Wednesday, September 11, 2013

Las Vegas Turnaround 2013...the final mission!!

The Nirvana Pool...peaceful palms and sand.
Saturday...the day of the second show.  I think we were all exhausted from the night before.  Most of the crew hit the pools at the Hard Rock Hotel.  I really enjoyed the Nirvana Pool on the HRH Tower side of the resort.  Lovely loungers were placed along the zero-entry sand bottomed pool.  Palm trees gave the illusion of being on an island paradise.
Daryl on keys.



Our paradise couldn't be allowed to last the entire day, however!  We needed to ready ourselves for the Hall & Oates concert as well as Eliot Lewis' performance at Vinyl Las Vegas.  Strangely enough the security folks allowed cameras in without issue!  And I did manage to take some cool shots once I got to the stage for the encore.  In case anyone has forgotten, I've added a pic of the set list from night two down below.  It was a normal greatest hits set, wish they would have mixed it up a little bit more.

John Oates


The show ended in a frenzy and the crowd loved it!!  And we weren't done yet!  We all bolted over to Vinyl to grab seats for Eliot's show.  Having seen last night's performance and turnout we knew the place would be packed!!  Thanks to Dawna, always looking out for the fans, we were able to get some great front row seats.  Perfect for taking some shots of Eliot and his special guests.  

Eliot Lewis & Klyde Jones








Mr. Lewis reached the stage and the place went wild.  It was a show filled with one great tune after another.  If you haven't done so already, I highly recommend picking up his latest album called Enjoy The Ride.  Once again tonight, Klyde Jones and Porter Carroll Jr joined Eliot for Walk on By and Sara Smile respectively.  The crowd was thrilled and brought to their feet on many occasion throughout the 90 minute set.  After the show Eliot kindly signed autographs and posed for pictures as did other members of the Hall & Oates band and crew.  It was a great time for everyone and no one really wanted to leave.
Kerri & Frank - dueling hair.

A few of us ended up at Mr. Lucky's 24/7 for a late nigh snack.  Specials for the evening included shots named after Hall & Oates songs.  Way cute!!  As we sat and noshed we began to plan for the AM and what our plan of action might be.  You see, our lovely friend Carol came all the way from Australia to see these shows and hang out with all of her H&O pals.  Two years ago Carol met John in an airport back home in Australia.  She narrowly missed meeting Daryl and was heartbroken.  So we were determined to make it happen for her.

Check out those drinks!
So here we were bright and early on Sunday morning.  We had in on good authority that THE BIG MAN would be traveling on the bus to the next gig.  So we grabbed our coffee and found the bus.  Of course we were excited but at the same time nervous we would miss him and all would be for naught.  As we stood under the porte-cochere near the bus all the fellas said goodbye as the boarded.  Eliot blew us kisses from the steps of the bus.  Then moments later the bus began to PULL AWAY.  Wait, what???  It's leaving?  How did we miss him?  How did this happen?  



Jimmy, being antsy in nature, started to walk down the
Carol and Daryl!
block a little bit...just in case they were going to pick him up at the HRH Tower entrance.  Sure enough, there was the bus!  Parked and waiting!  Jimmy to us frantically!  Off the rest of us went running down the sidewalk in 105 degree heat!  I haven't moved that fast in years!  It was a sight to see indeed!!  Phew...made it to the bus with time to spare.  


After a few moments he appeared with his iced coffee in hand.  He was wearing his ever present shades, flip flops, shorts, and a button down shirt sleeve shirt.  He met us with a friendly "Hi, guys!".  I truly felt that he was happy to see us.  He asked us all how we were doing and Carol was able to tell her story about being there in Vegas all the way from Australia.  He gladly chatted and took pictures with us.  Once we said our goodbyes off he went onto the bus.  I am pretty sure Carol shrieked with delight.  I was so very happy for her!  After being a fan for 30 years she was finally able to meet Daryl!  We were all on cloud nine for the rest of the day.  It was certainly an amazing morning!  And another wonderful Hall & Oates trip for the memory books. 

Set list - August 3, 2013 - The Joint Las Vegas, NV