By Ed Piper
Heat.
That's my lasting sensation, a day later back at home, of the Classic West we went to at Dodger Stadium the last two days.
I can still feel the heat and humidity, what with writing up here in the Inner Sanctum on the top floor of our vertical townhouse, despite its location in coastal San Diego. It's warm at the keyboard.
(Our son-in-law was so gracious to provide us with a portable air conditioning unit, and to set it up in our bedroom for sleeping beddy-bye at night. We added another unit in the family room. The rest of the house gets warm.)
When I found out about the Classic several months ago, the only cheap (we're talking $250 per seat for the two days of rock 'n' roll--the more expensive seats were twice that) pair of seats I could find near each other were on the Reserved Level down the right field line. There were no available seats together left at our price level.
Anyone who's familiar with Dodger Stadium seating, and the even-numbered sections, knows that that means beating sunshine in the daytime.
As a kid I could spend all day at the Colorado Lagoon, where our mother took us in Long Beach to swim, in the sun. Not anymore.
I'm a wimp.
So, when the Doobie Brothers opened up Saturday afternoon, Tom Johnston and Patrick Simmons playing their first guitar notes at about 5:15 p.m., I was reluctant to sit with my insistent wife in our seats (four chairs apart--row T and row U, Section 28). I was for hanging out in the tunnel, or even more, sitting temporarily down the shaded left field line, which we did earlier.
After the hour-and-15-minute set, including "China Grove", "Taking It to the Streets", and "Black Water", all sounding great with Johnston's unique, melodic voice and precision playing by the whole band, I was sweltering. It was 88 degrees, with high humidity.
We ran for the tunnel to cool off, hit the restrooms, and buy a snack. Along with the soaked back of my shirt, I noticed several other guys in the right field restroom with shirt backs equally soggy.
On Sunday, we got wiser. After a day of travel and being away from our home base, and settling into our hotel in Monterey Park 11 miles away from the stadium at midnight, we were a little tired. Dianna said she wanted to make sure she didn't suffer a problem from the heat. I was in agreement. So we mutually agreed to stay on the concourse during the latter part of Earth Wind & Fire's opening set yesterday, peeking through our tunnel at Section 28 (with Sections 24 and 22) to get periodic glimpses of the band's dance moves while we listened to the music reverberate through and over the stands.
I dodged in the restroom and laughed at how clearly I could hear every note and phrase of EWF's songs, even inside the walls of the "bano"!
With the humid conditions and all, we still had a great time. It's a rare treat to be able to hear that many good bands of our era in such a short period of time: Besides EWF and the Doobies, we were entertained by excellent playing by the Eagles, Fleetwood Mac, Journey (though without singer Steve Perry), and Steely Dan (probably the lesser of all six bands for us--and Donald Fagen was missing his cofounding partner Walter Becker).
Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac was flat and not sharp in her singing--now 69 years old--and Christine McVie, a personal favorite of mine with a beautiful voice, didn't sound great with the sound system. Outside of those, we were impressed at the quality of each band's performance as far as instruments and vocals.
Monday, July 17, 2017
Classic West
By Ed Piper
Attending the Classic West with my wife featuring the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac the last two days (July 15-16, 2017) is the occasion for starting this blog.
I'm surprised I didn't begin recording my comments and observations about music concerts earlier.
My wife Dianna told her sister-in-law this morning that she enjoyed the event, so that makes the whole experience a lot more pleasureable--when you can do something together and both enjoy it.
The two evenings/nights at Dodger Stadium--where I first went when I was eight years old, meeting my grandfather Merle for my first Dodger game--were hot and humid. But, sweating with all the other 60,000 or so in attendance, I enjoyed singing along to Eagles' songs, which kind of surprised me, as well as Fleetwood Mac favorites.
We had never been to a giant music "festival" like this before, either individually or collectively. So we didn't really know what to expect.
I'm glad we were safe, and despite the heat, we made it through what turns out to be a long weekend without major incident.
Dianna's favorite, she said, was the Doobie Brothers, who opened the concert Saturday at 5:15 p.m. (scheduled start was 5 p.m., so that's pretty good) with "Jesus is Just Alright". Before the event, when we were listening to music on Dianna's car CD player on the three-hour drive up from San Diego that morning, we debated whether the group would play this overtly Christian song.
So we were delighted that they did, and right off the bat.
"They're fun," Dianna told me and Katy, our sister-in-law, about her enjoying the Doobies' songs.
For me, seeing Fleetwood Mac Sunday as the event closer (they played from 9 p.m. to just before 11 p.m., ending with a big fireworks display behind right field) was probably the connector. I had enjoyed "You Can Go Your Own Way" and "I'm Over My Head" and other songs back in 1976 and 1977 with good friend Will Seaver and others while living in Santa Barbara.
Christine McVie, who is Fleetwood Mac's keyboardist and who has a sweet voice and touching songs, performed with the band. She doesn't often do that. While the rest of the group toured the last several years, she has preferred to stay off the road most of the time.
I think part of the impetus for her coming back was that she is presently touring with fellow band member Lindsey Buckingham to promote their new album. She also commented in a story I found online, "We don't know about the future" regarding her ex-husband, John McVie, who is the group's bassist. Unbeknown to me, John is in remission from cancer, and even his ex is looking out for him.
I surprised myself by singing along to many of the Eagles' hits the night before--Saturday they played two hours and 20 minutes, which was a delight for me--8:45 to about 11:10 p.m. or so. Standing in the tunnel up top of Dodger Stadium, due to the hassle of getting in and out of my seat in the middle of my row on Reserved Level, I found myself singing along to "Peaceful Easy Feeling", "Desperado" (the closing song), and many others.
That reminded me of all the years and years as a young person, in my late teens and 20's, that I spent "listening to the music" (in the words of the Doobies song) and enjoying Eagles songs.
Yes, there were facts like this being the first Eagles concert since Glenn Frey died in January 2016, and his 24-year-old son Deacon Frey playing and singing his songs in his place. Vince Gill, an accomplished and well-known country performer, also filled in the Eagles' lineup. But these weren't major parts of the experience, I wouldn't say.
What kind of stumped me, though he performed expertly, was Korean Arnel Pineda singing in place of Steve Perry for Journey, which he has been doing for a couple of years. Steve Perry's scratchy voice is so much a part of Journey's music, that not having him there is kind of like watching a partial tribute band, the kind of band I have never been to see.
Attending the Classic West with my wife featuring the Eagles and Fleetwood Mac the last two days (July 15-16, 2017) is the occasion for starting this blog.
I'm surprised I didn't begin recording my comments and observations about music concerts earlier.
My wife Dianna told her sister-in-law this morning that she enjoyed the event, so that makes the whole experience a lot more pleasureable--when you can do something together and both enjoy it.
The two evenings/nights at Dodger Stadium--where I first went when I was eight years old, meeting my grandfather Merle for my first Dodger game--were hot and humid. But, sweating with all the other 60,000 or so in attendance, I enjoyed singing along to Eagles' songs, which kind of surprised me, as well as Fleetwood Mac favorites.
We had never been to a giant music "festival" like this before, either individually or collectively. So we didn't really know what to expect.
I'm glad we were safe, and despite the heat, we made it through what turns out to be a long weekend without major incident.
Dianna's favorite, she said, was the Doobie Brothers, who opened the concert Saturday at 5:15 p.m. (scheduled start was 5 p.m., so that's pretty good) with "Jesus is Just Alright". Before the event, when we were listening to music on Dianna's car CD player on the three-hour drive up from San Diego that morning, we debated whether the group would play this overtly Christian song.
So we were delighted that they did, and right off the bat.
"They're fun," Dianna told me and Katy, our sister-in-law, about her enjoying the Doobies' songs.
For me, seeing Fleetwood Mac Sunday as the event closer (they played from 9 p.m. to just before 11 p.m., ending with a big fireworks display behind right field) was probably the connector. I had enjoyed "You Can Go Your Own Way" and "I'm Over My Head" and other songs back in 1976 and 1977 with good friend Will Seaver and others while living in Santa Barbara.
Christine McVie, who is Fleetwood Mac's keyboardist and who has a sweet voice and touching songs, performed with the band. She doesn't often do that. While the rest of the group toured the last several years, she has preferred to stay off the road most of the time.
I think part of the impetus for her coming back was that she is presently touring with fellow band member Lindsey Buckingham to promote their new album. She also commented in a story I found online, "We don't know about the future" regarding her ex-husband, John McVie, who is the group's bassist. Unbeknown to me, John is in remission from cancer, and even his ex is looking out for him.
I surprised myself by singing along to many of the Eagles' hits the night before--Saturday they played two hours and 20 minutes, which was a delight for me--8:45 to about 11:10 p.m. or so. Standing in the tunnel up top of Dodger Stadium, due to the hassle of getting in and out of my seat in the middle of my row on Reserved Level, I found myself singing along to "Peaceful Easy Feeling", "Desperado" (the closing song), and many others.
That reminded me of all the years and years as a young person, in my late teens and 20's, that I spent "listening to the music" (in the words of the Doobies song) and enjoying Eagles songs.
Yes, there were facts like this being the first Eagles concert since Glenn Frey died in January 2016, and his 24-year-old son Deacon Frey playing and singing his songs in his place. Vince Gill, an accomplished and well-known country performer, also filled in the Eagles' lineup. But these weren't major parts of the experience, I wouldn't say.
What kind of stumped me, though he performed expertly, was Korean Arnel Pineda singing in place of Steve Perry for Journey, which he has been doing for a couple of years. Steve Perry's scratchy voice is so much a part of Journey's music, that not having him there is kind of like watching a partial tribute band, the kind of band I have never been to see.
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