Minneapolis-May 7th 2022

I’m going to apologize for this being a bit less detailed and such but I had 3 nights in a row of gigs before I could do the blogs and for some reason when I tried to write down some bullet points of this show the next morning, my brain was a bit moosh and I couldn’t remember quite as much as I usually do so… sorry. 🙂

So I woke up earlier than I had set my alarm for unfortunately but my body is used to getting up between 4:45-5:30 so the fact I could keep dozing off until.6:15 was impressive…and helpful since it was slightly after 1am when I had gotten home,showered, and into bed. I was excited because I was getting to see 2 out of state friends for tonight’s show…Laura from CA who I was also rooming and traveling to KS with and Kevin from TX. 6 hour drive and made a stop along the way at a Build a Bear store but THIS time it was getting things for some friends as I had been able to get it all for myself  back on East Coast trip (just not enough room in suitcase for everyone since flying vs driving lol 😉 ).

Laura’s plane landed a bit early and originally I was to pick her up at airport but I was still an hour away and time getting bigger because of upcoming congestion so she took public transport and met me at the hotel. It was great to see her and we caught up a bit over late lunch/early dinner from Applebee’s which we luckily had right next to our hotel so did a pick up and brought back to room.

Getting to the venue was easy and we parked in a parking garage,then headed to the venue but on the way we heard some music. Weren’t sure what but after crossing the street and seeing people walking past a curvy row of…er ..cylinders, Laura had to cross back and investigate. As it turns out, it was a musical harp! You pass your hand under each one to get a different note so we had fun trying it out lol! 😀  We got in line with Bert and Jennifer and Christine arrived shortly after. And then soon my TX friend Kevin came in line too so the whole gang was there. 🙂 The venue was cool looking and once in, we had another room to wait in before  they opened the doors to the actual concert area. A big, neon sign that said “The Fillmore” was against one wall so of course we had to get a group photo! 😉 Once allowed in, originally we all kind of ended up in the middle but Kevin is tall so bless his heart, he was like “no, I don’t feel right being tall and right in the middle” so he moved over to the other side of Bert and Jennifer. I motioned Laura to follow and we both did but it was a bit further to the side than what she had hoped so she ended up going back center and next to Christine.  So Bert and Jennifer were on my left, Kevin to my right…that works too. 🙂

I had 1 more song I needed to get recorded by ItVB (well, 2 but that’ll be in the next blog LOL) and LUCKILY they played it BEFORE the poor things lost not 1 but BOTH their amps. :O Stopped working and despite 2 crewman coming out to try and fix it, it was no good and they had to  cut their set short. Awww 🙁  Usual pit stop and protein bar munching before OMD and I had also told Laura and Kevin about the TG singing so Kevin was ready to join me. 😀 When OMD came out, I mentally hoped that nothing would happen to their equipment too but the show started off without a hitch thank goodness. 🙂 Isotype got some bouncing but tbh, Minneapolis had a hard crowd to follow with last night’s  Chicago crowd! Messages elicited quite a good response tho and Mr. M. had fun bopping around with his bass.

When it came time for TG, OMG, I hadn’t realized how loud Kevin could shout! After the first set of “yes, Yes, YES”s I was like “wow Kevin, you go boy!” and he laughed. We kept it up and as the other nights, Mr. H. sang back to us at the end. It was great to have it projected so loud and well! 😀  Prior to HoM, Mr. M. joked and said there was something the crowd had to do..not windmilling…”what was it Lori?” so I laughed and bounced and  he was like “yes, THAT” and a good amount of bouncing all around me ensued. 😀  Gotta say tho, and Laura mentioned it in the car going home too…the floor was, er, weird. It wasn’t EVEN. Hard to explain but when bouncing, I initially thought I was jumping up and down on my purse strap but looked down to see no, that was safely tucked away. Very strange LOL but I just shook my head and moved on LOL.

When Mr. H. came down to do FLaD, he got his usual screams of excitement and while Mr. M. was bopping around behind Mr. H.s keyboards, Mr. H. continued his tradition of going over to Mr. C. and playing one of his keys to the horn notes LOL. And, also as usual, lots of cheering when it was over and he had to get back behind his keyboards.  The trio of A&M went down really well and the crowd especially loved MoO as usual but still not as crazy as Chicago had been but the whole band was still quite happy with the response they were getting. 🙂  They came down for the deep cuts and once over, Mr. M. went over to Laura and said “I like your Dazzle Ships shirt”. I was like ‘woooo Laura!”. He then continued by saying “but that’s now the end of the educational part of the show. It’s just mindless dancing from here. Is that OK?” She happily nodded yes and off they went into  DG.

The crowd sang to DG well and when done, Mr. M. asked if we were tired, we said no and he said “good answer! Let’s keep going”. SiL found a massive amount of girls screaming for Mr. C. when he did his sax solo. Like seriously, the biggest response I’ve heard thus far, it was so cute! 😀 Dreaming went down well too and Mr. M. got a drumstick from Stuart to then hand over to a little girl in the crowd. Aww 🙂 Bowing to both Stuart and Mr. C. after SotSS and before we knew it, it was Enola Gay time. More bouncing of course and then the whole band came  down forward to thank us. Lots of cheers so the band smiled, waved a lot etc. before member intros and then  they walked off.

(next part in thanks to Jennifer’s  video reminding me LOL) When the band came back on, it was another 2 shirt gig…a “sign of a good gig” and then Mr. M. made a comment about liking to look around and see what shirts people are wearing. He pointed out a couple and then said “not one single f*cker is wearing an If You Leave shirt so…I guess we don’t have to play it then right?” LOL…they did of course. 😉  Secret found Mr. M. and Mr. H. playing around and then it was time for Electricity…and an unexpected return to the “bouncing sandwich” as I call it. To recap…back on past tours my CA friend Mark and I would always bounce together and on the East Coast we were joined by either east coast Laura (had been with me in Boston ) or friend Andrew, and on the west coast, the Laura that was here with me tonight. I would be in the middle but because everyone but EC Laura was taller than me and ESPECIALLY if it was me, Mark and Andrew, the bouncing would get off due to the time/distance of each of us going from bounce to bounce…such that usually near the end I’d be bashing against the others with totally off timed bounces but it would just make me crack up laughing.  I jokingly dubbed the threesome the “bouncing sandwich” as I was the middle bit LOL.  So when Electricity started, Kevin was like “let’s the THREE of us bounce together”. At first I wasn’t sure if he meant me and Jennifer or me and the girl on his other side but he meant Jennifer and I so he put his arm around my shoulders, I put mine around Jennifers and off we went…and yes, because Kevin is taller, near the end we were off time and I was cracking up. So fun! 😀

Once over, the guys came down to thank us one last time, Mr. H. promised us they’d be back and off everyone went with Jennifer and Bert getting a special goodbye wave from Stuart as this was their last night for awhile (and they, like Mr. H. and I, have fun with Stuart during Dreaming with funny little antics 🙂 ) Some post pics and such, a sad goodbye (but also a hopefully see you in a couple weeks) with Jennifer and Bert, a bit of chat with ItVB telling them sorry for the equipment breakdown and Laura bought a shirt, then it was outside to mess around with the ‘harp’ a bit more before final goodbyes. And my highlight…gotta say the “yes, Yes, YES” and bouncing sandwich with Kevin. Too funny and fun! 😀