Ridiculous  ( dec 13/ 14 2007)

My plans were to come to the show after our gig which ended at 7pm.  We (SLAP) ended up eating dinner @ Fatcats after the gig , and the 3 of us then went to Hoople’s. Arrived around 9:40.

The place was PACKED. Allegedly they had a Christmas party @ hooples before the show and a LOT of people were staying for GS. Fortunately Dom was up front, so me, Mike & John were able to find room there. Earlier in the day, my mom sang “Way back when in ‘67” and asked me if that was a Steely Dan song. I said it was, and asked why. She answered that me saying “way back when” triggered it in her head. I thought, “whatever…”

Scully & Paul had a long talk prior to GS taking the stage around 10pm. He finally started PLAYING around 10:15. He DID NOT STOP PLAYING until midnight!!!

Mind you, this 95 minute 1st set was chock full of 12 bar blues tunes. The kind of stuff that bores me to tears. HOWEVER, this night was different. Glenn attacked EVERY SINGLE NOTE like he was fighting for his life. It was the freaking blitzkrieg. It was perhaps the most intense 1st set that I’ve ever witnessed.  Chorus after chorus, the power surging stronger & stronger, louder & louder, more electric, more to the root. It was a truly beautiful set. The band played hard, loud and intensely. I have NEVER seen a group play with such energy for 90 minutes straight in my life (unless, of course, I’m forgetting an GS set of years gone by..).

After this mind blowing set, it was break time. At this point I realized most heads were present: me, dom, blanco, sam, steve from buffalo, etc.. It was a truly special night. It was just about this time when I told Blanco about my mom’s steely dan thing, which seemed to be completely trivial.  More conversation…we talked about how ridiculous the 1st set was. EVERYONE was happy.  Just before GS took the stage for set II, “Hey 19” by Steely Dan came on. At this point, the writer usually says “It all made sense…”  Well, for me, very little of it made sense, but I was grateful to be who I was & where I was with the people I was with.

2nd set began with a nice slow Fear & Doom. It was creamy & heavy. Just what we needed after 90 minutes of the blues. After about 20 minutes (maybe less?) the band took a short break.

3rd set began with “Stepping into the Sunshine.” This was quite a treat. Man did it sound nice. Pete showed up just before this and the circle was complete. As GS sang the song, he changed the lyrics up quite a bit and referred to people as “plastic” and talked how they’d be shocked when it all came crashing down.

It was great until a couple of guys up front caught GS’s eye and bantered back and forth with him. Fortunately Herb got in their face (as did many others in the front) and these jokers realized it was time to leave. On their way out, Steve from Buffalo wanted to go after them, but fortunately restrained himself.   By then, it was near 1 am, and GS was irritated with people and had little left in terms of positive energy. Hence, the show was over.

A great 1st set, with abbreviated 2nd & 3rd sets, but a STELLAR night. Glenn, Paul, Gene, Mike, Scully, Dom, Neal, Blanco, Steve, Sam, Natalie, Jenna, Gus, Greg and of course Herb, all made for a magic set. It was all worth it.

As far as “Hey 19” goes, I still  haven’t got a clue.

Cya,

TZ