HoagieNation Here We Come!!!!

Well, we are going to try to make it that's for sure.  What an exciting day in Hall & Oates land!  Fans learned today that Daryl & John will host their very first music festival in Philadelphia, PA at Festival Pier at Penn Landing.  The aptly-Daryl-named, HoagieNation Festival:  A Celebration of Everything Philly, will roll into town on Saturday, May 27th.

Accompanying the all-time best-selling duo are Tears for Fears, Allen Stone, G Love & Special Sauce, Marah, Vivian Green, Son Little, Kandace Springs, and others to be named as the event nears.  

Tickets go on sale to the public on Friday March 17th at noon.  There is also a Daryl Hall & John Oates Fan Club (AAC) pre-sale which will take place for members on Monday March 13th.  

I've combined a list of links to some useful pages and fun interviews regarding the Festival below:

HoagieNation.com

LiveNation Press Release

HoagieNation on Ticketmaster

HoagieNation on Twitter

CBS Philly

So I'll see you all at HoagieNation!!!!!!

Daryl & John Do It For Love in Atlantic City!

This was the final show for Jim and I on this tour.  Bittersweet for sure.  We drove down to Atlantic City the day before.  No incidents as far as traffic was concerned which is always a plus.  Upon arrival, first thing's first...check in.  It seems that everyone else in Atlantic City had the same idea!  Jim hopped in the huge line...luckily is moved quickly and we were off to our room.  We had a relaxing afternoon, a nice dinner, and a lovely stroll on the boardwalk.

The band hadn't made it to the hotel yet for good reason. They were thrilling the fans in Virginia at the Wolf Trap.  I knew they'd be driving up to A.C. after the show that night so we'd get to see the guys in the AM hopefully.  Sure enough we did see them throughout the day on Friday before the show.  I finally got the chance to meet Shane.  Super nice guy!  Shared a few H&O anecdotes with him that he found quite funny.  Great conversation with the guys throughout the next couple days.  I love those moments.

OK, time for the show!  Ascending the escalator to the Event Center we spotted some friends!  We chatted for a bit outside the concert space and took a few glances at merchandise...nothing new.  Rats!  We then headed in to find our seats.  Easy enough.  Jimmy then went to ask security about cameras, etc.  He's found through the years that this is the best way to handle things.  Talk to them, build a rapport...really, it works.  He has Borgata security friends!  Hilarious!  So, the word was cameras were OK as long as flash and video settings were not used.  And of course no pro-cameras allowed.  Easy peasy.  I noticed throughout the show that there was one guard that actually patrolled the aisles looking for video takers.  It seemed to be his only task.  Actually made sense to me as the guards in the front didn't have to leave their posts.  From a fan's viewpoint it was lousy....from a security standpoint it was smart.


As usual the show started with Maneater and Out of Touch.  Then all of a sudden I felt like I was in a dream!  Well, maybe it wasn't that dramatic.  I heard "Do It For Love" come out of Daryl's mouth and I was flabbergasted!  I looked at Jimmy and we both stood and cheered!  They played it perfectly...didn't miss a beat.  It was awesome!  To my surprise the next song was another semi-deep cut, "Did It In A Minute" followed by "Back Together Again".  I was a happy girl.  Whatever came next was icing on the cake!

The remainder of the set and the encores were standard...the hits.  The encores came and a number of folks rushed the stage.  Jim and I were stuck in the middle of a row.  Jim being Jim, he decided to move chairs out of the way and stack them on top on one another.  It worked.  Up we went! They finished off the show with "Private Eyes" and the crowd was more than satisfied!  After the cheering and clapping ended Jim snagged a setlist and off we went to the merch table to meet up with Eliot.  The lousy thing about the Borgata is that they try to move the crowd out right after the show ends.  So there isn't much time for chat, or pictures, buying tees or CDs, etc.  Eliot did have time to take some pics and sign CDs for some fans which I was happy about.  It had actually been 6 years since Eliot and I had taken a picture together...we had to have a new one for sure!


As the crowd was now descending into the casino via the escalator Jimmy spotted a celebrity!  It was none other than Philly native ?uestlove (Questlove).  Of course Jim had to get a pic so he ran over to him.  You could tell that he was trying to keep a love profile but was quite obliging and honored our request.  Very nice guy!  Glad we were able to meet him.  It was a great ending to a great show!

Have I Been Away....?

Wow!  It's been forever since I've touched this blog with actual commentary.  Someone suggested that I get on here and write something up.  "Push publish", they said.  So here I am and I've done just that.  A few weeks ago Jim and I were able to attend 3 Hall & Oates shows.  We enjoyed ourselves so much!  The shows we were able to get to were Boston's BlueHills Bank Pavillion on June 12th, Wallingford, CT's Oakdale Theater on June 13th, and Atlantic City's Borgata Hotel & Casino on June 20th.  We enjoyed each show very much and got to spend time with some fellow fans!  Always a good time!

Boston was first up.  We arrived in town at about 6PM and secured a parking spot directly across from the venue.  So close we could hear soundcheck.  We heard the fellas playing "Crazy Eyes" and "Every Time You Go Away".  Kind of a neat little perk.  A quick dinner was had at Jerry Remy's bar about a block from the Pavillion.  Nothing too outstanding or memorable. After that it was off to wait in line to enter the huge white tent.

First stop, as always, MERCH!  And surprise there were 2 new items!  So exciting.  The first

item was an 11x18 poster featuring the "Live at The Apollo" show from 1985.  An unsigned version was offered for $10 and the signed (by both Daryl & John) version was available for

$20.  A great price in my opinion.  This poster would look great matted and framed!  Definitely running out of room on the walls here!  There was also a poster advertising John Oates new EP
"Good Road to Follow" (which is quite enjoyable I might add!).  This poster was of the same size as the Apollo poster and was also signed by John.  From what I understand John's posters have been available at his solo shows but they were new for the Hall & Oates shows.


The show itself was great.  The Boston crowd ate it all up...singing along and dancing.  I also saw at least 2 undergarments throw on stage in Daryl's direction.  Hadn't seen that in a while!  I enjoyed the setlist.  Although one I've heard many times I was glad to hear the relatively new addition of Alone Too Long.  What a great song!  It's a perfect change up.  This was also my first time seeing (and hearing) the band's brand spankin' new Lead Guitarist and Music Director, Shane Theriot.  Well, call me very impressed!  A well done and solid outing in my estimation.  Check out Shane's music here...I think you'll like it!!!

After our 105 minutes of bliss the show ended and we were off.  As we walked to the car we noticed the tour bus coming from the rear of the Pavillion.  I had heard from a little birdie that the "bosses" were on the bus tonight!  Sure enough I could see Daryl through the windsheild.  John was in the middle

of the bus and could barely be seen through the tinted glass.  Oh, and did I mention the guys had a police escort for the bus?!  Too funny!  It was nice to see so many fans along the sidewalk cheering for the fellas as they drove off.  The night ended but, fear not!!  We need some sleep because we've got a show in less than 24 hours!

Oh wait....what's that you say?  You want to see pictures of the show?!  Please forgive me, it just completely slipped my mind.  Just kidding!  I know you want them!  Here you go!

Live in JAPAN!!!! Part 1



John Oates - Big Bam Boom Tour

2011 is bringing along with it some great news for Japanese Hall & Oates fans!  Daryl & John will be heading to Japan for a 5 date tour at the beginning of the year.  They'll be making stops in Osaka, Aichi and Tokyo after a 5 year absence.  Although John has had solo gigs in Japan as recently as 2009 it's obviously been quite some time since the fellas have performed there as a duo. 

Japanese die-hard fans are already chomping at the bit for the opportunity to purchase tickets to these shows.  Daryl & John have long been a popular band in Japan.  Their introduction to this country and it's pop-loving culture was via a 5-date tour in February of 1980.  Hall & Oates travelled to the east numerous times in the 1980's including a 7-date tour in 1982, a 9-date tour in 1984, 8 dates in 1985 and perhaps most well known, the 9-date ooh yeah! tour in 1988.  The band continued to tour there through the 90's and early 2000's.  Both Daryl and John have toured there numerous times on a solo basis as well.  



Tour book from the 1980 Japan Tour.

 One of H&O's frequently played venues happens to be the Nippon Budokan Arena, better known more simply as "Budokan".  This arena is located in the center of Tokyo and was originally built in the 1960's for use in the 1964 Summer Olympics. I should also mention that in 1966 the Beatles were the first music act/concert to appear at this arena.   

Back to the 80's...Daryl and John spent a slew of time there and also appeared in countless Japanese magazines and television specials.  They were on the cover of the popular Music Life magazine 3 times and were featured in many issues.  United States magazines typically used official press photos and tended to recycle the same images over and over.  The photo spreads found in these Japanese magazines are unparalleled.  You seriously can't find anything even remotely close to this in the US.   



A Day With Hall & Oates



One interesting spread published by Music Life was entitled "A Day With Hall & Oates".  It featured numerous photos and comments from the band backstage prior to one of the gigs while on the Big Bam Boom tour.  The pictorial gives fans a rare glimpse as to what happened behind the scenes back in those days.  Of course, these pics were taken prior to the concert....there really is no telling what went on after the show!  Even still....these types of shots are not even remotely like anything ever printed in the US....at least not that I have found. 

The photos show band members chatting before the show, John Oates stretches and checks his appearance in the mirror, and Daryl sips on a beverage while relaxing on the sofa.  Check out Daryl's perfectly coiffed hair, Charlie De Chant's wild suit and John's painted-on leather pants! 



John & GE check out an acoustic guitar.









Daryl signs autographs as John checks
himself out in the mirror.