Okay�lets see if this will get finished before some freaking key stroke deletes everything.
Yes, Dave and they guys were to die for. But in order to get to the point to talk about Dave, we have to discuss the start of the day first. As you might recall from a previous entry, Chris picked me up later than what was originally planned. Which wasn�t to big of a deal, I could have stayed in bed longer, had I known. So we mosey our way down to Detriot, and stop at Boston Market for lunch, which was okay.
After some bad direction reading, done by me, we finally made it to The Henry Ford. I swear, I do know how to read a map, we just got turned around because there was a sign that said �Henry Ford� in the opposite direction of what my directions said.
We wandered around, and made it back to the exhibit. Freaking cool as hell! Marilyn Manson had his Lincoln Continental there, with the bad-ass disco ball like skull as the hood ornament. There was also Madonna Continental from the Grammys that was cut into three pieces, and had what looked like funky holographic stickers all over it. There were three vehicles we couldn�t take pics of, Jon Bon Jovi�s Harley, and Billy Gibbons �Cadzilla� and "Hogzilla". But if you go here, you can go through the cars and see them. You can even watch the Madonna video that features the car, and get a somewhat better view of the �paint job�.
After we finished there, we wandered around the rest of the museum and saw lots of cool things. Lots of cars, of course, but a really cool exhibit on flying, and some great airplanes. The steam engine exhibit was amazing. The sizes of some of those things are just awe inspiring!
I had told Chris that I wanted to be on the road at 4, since we didn�t know what traffic was going to be like. Well, in two words, it sucked! It was basically bumper to bumper the whole way out of Detriot. And then there is the �the gas light has come on so we need to find some gas� debacle, which really tested my patience and the restraint it took to not strangle Chris.
But alas, we finally made there, with time to spare! We had lawn seats, and were able to get at the top of the hill, center stage. There were also three giant projection screen TV�s on top of the pavillion too. The opening act, Peter Yorn, plays, but I don�t recognize anything by him. As he�s playing, off in the distance we see thunderheads moving in. I think the group of people that were sitting around, we were all thinking that it wasn�t really coming our way. But we were wrong.
After Peter got done, they started to change the stage around, and it was getting dark and dark, with flashes of lightening and rumbles of thunder. Dave came out at one point and said that they had been watching the weather, it was supposed to be a short storm, and they were told they could play past the curfew. He invited everyone who could, seek shelter under the pavillion and the rest of us to go back to our cars, or at least get off the hill. Now the rain had started, the wind was whipping things around, and Chris had gone to get us some rain ponchos.
It was about 20 minutes later, a guy comes out and says they were going to be starting in 10, and asked everyone who didn�t belong in the pavillion to make their way back to the lawn. Finally the lights went off, and the crowd started screaming and clapping, yelling for Dave. Carter walks out and gets behinds his drums, and there�s yelling. LeRoi and Boyd come out and head over to their instruments, and there�s even more yelling. Stefan comes out and grabs his bass guitar from its stand, and the yelling is even louder. And then Dave comes out, and you couldn�t hear yourself think, the noise was deafening. They started off with Too Much, and it just got better from there. They played for 2.5 hours, and it was the second best night of my life. They played a couple of new songs, and Chris said he heard Dave say they are from an upcoming album, but I didn�t hear that myself. I was pretty happy in that they played Jimi Thing, which is one of my all time favorite Dave songs. They did mix it up pretty good too, not a whole of of sameness from when we saw them in Detriot 2 years ago.
When it was over, traffic out wasn�t to bad. We were lucky in the fact that we were facing the exit of the grounds, and we were only three rows in. So it was a quick zip here and then there, and boom, we were on the road home.
Sort of.
They didn�t have the 75 North exit marked, so we missed it. Chris got in the southbound lane, and we were just going to do a loop around at the next exit. Which was a mistake, because he saw a Big Boy Restaurant, and wanted food. Frankly I would have been happy for a cheeseburger from Mickie D�s, but no such luck. We go in, get some slim jims, which really are the bomb and hit the spot, and then out the door in 40 minutes to get back on the road, right?
Oh hell no. Now see, this is one of the things that drives me nuts about Chris. He had taken some extra clothes with him, which was a Kid Rock T-shirt that he wanted to wear to the concert. ( Oh hell no you�re not! ) Instead of taking said extra clothes into the restaurant and changing in the bathroom, he decides he�s going to change in the damn parking lot of the Big Boy!! What the hell? So now we are another 10 minutes later leaving.
We didn�t get to my house until just before 2am. I just wanted to crawl into bed, and that�s exactly what I did.
So that was my day with Dave and the boys. Lovely as always, and getting better and better with each show.