Aspen to Boulder
We met at 10:00 and when we woke up it had changed from Spring to Winter again. I was sad to go I felt so lucky that we had the chance to be in Aspen. We met the RV at the gates of the Rodeo lot. We had plans to stop for breakfast at a diner. We went over one pass then another, at one point we were at 11,000 feet. The highest we had ever been. The air was a little thin up there. We took a picture at Eisenhower Tunnel.
It was a mellow day, but we were all feeling the end of the journey. It had been a whirlwind tour, I could hear the Hootchie Kootchie Man playing in my mind. Lukas used to end his shows with that song. I would hate/love it when that song would play.
My puppy sophie
Sophie the puppy
Sophie for one had had it with being cooped up with the oldsters. She was sick of all her chew toys and looking for trouble. She was a great dog she just wanted to do something else besides drive and bong. I rolled up the last of the weed I had brought one really large one to smoke in a goodbye circle at the end of the show. I had four more which I had planned on throwing on to the stage. Which I had a good shot from where I was standing. Jodi asked me at one point why we would throw the joints at the band on stage when we could just hand it to them. I didn’t have an answer except that’s how we do it in Nor Cal.
Set list for the Boulder Show
We arrived at the venue, early…before the bus thank you. Our working plan was to park the RV at their cousin’s house but Jim was going to run the contingent first, the club’s loading zone. When we arrived behind the Fox Theater we saw the place on the street that had been marked off for the bus by way of covered meters. Lo and behold the parking gods looked after us and we parked the RV in the spaces behind where the bus was to be parked. The Dude was pleased with himself, I know he considered it good show karma. I wasn’t as sure it felt like heavy rain drops in the air. We waited for the band to arrive and when they did we shared some replenished stock with Anthony and discussed the set list. When Anthony asked if we had any special requests I asked for Althea and when that didn’t go over for reasons I understood after the set, I asked for Down By the River, and Anthony agreed that was do able. I liked it when Lukas sang that song because it reminds me of a concert they did a few years ago up in the Redwoods at the shores of the Eel River. Personally, I think it would have killed in the set based on the fact the crowd went wild for Neil Young’s Harvest Moon. But Lukas wasn’t feeling it I guess and he skipped over it on the set list.
Boot check
Me Lukas and Christine
We went to sound check, it was a closed stage. Corey played some incredible licks, and Anthony was on fire as always. I got a couple of shots of the shooter, Jim taking pictures of the band. After sound check we took some pictures in front of the bus and walked around town with the band. I challenged Lukas to a boot off where I got Jim to take a picture of our boots together. I said one is more Hollywood and one is more Texas. Lukas gave me a look like (see video) he was reciting the lyrics of Baby I am gone in his head….
We went to the campus of CU which was walking distance of the town of Boulder where the theater was located. I kind of hung back away from the guys who were making a bline for the CU mascot some buffalo named Wally or something, I don’t remember. I was texting my girl Martha catching her up on the tour. The campus was beautiful but deserted I figured it must have been spring break. I enjoyed the campus it would have been a nice place to go to school. I caught up with everyone just as they finished the pictures, Lukas had some stuffed animal he wanted to take pictures with, its the bands new mascot, Tony the Peace Turtle. After the pictures we broke up for dinner. We ate in the back room of the Sink a great restaurant in Boulder with collage murals all through it. This was Jim’s hometown, he told us the guy that painted it used to be his neighbor. We met up with our friends John, Kristin and her mother and the Thompson Twins, Terry and Jenny. All serious music fans. John was actually my first friend on the tour. In Jan 2009 when I caught the band for the first time it was like a desert, nothing on line about them, no videos it was impossible to document what we had first saw. But soon there was John’s videos. In the early days we were all reaching out to each other like the people that had seen the UFO Spaceships in the movie Close Encounters of the Third kind. All of us wanting to come together to validate the phenomenon we had just witnessed. I met John in person in Hollywood at the Viper room in November of 2009. John is the only person that I know has probably seen more shows than I have in more states, for the record Jim and Glenda are neck and neck with me. I signed the ceiling of the Sink just like Obama did when he was campaigning. “Kristy loves Zack- Co POTR tour spring 2014”.
Everyone was anxious to stake their spot in the theater after dinner but Zack and I remained behind in the RV through the opening set bonging and just getting some quiet time in to get ready for the show. Jim had said that it was cool to smoke inside the theater but good thing I pre smoked because it wasn’t allowed, no smoking at concert halls always seems strange to me when you aren’t allowed to smoke, it seemed the more normalized pot is the more stricter the rules of non smoking, the only other theater I had been in that did not allow it was the Mateel in Humboldt County. It started to completely pour down those heavy rain drops I had sensed earlier in the day, it drenched us just as we walked in to the theater. I had been waiting to hear from Linda she was going to take the extra ticket I had. but I couldn’t wait any longer. I walked in to the theater just as the band was going on, I never got the message from Jenny and Terry that Linda was stuck with no power in the country with her chickens, but I left her ticket with the will call.
Spring Tour Co 2014
I had trouble settling in for my last set. I was already feeling the end of the tour. Missing the road. The set seemed a little slow for me but it could have been me we were on the side of the stage, maybe it wasn’t the full energy. I threw the first joint overhanded at where Lukas was standing on the stage and admittedly it wasn’t a good throw. It landed right next to one of Lukas pedals. Soon after that song Brian went to retrieve it. I decided to pitch the next one to Corey and it landed in the middle of the stage but not quite over to where the Bass was booming. At one point Lukas gave himself a shower of coconut water over his head but was careful to kick it out of the way of getting drenched, Brian relayed it backstage. The next one was thrown in the direction of Anthony LoGerfo who I felt carried the show that night. Tato Melgar, percussionist picked up the joint and handed it to Lukas as they walked off stage before the encore. The fourth one I still had in my pocket and it came to good use later. There were a few friends that I never met up with at the show but I kept looking. A few people in the crowd I recognized from the show in Grand Junction. I floated in and out of the music, watching the crowd it was a great people watching spot. They all seemed to lap it up every last note. They forgave Lukas for misplacing words on Harvest Moon and even sang along with him it was actually a beautiful moment. I think Lukas would have gone on all night but Anthony jumped up and forced the end, knowing that an encore was inevitable. The crowd loved the show and I was sad it was over.
Photo credit: Jim Eckenrode crossing off the venues spring tour
We ran back to the RV for closing ceremonies, one more big joint that burned the last of it. We passed it around, everyone was tired wanting to go home for a shower and to say hello to their pets they left behind but I also know like me they were all ready to start again within a day of being home. We ceremoniously checked off Boulder and took another picture together. It had been a great trip. I had told Tato that I was going to come over to the bus to say goodbye when we were burning one behind the trash dumpster in the back of the theater but Terry and Jenny were actually taking us home to Denver for the night, it was so nice of them considering it was late and they were staying in Boulder after all. I didn’t want to keep them waiting, and Tato was only being polite I would see the band again in a few weeks in Santa Cruz and Petaluma April 11-12. Although I felt like it was too much for them to drive us all the way to the Denver Airport after the late show it was a blast to have an hour to ourselves to just talk. I am so interested in their lives, steeped in music and politics and in their spare time a little history. My very favorite things. Terry had gifts for all us Nor Cal girls. Spreading the good music those two, cds of their new obsession John Fullbright. We made plans to meet again for the Neil Young Summer End, The Bridge School Benefit. Jenny said she had to unload a house to get there but we penciled it in. If we do I want to take them to the Mountain House for dinner and shuttle them around.
Photo credit: Jim Eckenrode
Lukas Nelson and the Promise of the Real, Fox Theater Boulder
The tour was over, we would tell each other as we said goodbye, see you at the next show…..
From the RV
End of the night in boulder mar 2014