January 24, 2006

INXS in Oakland CA

It was great! The INXS portion was probably one of the best rock concerts I've ever seen. It's an experience I will never forget.
There was a line in front of the theater before the show and I was happy to have gotten there early. The age of the audience skewed a little older than most rock shows most being early 30's to mid 40's but there were still quite a few young people as well as some in their 60's. We got into the theater and I headed for the merchandising table to get me a T-Shirt. While I was in line we started talking about the INXS underwear they were selling. My husband asked if I was going to get some. :-) I said no because they didn't have JD's face on them. The girls around me laughed and one said to someone else, "See I'm not the only one." My husband is such a good sport. I got a black T-shirt with their album art on the front and the tour cities on the back.
Marty and his group came out and I liked 2-3 of his songs but over all I wasn't too impressed by them or their show. You can tell they still don't have much money for equipment or lights. Their sound system needed work as it was too loud and you really couldn't hear Marty sing clearly. Between songs I couldn't understand what he was saying either. Quite a bit of audience on the bottom floor was in the lobby during their performance but there were quite a few that stood the entire time as well. The songs I liked were Trees and they did a cover of Johnny Cash's "Ring of Fire" that was pretty good. I also liked the last song but I don't know the name of it. Sadly at the end of their show my husband turned to me and said "Did you like those guys?" He didn't but my daughter did. She's gonna get the album. Not sure what her boyfriend thought about Marty.
I got a couple of pictures of Marty but I don't know if they will turn out. Soon after they started carting people away for taking pictures so my daughter wouldn't let me chance it during INXS. All people had to do was turn on their cell phone and the attendants pounced on you. They said it was the INXS choice and I imagine it's to avoid the flash in their eyes. I'm OK with that...I have my memories.
During intermission I met Rockbanders Watt and Terribelle. Hi guys!!
About 5 minutes before the INXS started they projected a clock image on the screen and the crowd went wild and again at 4:48 for JD's lucky number. At 10 seconds before the crowd started counting down and we were all standing and cheering. The mood was quite infectious. The group is simply awesome...I don't know how else to describe it. Great light show, great staging and stunning performance. They started with Suicide Blond, then (not in order) New Sensation, Afterglow, What You Need, Never Let You Go, Kick, Never Tear Us Apart, Need You Tonight, Hungry, Pretty Vegas, Taste It. I know I'm missing some from the first set. The crowd went wild over Pretty Vegas and anyone that had sat down during a slow song, jumped up again for Pretty Vegas. It was insane. Then they left the stage and the crowd was yelling and chanting for them to come back. For the encore they played was The Stairs, Never Tear Us Apart, and ended with Don't Change.
JD looked great (handsome, riveting, sexy as all get out, HOT HOT HOT...what can I say I love that boy) , he sang great and looked like he was having the time of his life as did the others. I couldn't see Tim very well and Jon not at all until he came out from behind the drums (bummer, he is so cute) and Andrew had his back to us most of the evening because of how the keyboards were positioned and where we were sitting. Gary is a babe and so was Kirk. Both Kirk and Gary looked like they were having a blast. TV doesn't do Kirk justice, in person he is very, very cute. When he smiles his face lights up and he was smiling all night.
Before I left home to go to the show I printed the numbers 448 as large as I could on a sheet of paper and during one song I held it up so JD could see it. (I'm such a fan girl.) My daughter laughed at me. When JD came to our side of the stage he saw it and pointed to it and when my daughter realized he pointed to us, she went crazy ... She started yelling "He saw it, he saw it." I wish I remember what song it was... LOL!
I'd like to say I could see all of JD during Taste it but my view of his mike fuck was blocked for most of it. Shyt! What I did see was Sizzling HOT. OMG His hip grind was steamy! My daughter got embarrassed but she loved it as well.
I've never danced, cheered and screamed so much in my life. I wasn't expecting my husband to gush much but he rocked out and yelled through it all too and he said he was thoroughly impressed. He also said later that someone had squeezed his butt during the show. He thought it was me but then realized I was too far away and it had to be someone in the row behind him. That was so funny.
That's all I can remember but we all had such a wonderful experience. OMG I didn't expect it to be so long.

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