Welcome to my Kill to Get Crimson 2008 tour blog!

My name is Isaac, 30 years old from Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. I have set this blog up for the purpose of documenting the journey I am taking following Mark Knopfler’s Kill to Get Crimson tour in North America, in the summer of 2008.

The North American leg of the tour, as well as my journey, begins June 24th in Morrison, Colorado and ends on July 31st in Miami Beach, Florida.

Even though I intend to write on a daily basis, publishing the stories onto the server would be tricky. After all, we’re talking about vast distances which will be primarily crossed by driving, and there is no way for me to predict the availability of Internet connection throughout the way.

So… make yourself at home and feel free to drop a comment.

Yours,

Isaac

Saturday, June 28, 2008

Los Angeles, The Greek Theatre

OK guys. Let me first outline one thing here. The concert today, in the Greek Theatre in Los Angeles, was the greatest concert in the tour so far.

Red Rocks had the beautiful venue and the great sound; Abravanel Hall had a lot of beauty in it, wonderful crowd and awesome sound; Las Vegas had an awesome performance of Telegraph Road; but the concert in L.A had one thing that all previous concerts didn’t have. And that thing is actually a person, responding to the name “John McCusker”.

To all the people that been to the previous shows: think about the band for a second, the interaction between them, how they complement each other, the synergy between them. Got the picture? good. Now multiply it by a thousand, and you get what we had today with John McCusker on stage.

The previous shows were great, fantastic. But with John today, the show was beyond great and fantastic. It became phenomenal. It became a serious kick in the b**t. Many times during the concert I had to return my jaw to an upright position, the apex being the absolutely amazing performance of Marbletown. I will have to admit and will not refrain: today’s performance of Marbletown was the first live performance of any song, ever, that made me shed a tear because it was so wonderfully crafted.

My assigned seat wasn’t very good; 6th row, the very last seat to the right. Then Linda came to the rescue! she and her son were positioned in the second row (in the pit). Her son agreed to switch places with me, and so I found myself sitting next to Linda at the second row.

Linda—THANK YOU!

The venue itself is very nice. Trees all around, clear sky, perfect lighting. And the sound... wow!

The opening act, Jesca Hoop, now playing in her home state, performed really well. Today she was accompanied by two backup singers who did a wonderful job (except for that caugh, but hey, we’re all people). I decided today to attempt to approach Jesca and ask her if she would be interested in playing together at some time. Problem is, that she always promises to “be there in the intermission between the two shows so if you want to say hi then you’re welcome”, but she’s never really there.

Then the band came. What a warm welcome! I bet that after the Vegas experience, the band was really happy to find a milder crowd. They enjoyed the crowd so much, that Mark, at the end of the concert, actually shook hands with people in the front row. Very unusual; I’ve never seen him doing that in any concert I attended so far.

So, where was I. Oh, John McCusker. Yes. Finally got his Visa papers straight, and boys / girls, can that guy play! It was nothing short of amazing.

The set list was identical to the one in Salt Lake City. Great performance of “Going Home” as the last encore.

I wanted to write some more about my experiences in Los Angeles itself, prior to the show; but I’m very tired now and I’m facing a very long drive tomorrow to Berkeley, so I’ll have to call it a night. I will post more tomorrow.

--
Isaac

6 comments:

Anonymous said...

Issac, I was there and so glad I was. I am so envious that you have the ability to go to most of the concerts this summer. How is that possible? Are you independently wealthy? I have a daughter your age, (smile) J/K..
anyway, please keep us posted on your journey.

Anonymous said...

What do you do for a living if you have this much time to devout to a whole tour? I will be in the six row in the pit, on the aisle for the Berkeley show, should be great.

Hophead said...

Great to hear that John's visa problems had been cleared up. Kind of odd that he would have toured all over Europe without it coming up...but I'm glad that he will be onstage when I see them play. Many thanks Isaac for keeping the rest of us informed!

Anonymous said...

Sounds like you are having a great time....enjoy your comments.

mjw

Anonymous said...

esg, no worries about having a daughter my age. It's not offensive. Lots of people have daughters my age and I'm perfectly fine with that. :-)

For information about my financial status and what I do for a living, refer to the new FAQ entry I posted a few minutes ago.


Cheers


--
Isaac

Anonymous said...

Issac, you are very cool..see you sometime at the next LA area tour...