Concert Series

FIRST OF A TWO-FER:  We bought tickets to see Hall and Oates and Train this summer months and months ago. Turns out the two shows are on back to back nights.  Tonight, it was Hall and Oates.

The concert was at Marymoor, a 640-acre park in Redmond. Here's an aerial of just part of the park, you can't even see the amphitheater, it would be off the lower right corner, past the velodrome (yes, they have a sloped bike race track - that would be fun to watch some heats!).
 
Gates were at 4 p.m. and we were there a little before that, as were a few dozen other people who, I think, had been there perhaps considerably longer, because they seemed a little cranky and very worried about other people getting in front of them.

At one point, when the 'organizers' (I use the term loosely, it was the Keystone Kops) broke our line into four lines and we wound up even with the earlier comers, a woman ordered her poor husband to come stand in front of us. Whatever. I seriously thought it was funny.

Christian took initial exception to the line cutter, but I leaned in and pointed out to him, "It's not a problem. We can outrun ANY of these people." LOL.  And, we did.

We hatched and flawlessly executed our plan, and when they finally opened the gates, we had the best 'non seats' in the house.  Those chairs just beyond that plastic white chain cost more than $15 a head more than our 'seats.' So for hauling our own chairs in, we saved $60. Score!!

I don't have a long angle shot of the venue, but here's a lovely artist's rendition of it from 2002, before it was built.  It's not too far off. ;)

We had prepared well for our afternoon of waiting, waiting and more waiting. We had games, books, blankets, umbrellas for shade, lots of hydration and healthy snacks.

The show started a half hour late, around 6:30.

We heard: Out of Touch, Family Man, Say it Isn't So, Las Vegas Turnaround, She's Gone, Sara Smile, Maneater, I Can't Go for That (No Can Do), Rich Girl, You Make My Dreams (Come True), Kills on My List and Private Eyes and maybe one or two more I can't recall.

It was a short set, let me tell you. They had played less than an hour when it was 'thank you' and they left the stage. Christian and I looked at each other Gobsmacked. I mean, I knew, they weren't done but still, it felt like they just got started. They came out for two, two-song encores, but we were home back across the water in Seattle from Redmond and a post-concert traffic snarl by 8:24, and the show didn't start until 6:30.

Afterward, I told Christian I was glad that we were standing in line early enough to hear the sound check, so I felt like we got more of our money's worth.

Don't get me wrong, it was terrific. They sounded wonderful, and Daryl Hall has the best hair of any human being, perhaps ever. I told Christian Daryl Hall should donate his hair to science so they can study it and see what makes it so, well, fabulous.

The kids dug it and CJ was a dancing machine. To the point of being a spectacle. To the point of people taking videos of HIM rather than Hall and Oates.  There were two couples in the 'fancy' chairs who spent the better part of at least four songs turned around, backs to the stage/Hall & Oates, watching CJ dance instead.

I have no doubt his moves are plastered all over Facebook by now. One man came up to us during the concert to show us the video he'd taken of CJ (um, yeah, we know, we live with it/him, but thanks, LOL), and a few people said after the show how much they enjoyed his dancing. Go CJ. ;)
http://www.kingcounty.gov/recreation/parks/inventory/marymoor.aspx