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24/02/98 - MULTIPLEX, PRINCE GEORGE Review
by Bryan King:
We
meet at 10:30 in lobby. Some fans have already gotten their photos developed from
the night before and there are some good ones. Show is recorded, but only for
50 minutes we find out. Too bad.
Beautiful day
as we head off for the six hour drive from Kamloops to Prince George. Nice scenery,
but the drive seems to drag. The show better be worth it I'm thinking. I've never
been this far north. The length of this drive will make the longer distance from
Prince George to Vancouver even further.
We
pull into hotel at Prince George about 5:15pm and head up to our rooms. We're
tired from the drive and lack of sleep the night before for some, but the show's
just over two hours away so not much time to rest. Multiplex is further away than
we thought, so we drive there. It's about 10 minutes, but it's pushing 7:15pm
and there's traffic. Stress sets in for some thinking the band might cancel, or
we won't get to our seats on time. Not to worry. We park, leave our jackets in
the van knowing we don't want them inside and we can come back for them after
the show.
We start walking from the parking
lot to the arena. Shit it's cold....and far. We run and make it in about two minutes.
Camera's get snuck in as usual and one of us brings in the major zoom lense for
this show. Big guts usually get big rewards in such a case. 6 000 fans pretty
much fill the place. No bridge again. We're in row six tonight, Keith's side again.
Very similar to last night's show. The plan is the same as the night before; lights
go down, we head up front.
7:45pm....lights
go down and I start walking up front. I don't know who's with me and don't care,
but I take a left at the stage and go for the middle. Lights come up and there
I am dead centre leaning on the stage with Bryan no more than three feet in front
of me. This is the best spot in the house. Sure there's a local photographer next
to me, but he splits after two songs leaving the stage open to lean on. Nancy
is to my left and Gill is to my right, so they're happy. Everyone else is right
up by the stage but not this close. 13 BA shows in my life, this is as close as
it gets. So close you can hear his foot pounding on the wooden stage. So close
you can hear the guitar strings being strummed over the actually chords that he's
playing. He's singing hard and spits landing right in front of us (and probably
on us, too). We're not complaining, this is CLOSE!!!
(Above)
The legendary Tommy Mandel on keyboards
Show
is exactly same set as Kamloops which is a drag, but the crowd is much better.
All the floor seats are standing, but seated fans in the arena seats basically
sitting. Oh well, I don't care.
Bryan moves
the mic up right in front of me. It's great. My crazy mind thinks 'I'm so close
I could either pull his mic stand away from him or just reach out and trip him.'
Fortunately, I don't pursue my nutty thoughts and appreciate the close location
to the finest bands in rock and roll.
He pulls
up a fan for the na na nah's during Cuts Like a Knife and she gives me her camera
so I can take a shot of her signing with Bryan. I have trouble with the camera
so Bryan pulls it from my hands and takes care of the photography himself.
Gill has a sign requesting the Blues Jam. Bryan comes over while rocking out to
18 Til I Die and shakes his head to her implying that it ain't gonna happen. He
then stamps all over the sign while keeping the beat. Gill gets the hint and puts
the sign away for the rest of the show.
(Above)
Dave Taylor on bass
Bryan pulls up the audience
band, but I'm too close to get chosen. I guess he figures why should someone get
the front spot as well as get up on stage.
At
the end of the main set when he plays Somebody, he tosses his guitar pick to the
front of the stage. Everyone reaches, but luckily for me I have the longest reach.
Nice souvenir. Bryan's Gibson guitar pick from the show.
After the song "Heaven" he goes back to the drum riser and grabs his
small camera and walks towards us up in the front. I reach up and he gives me
his camera to take a shot of he and the band as they take their bows. I take a
few of them. One with their fronts showing, one with their asses showing. I then
take one of the crowd on the floor which is having a good time. Bryan comes back
up front to get the camera. I make sure I get a hand shake before returning the
camera and he says thanks "for my mom".
The band comes back for '69 and then head off stage. What a show! If you'd like
a full recording of the Prince George show, click here to read about the recording.
The zoom lense camera gets about 50 pictures
taken before security threatens to confiscate it. The camera operator (who's identity
will be protected for legal purposes) doesn't argue since he's got more than he
thought he could get.
We leave the arena all
in smiles and head back to the van. It's colder now so it could be a long wait
for the band outside. We warm up in the van briefly, put our jackets on and head
to the back of the arena.
We get there and there
are about 25 fans milling around. There's a white van very similar to the night
before that we figure will take the band to the airport. After about 20 minutes
of making friends with security people, the van moves into pick-up position. Out
comes Mickey. I get his signature on a ticket as other fans do. Out comes Danny,
Tommy, Keith and Dave. The band's in the van ready to go. Just waiting for Bryan.
Bryan walks out as we are instructed to stand back and give him room to get in.
Like the night before, Bryan's security man says he'll sign things for us, just
get in line next to the van.
Tonight Bryan is
feeling better we learn so he's personalizing what he's signing. I'm thinking
this is my chance to see if he knows who I really am. I get up to the van.
"What's your name"? he asks.
"Bryan.
Bryan King. Michelle says I should say hello to you".
He stops signing my ticket, looks at me for a couple seconds and says..
"You're Bryan King!?!"
"Yes I
am"
"You were right up front tonight,
weren't you".
"Yes I was"
"You've been a fan a long time, haven 't you"?
"A long time".
Ben is standing behind
me completely dumbfounded that Bryan knows ME. It's a cool feeling.
Besides feeling pretty good about this brief conversation, I know that others
are waiting, so as much as I'd love to talk longer, I thank him for the show and
walk away with a big smile. How can it get better than this, I think?
Bryan signs the last few autographs and smiles to us all. About 10 fans leave
to go home. BA thanks us for coming to the show and waves good-bye. Too bad they're
leaving... or are they???
I hear someone say
"you're tires flat". BA looks to the rear right tire and sure enough,
it's flat. What luck!!!
The van pulls ahead
a few metres up to a flat surface and we follow. Out comes Keith, out comes Mickey,
out comes Tommy. No where to go and there we were. Some fans flock to Keith as
I try to take a shot of Colleen and him. Her camera's ka-putz so no luck. She's
got her arm around Keith so she doesn't mind the delay.
BA stays inside the vehicle so I head over. Only a few fans are by his window
so I head on over there and he's looking at me as if he's still saying "so
THIS is Bryan King. I smile and ask him how he's feeling. He says alot better
and tells us that Kamloops was the worst he's sung in a long time. He feels great,
but his throat has been giving him trouble. The gig tonight was alot better he
says. I talk to him about his whereabouts in Jamaica and it turns out he was in
the same town I was in when I went there last year for my honeymoon. Go figure.
He asks how everyone got to the show and I tell
him we rented a van with eight of us. He thinks that's pretty cool and thanks
us for making the drive. During a brief lull, I ask if anyone has a camera. Luckily
a fan did and she snaps a shot of BA and myself. Finally, I think...a photo of
me meeting BA. Hope it turns out.
I see Mickey
standing alone so go over and talk to him. As a drummer growing up, I thanks him
for being an inspiration. He's very kind, asks me my name and we talk about recording
older albums with BA and other artists. He tells me that after the Canadian tour,
they're going to Europe and then "kicking back" for a long time he says.
Touring is what wears Mickey down so he wants a nice long break. I tell him I
went to Berklee College of Music in Boston to study music and he knew it well
since he lives in the northeast of the US as well. We talk drumming briefly and
before I knew it, Jody the sound guy fixed the tire. Mickey asks if we'll be in
Vancouver and wishes us a safe drive.
The band
gets into the van, waves good-bye and they leave. We hoot and holler knowing that
we were in the right place at the right time. We got a good 10 minutes with the
band at our disposal. What a night.
Next day
is the in-store performance and autograph signing in Vancouver. It starts at 7pm,
only 1000 people get in we understand and 500 of them have passes. We don't have
passes so there is some concern we won't get in. I say we leave at 8:30am for
the drive than can take 10 hours. Others want to go earlier, but sleep is important
so we get back to Vancouver in one piece. 8:30 in the lobby.
We have dinner and recall the evening's events. One of the best nights of my life
and most others. It was a night to....
1:00
am, sleep. It's a long drive to Vancouver
Setlist:
The Only Thing That Looks Good On Me Is You
Do To You
Let's Make a Night
to Remember
18 Til I Die
Back to You
When You Love Someone
I'm Ready
I Think About You
This Time
Can't Stop This Thing We
Started
It's Only Love
Everything I Do
Touch the Hand
Kids
Wanna Rock
Have You Ever Really Loved A Woman?
Cuts Like a Knife
Hey Elvis
Run to You
Audience band: Summer of '69
Somebody
Fits
Ya Good
Heaven
Summer of '69 | 
