating but there must have been 40 rows of crummy folding chairs in front of the stage, where Paul sat. The 3 of us were to the side of the stage sitting in comfy lawn chairs on a lawn next to a recently planted tree.

Lu hit the stage at 8:17, all smiles and waving to the audience. The black cloud arrived at the end of the first verse of the first song; she stopped the band and told them to start over. She spoke to the sound guy about her ear monitor. They made it through the song and then a false start on Buttercup brought the misery. Lu was pissed, stopped the band, yelled at Butch when he kept playing, and grossed out the sound guy. Lu said “I can’t cheat the crowd, the band is too loud, I can’t hear myself”. The sound guy suggested some monitor repair but Lu shook him off, telling him “I’m fu.ck.ed”. They resumed and survived Buttercup, after which Lu told the crowd, “Sorry I suc.k”. I hope the sound guy has a good supply of Pepto Bismol handy. I thought I might hang myself from the nearby tree if she didn’t make it through the next song but concluded the tree was not strong enough. After each song she huddled with him, making hand gestures. Not good times.

I will point out that this was a free show in the park’s summer series and a lot of the crowd were regular park goers, not Lu fans, although there were a ton of Lu fans. Not everyone was digging the start and some of the children I suspect will not be allowed to go to any concerts for a few years. After one song Lu announced “Don’t worry, I’m not going to walk off the stage”.

Onward we went while an angry Lu belted out I Lost It, aptly named, and there were no smiles or good vibes until she introduced Blake before their duo on Ugly Truth. Hot Blood was next and Lu started to get into the groove and after Real Live Bleeding fingers she was smiling and laughing, asking the crowd “Have I redeemed myself?” The answer was yes.

During Essence, at the point where Lu sings she wants to get “f.uck.ed up”, the couple in front of me exchanged frowns and by the end of the next song they were gone. After Joy Lu announced that the power of music had healed her and a raucous Honey Bee followed. Off the stage at 9:30

After the encores Lu apologized for the false starts and the show was over at 9:50.

All in all a decent show. I hope Lu either solves her sound problems or finds a peaceful way to deal with them. This was my second show where Blake was the sole guitarist. Blake seems determined to play all new guitar parts on most of the songs, which is great on one hand but if you are looking to experience one of Lu’s songs with the guitar part you remember from past performances, you are out of luck. In this deranged fan’s opinion, a few of the songs could have strayed less from the tried and true arrangements. This is not a knock on you Blake. I greatly enjoyed your playing on the Fats Domino and Gregg Allman songs.

I look forward to more So Cal shows.