The bus ride up to Seattle was fun. Before we left Portland the bus drove to Whole Foods and everyone hopped out of the bus and ran in to grab groceries for the drive. I was feeling a little giddy… Am I really grocery shopping with the Go-Go’s?? *laugh*
Everyone got settled on the bus and while I had everyone in one room I decided to hand out some goodies. I brought everyone a Canadiana Chocolate bar and because it was Belinda’s birthday in a few days I gave her a few extra goodies. A tin of Yum Yum Sore Throat Tea because her voice had been giving her trouble, a Canadiana Chocolate bar and a pair of Do-Ni Ballet flats because after being a fan for so many years I know that ballet flats are her shoe of choice. 🙂
And because I had them all trapped in the same room at the same time I also asked them to sign my Vacation reel-to-reel. Yippee!
The trip up to Seattle was uneventful but nice. There was lots of casual chit-chat, TV watching, ipad looking and napping. I spent most of the bus ride up to Seattle editing video I had shot of the band and uploading it to the official Go-Go’s youtube page.
We arrived in Seattle and the ladies went to their dressing rooms to get ready for the show while I grabbed a cab to my hotel. I was spending the night in Seattle while the ladies were driving the bus back down to Seattle after the show.
Jane offered me another ride but I had already booked my flight from Seattle to SFO so I took a pass. Plus the drive from Seattle to SFO was going to be 13+ hours and the thought of being stuck in a bus for that long without having my own personal space wasn’t appealing. 😉
I got settled in my hotel. Grabbed a shower. Walked up the street to a vegan restaurant that had been recommended to me and had what was one of the worst vegan meals I have had in a long time. What a disappointment to see such bland un-imaginative vegan food. Especially after having such an amazing meal at Portobello in PDX the night before. 🙁
I grabbed a cab back up to the concert venue and as I arrived I realized that the GG’s were already playing and I could tell by where they were in the set list that I had missed the first 3 songs. WTF!!! I ran into the Merch woman and she told me that she show started early at 7pm. Not the usual 8pm.
OH SHIT!! I should have double checked with the tour manager about the time of the show … I sprinted down to the stage expecting to find a crowd of people dancing their asses of like they were the night before in Portland but much to my shock there was an entire packed field of people sitting flat on their asses. What! SACRILEGE!! You do NOT sit during a GG’s concert. How could you??
I went backstage to watch from the side-stage and watched for a few songs … The band were not playing at their best. I’ve seen them enough times to be able to say that the energy of the audience directly effects the energy of the band and it seemed that the crowd sitting on their butts was effecting the show.
So I went and stood in front of the stage and started dancing … Then a group of woman joined me and we all smiled at each other. I said “Why is nobody dancing??” She said “It’s Seattle! Nobody ever dances. Let’s show them how to have fun!”
And we did. Much to the chagrin of the security and the people sitting in the front row…
Sorry … but you’re at a GG’s show. GET OFF YOUR ASS!! 🙂 More and more people started to join us and that’s when the band moved into Cool Jerk. I started filming because I knew that the band usually brought audience members on stage and it’s always a fun part of the show … The people Jane picked to come on stage were perfect and full of energy! The guy in the hat is hilarious.
After Cool Jerk the crowd started to loosen up and everyone got up to dance. Yes!! Finally! 🙂
After the show I said my good-byes to the band and the crew and went to the front of the building to catch a cab. I called a few cab companies but the wait was going to be over an hour. Yikes. I saw a bus stop across the street and figured out on my iphone that this bus would take me almost all they way to my hotel (with one bus transfer) so I waited. And waited. And it started to get dark.
If you follow my blog then you know that I am a survivor of an attack and I sometimes get spooked when I have to travel alone at night. I called Gerry and he kept me company for a little while but it’s so expensive to talk on the phone from the USA so I kept him updated with text messages.
A dude came to join me at the bus stop and I was really scared for a second until I noticed he was wearing a Go-Go’s tour T-Shirt *laugh*Â so instead of freaking out I went over and asked him if he knew when the next bus was coming. He asked me where I was headed and I gave him a general idea and he told me he was going to the same area and he would help me with the bus transfer.
We got on the bus and he sat a respectful distance away from me. Then when the stop came he told me and pointed to where the next bus was. We both got on the next bus and again he sat a respectful distance away. That’s when I could feel tears bubbling up inside me. Uh oh.
He rang the bell and told me I had reached my stop. As I walked by him I asked his name. “Abdul” I said “Thank you Abdul. You’re a really nice guy and the world needs more poeple like you.”
I got off the bus and ran up to my hotel which was only a few steps away. I got into the hotel room and started sobbing. Abdul reminded me that the universe is 99% full of lovely people and that it’s the 1% of assholes who ruin lives.
I called Gerry. We had a long talk about how weird my day was and why I was feeling out of sorts. Riding in the bus, a terrible meal, arrived at the show late, the weird audience, having to take the bus, being away from home… it all added up to a melt-down.
I said my good-nights to Ger. Popped in my earbuds and did a ZZZZZZZ guided mediation to help me sleep and I woke up at 11am feeling like a new person.
HOLY SHIT! I was supposed to check-out at 11am so I called the front desk to get an extension and I got ready for my flight to SFO…