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olive

Beach Fanatic
Nov 10, 2005
965
41
had a friend who was unable to make it at the last minute, so i'm driving to PC with an extra. call up a vehicle coming back from Jax with 4 friends in it who work at alys beach. one of them, Olive, is a huge fan and really wants to go, so we plan to do a meetup for me to pick her up. they'll come down 231 from I-10. i pull into a waffle house with plenty of time to spare. as i'm dialing them to indicate my whereabouts, my phone rings and they're at am ihop further north(23rd st).

as i'm pulling back into the sucky PC traffic, i see what is obviously Willie's tour bus gliding through traffic to the venue. plenty of time. 6:30 meet up with the AB crew, recieve Olive and head inside ihop for a quick bite before the show. get our order taken, Olive; grilled cheese, me; crepes florentine(new menu item). chatting away about Olive's/AB's real estate trip for what seems like a long time and look at watch. it is a long time, food arrives around 7:10 and is inhaled. how could it take so long?, i'm wondering. finish food and have to ask for check. olive tenders CC before waiter can finish handoff. she goes to restroom and comes back, no check. i go to restroom, check and CC are delivered. meanwhile, busperson comes to clear and informs Olive that they are quite shorthanded due to sick call-in's(willie nelson concert??) we leave 7:17 heading south. Paul has called during dinner to see where we are, Kyle calls while we're driving to let me know they're inside. no opener is scheduled.

7:29 arrive at venue and start looking for parking. it's right on the water and is probably quite nice in daylight or with half an hour before showtime. we head in, passing a good amount of smokers still going for that last drag before being trapped inside without being able to smoke for more than 20 minutes.:eek: hand the nice lady our tickets and she indicates where we are to go. announcer(local country radio station hack), is already onstage welcoming Willie. we slide into our seats 10 seconds before first note.

our seats are in last row of orch, right in front of sound and lights, and right behind some guy with the biggest head in the place. he's sitting in front of me but after a few notes moves over one seat into an empty, and in front of Olive. she is craning neck and after a couple songs of me taking in my surroundings, we switch. i sit with seat front up above hugeheadguy and block no one since we're in front of light guy's area.

house is packed. Willie's fans are quite devoted and evryone is cheering, and clapping, and whistling after every song. the light cues were interesting to follow, they eventually got dialed in. and the spot operators were definitely local crew:roll: the sound was a little challenged at first, but got dialed in quickly. and, it never got too loud(95-98db approx) which was nice since i had forgotten my earplugs. my theory: Willie's audience is older and the crew realizes they can listen to music without being blown back in their seats. stage was simply set with huge lonestar as backdrop as only decoration. Willie went through one hat and about six or seven bandanas throughout show. Smiling Joe left auditorium once.

show ran approx 1:45 and was being struck as soon as last note was played. we waited for the crowd to rush out and exited with Smiling JOe, his brother and sister in law, and Morgan. Back through the cloud of smoke:bang: we found some SRB krewe and chatted about the show for 10-15 minutes while waiting for lot to clear. some went back to the buses to catch a glimpse, but it seems Willie had already gone.

i believe Olive is able to supply set list.

no sightings of M/M Steeling1


Wow, John R. You are thorough!

As Paul Harvey would say...."And now the rest of the story..."

I had been in Jacksonville for a 3 day sales conference. I did not buy tickets to the PCB show because I knew I would be traveling that day. I find out last day (Thurs.) that Willie had not only played in Jax the night before but had played only a block and half from my hotel. Being a loyal Willie fan, I was devasted!!

On the ride home, my co-workers are trying to make me feel better by saying things like "maybe we'll see his tour bus!" I had a Willie CD with me and made them listen to it on the drive.

We were just outside of Tallahassee listening to Willie on the CD when, lo and behold, John R calls with an extra ticket. I FREAKED! My sweet co-workers drove a half an hour out of their way to deliver me to John at the IHOP. I was so excited.

As John said, when we got to the show I realized I was seated behind a man with the largest noggin I had ever seen! But being a Willie fan, I decided to make it work. Then, out of the blue, sweet John R exchanged seats with me and spent the rest of the show sitting on the closed theater seat. That could not have been comfortable.

Willie put on a wonderful show as always!!!:love: It is always a privilige to see him live. Every time he sings a song, he sings it differently but always brilliantly. He is an icon!

All in all, it was a great time with my buddy, John!

Thanks for the ticket, the ride, the seat, and your company!:love:
 

maeby funke

Beach Lover
Apr 13, 2006
102
13
47
South Georgia
Olive, you love Willie almost as much as I love pandas.
 
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