You want it, you got it... now whatcha gonna do with it?

[corilannam]

Okay, what you need to understand about this story is that we were going to Pennsylvania anyway.

So around 10 in the morning yesterday, chelseafrew, ndannais and I left to go see Big River in Hershey. We stopped at Best Buy to look for Duran Duran CDs with which to feed my newly-minted obsession (yes, I recognize that 28 is way, way too old to develop a new Duran Duran obsession, but there's nothing I can do about it now). This may have been our first mistake.

We headed up toward Pennsylvania, making good time in absolutely beautiful spring weather, and somewhere around the state line we... well, I'm still not entirely sure what happened, but it went something like this:

Me: Yeah, they had last night's setlist up already on duranduran.com. I was impressed, I was just going to look at the Philadelphia setlist.
ndannais: Aren't they in Philly tonight?
Me: No, they're in Wilkes-Barre tonight.
ndannais: Oh, that's right. Hey, you know enchantedmoon was looking at MapQuest and said that Wilkes-Barre is only about an hour and a half from Hershey.
Me and chelseafrew: Oh, really?

Somehow this led to a call to TicketMaster, where we discovered they had three newly-released seats (where, we didn't know exactly, but they sounded good), a couple of calls to enchantedmoon to look up directions for us, and before we entirely knew what was happening, we were going to Wilkes-Barre to see Duran Duran for the second time in 24 hours. We've chosen to blame enchantedmoon for the entire thing, for simplicity's sake.

A rundown of the rest of the day:



Hershey is a rather odd place. I've only ever driven by there on the highway before, but up close it was almost like walking around the outside lot of Willy Wonka. Our directions were things like, "Turn left onto Chocolate Avenue. Turn right onto Cocoa Avenue," and when we got out of the car, we found that the air does actually smell like chocolate. Alas, we couldn't find anywhere in the area to actually buy chocolate, which was good for me remaining OP yesterday, but really, one should buy chocolate when one goes to Hershey.

The theatre was small and absolutely gorgeous - the interior looked like a Moorish palace. Big River was very cool once again, with an almost entirely different cast than the last time I saw it. I'll go into more detail about the show itself next weekend when we see it here in DC, but trust me that it's way cool and if you have the opportunity to see it either on tour or in DC, you should. I can't imagine seeing it without the sign language now.

We discovered that there is literally no more Big River merchandise for chelseafrew to buy. Alas!



Then we left Hershey and headed up the highway to Wilkes-Barre. We got there in time to hit the Target next to the arena, where we finally found blue M&M lightsabers. These proved most useful during the concert when people were waving lighters and cell phones and we were waving... lightsabers. *geekgeekgeek*



* We avoided the opening act this time to spare our ears. I went to the bathroom, and when I came out, chelseafrew and ndannais were quivering with excitement. "Oh my God," ndannais says, "you've got to see where we're sitting."

Because the stage? Was right there. If chelseafrew and I had attempted to catapult ndannais across the crowd, we probably could have gotten her to land on top of Simon. Not bad for last minute. We were in the middle of what quickly became clear was a fan club pre-sale section, and we were clearly not the people they were expecting to be in those seats. But they were all drunk off their asses anyway, so that was all right.

* At the DC show, they all came out wearing suits -- a three-piece suit in John's case. At W-B, they still had the suit jackets, but John replaced his slacks with tight tight leather pants and Simon with tight tight black jeans. Certain parts of those men seem to be aging quite well, if you'll permit me to say so. I even kinda saw the appeal of Nick, though he still looks kinda freaky to me.

* I don't know if they just got a good night's sleep or scored some good uppers between here and PA, but the show was even better than in DC. John was way, way bouncier (maybe it was just the leather pants?), and even Simon was bouncier (maybe it was John's leather pants?)

* Slightly different setlist -- no Reflex or Come Undone (wah), but they did Chains, which involved Simon coming all the way out to our end of the stage and writhing around on this red velvet footstool.

* Wild Boys is the best thing ever live. And not just because they can't keep their hands off each other. Though that is a plus in my world.



So overall? Best. Impulse Purchase. Ever. Even if it was really, really late when we got back.

And now, I need to go buy some more CDs.

Comments

[therealjae.livejournal.com]

That? Is *exactly* what I would have done. I'm impressed, and kind of weirdly proud.

I've done much, much crazier things for concerts, though, so you've got a ways to go to reach my level of insanity. But it's a start. ;-)

-J

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Well, everyone has to start somewhere! And considering that for most of my life, my idea of concerts has been symphonies and jazz clubs, this was pretty fun. *g*

[margueritem.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you're having mucho fun lately. :D

And I agree : Best impulse purchase ever! *not that she knows Duran Duran very well, except for Come Undone*

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Yup, totally worth it! And I didn't know them all that well, either, very long ago. But I do now. *g*

[bthebuff.livejournal.com]

You guys ROCK!! That is such an awesome way to spend a Saturday night!!

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

It really was the coolest weekend ever. :-):-)

[batagur.livejournal.com]

You are offically a Duranie. Time to join room7609! :)

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Woo! I guess I can't deny it anymore. *g*

[kris4n6.livejournal.com]

I am still so very very jealous. How come I never hear about the good concerts until the show is here and I can't go? (I suspect it has to do with me being a dork)

*sigh* - I was sooooooooooo in love with Simon, Nick, and John when I was younger (though you are completely right, Nick is now rather freaky looking). Glad you had such a great time (and that you found the lightsabers *g*).

I'm going to put in my Duran Duran Decade CD right now. Or my tapes! "her name is Rio and she dances on the sand..."

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Hee! Rio was the very last song they played in the encore, so of course it's been going through my head for days.... *g*

[splix.livejournal.com]

Hee! I lived in Wilkes-Barre for years and years! It's a little pit of a town. Glad you had fun, though!!

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

*g* When I got home, my PA-born roommate went on at great length about Wilkes-Barre's shortcomings. I believe the word "pit" was used several times. All I knew about it was that it's where I send my student loan payments every month, but I have to admit I'm always going to be a little bit fond of it after this weekend!

[splix.livejournal.com]

Ohh, Sallie Mae, right? The dead, corrupt, festering heart of the city. :D

But I'm all for nostalgia, so yay Wilkes-Barre! Hee!

[przed.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'm officially jealous. I got to see them in Toronto on Tuesday, and was also really close to the stage. But I'd totally go see them again tomorrow. (Darn Canadian geography.)

[marzilla.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I hear the Toronto show was really good, too. And I think there's no such thing as seeing them too many times -- their last U.S. show is in NYC on Wednesday, and if it weren't a workday, I would be sorely tempted. *g*