Since we now have our feet firmly planted in 2011 I figured it's time for me to get moving with this blog again! I've been such a slacker! I never gave you guys a review of the December shows I went to. How rude of me!?!
In early December I was fortunate enough to attend Hall & Oates shows in Atlantic City and New York. Both shows were fab but my favorite of the two was definitely NYC! The Beacon Theater is a gorgeous venue which was fully renovated only a few years back.
As Jimmy and I were driving in from Atlantic City we planned to meet a friend at a nearby restaurant called Citrus located at the corner of Amsterdam and 75th. The drinks were fabulous; we opted for a carafe of frozen margarita's flavored with fresh strawberry puree. Yum! Our entrees were just as delicious. My friend and I opted for the pork chop, Jimmy went with the duck. Great flavors for sure!! And yes, OF COURSE we had dessert! If you are ever in the area before a show I highly recommend popping into Citrus for dinner or even just for before-show drinks. Well worth the visit!
I should mention that before dinner we met at Starbucks for a warming cup of coffee and chatted with other fans that were in and out all afternoon. After thawing out sufficiently we took a walk to the rear of the theater as we could hear the band practicing during soundcheck. We heard a few songs including Method of Modern Love...I was really hopeful we'd hear it during the show...but no such luck. Oh well, maybe next time!
After dinner we walked a short city block to the front of the theater. There we were treated with the sight of the marquee lit up with Daryl & John's names in bright lights. The excitement really set in at that point! We thought it was too early to go in and decided to head to the stage door to cheer Daryl & John on their way in. At the door we met up with tour manager, Rick Rosabella. We told him that we were just there to cheer for Daryl and John on their way in and we weren't waiting for autographs, pictures etc. He seemed happy about that....one less thing for him to deal with I suppose. Apparently, John was already inside...nice & early as always. A short time later Mr. Hall arrived with the family. There was only one other person there to cheer him on. We got a big smile and a "Hey guys!" as he quickly strolled into the large brick building through the steel doors.
Now we were really pumped!! Time to go in and check out the merch, grab a drink and get our seats! This was actually one of the best merch set-ups I had ever seen. Manned by about 3-4 theater employees...it was great! The bartenders were awesome, too! So awesome, in fact, that she talked my pal and I into a DOUBLE rum & coke! Dangerous! But, delicious! We had to wait about 15 minutes or so before we could get into the theater...that was ok though because we just kept running into bunches of fellow H&O fans that we knew! I love that!!
15 minutes later we are finally being let in! There are our seats! Center section...2nd row from the stage! Fabulous! The only complaint that I have was that the the mics, instruments, etc were set really far back from the edge of the stage. It was a strange set-up; I've never seen them that far back from the front row. Because of that, when we sat down it basically cut off half of their bodies. Not the best way to see a show.
The set list was short, but I kind of expected that. It was a treat, however, to get 3 Christmas songs for the final encore!! The band did a great job with those!! The band sounded great for the entire weekend actually. They were missing a member though. Zev Katz (bassist) had already committed to performing at the taping of the Kennedy Center Honors show that weekend. To my great pleasure, Klyde Jones (Average White Band) sat in for him! He has a killer stage presence! Such a treat!! Here is the set list:
Maneater
Family Man
Out of Touch
Say It Isn't So
Las Vegas Turnaround (The Stewardess Song)
She's Gone
Sara Smile
Do What You Want, Be What You Are
I Can't Go For That (No Can Do)
Encore
Rich Girl
Kiss on My List
You Make My Dreams
Encore 2
Christmas Must Be Tonight
It Came Upon a Midnight Clear
Jingle Bell Rock
During the show, before one of the songs, Daryl's step-son, Orson, brought him his guitar. I thought it was so sweet. I tried to get a picture but I had a jumper in front of me. If someone out there got one, let me know! I'd love to see it!
After the show, we skedaddled to the stage door in hopes of getting my pal a picture with Daryl or John. First out was John along with his wife Aimee. To our surprise he stopped right away to take a pic! Yea!! Thanks John!! Next out was Daryl along with his family. He smiled and waved at everyone but got right into the vehicle without stopping. I have to assume it's because they were with him....and I can totally understand that. There was so much cheering and screaming for him....he had a HUGE smile on his face. It was awesome!
We left the car in the parking garage next door. After the show it was swamped with people so we decided to wait before jamming in there. You never know who you are gonna run into! We chatted with some fellow fans and H&O staffers. Once the parking garage had cleared out sufficiently we decided to go and get the car. Even though we had held off we still waited for over 30 minutes for the car! But it worked out great because I was able to get this great pic with Paul Pesco! Merry Christmas to me!!
With Daryl Hall's fifth solo album coming this Spring (are we there yet?), I thought it might be nice to take a look back at some of the media attention he received back in 1986. News outlets were reporting that Hall & Oates had broken up but in actuality a decision was made to put H&O on hold so that both Daryl and John could pursue their own interests. John shifted into production and a number of other activities and Daryl set out to release his second solo effort cryptically titled "Three Hearts In The Happy Ending Machine". 
As Jimmy and I were driving in from Atlantic City we planned to meet a friend at a nearby restaurant called Citrus located at the corner of Amsterdam and 75th. The drinks were fabulous; we opted for a carafe of frozen margarita's flavored with fresh strawberry puree. Yum! Our entrees were just as delicious. My friend and I opted for the pork chop, Jimmy went with the duck. Great flavors for sure!! And yes, OF COURSE we had dessert! If you are ever in the area before a show I highly recommend popping into Citrus for dinner or even just for before-show drinks. Well worth the visit!
After dinner we walked a short city block to the front of the theater. There we were treated with the sight of the marquee lit up with Daryl & John's names in bright lights. The excitement really set in at that point! We thought it was too early to go in and decided to head to the stage door to cheer Daryl & John on their way in. At the door we met up with tour manager, Rick Rosabella. We told him that we were just there to cheer for Daryl and John on their way in and we weren't waiting for autographs, pictures etc. He seemed happy about that....one less thing for him to deal with I suppose. Apparently, John was already inside...nice & early as always. A short time later Mr. Hall arrived with the family. There was only one other person there to cheer him on. We got a big smile and a "Hey guys!" as he quickly strolled into the large brick building through the steel doors. 
15 minutes later we are finally being let in! There are our seats! Center section...2nd row from the stage! Fabulous! The only complaint that I have was that the the mics, instruments, etc were set really far back from the edge of the stage. It was a strange set-up; I've never seen them that far back from the front row. Because of that, when we sat down it basically cut off half of their bodies. Not the best way to see a show. 
The set list was short, but I kind of expected that. It was a treat, however, to get 3 Christmas songs for the final encore!! The band did a great job with those!! The band sounded great for the entire weekend actually. They were missing a member though. Zev Katz (bassist) had already committed to performing at the taping of the Kennedy Center Honors show that weekend. To my great pleasure, Klyde Jones (Average White Band) sat in for him! He has a killer stage presence! Such a treat!! 
