Concert Reviews
Harrah's, Laughlin, NV
Harrah's Laughlin, Laughlin, NV
May 23 & 24, 2001
By Carol
We left home at 5am on Tuesday. Stan was so excited he wanted to leave the night before but we are not good night drivers and so we waited. Stan was really pretty good. He woke up much earlier then I did and let me sleep. We actually left his mother's house about 5:30. It was an 8 hour drive this time-- good conditions. It is an hour earlier in Laughlin.
I insisted that before we got our room set up, we go ahead to Harrah's to get our tickets. If we could get an upgrade in seats, I was going to get it ASAP. Well, there weren't any upgrades. They said it was just about sold out for both nights and we were lucky to be on the floor at all. The seats they said were left were up in the top end of the bleachers. We went back and got our rooms and I was sad because I just knew I could get better seats. We showed Stan's Mom many casinos, shopped and had a generally good time.
I decided that since the rehearsal last time started sometime before 3pm in November, that I should get there by 2 pm. Actually, we didn't get there until 2:30 but that was fine---the rehearsal wasn't until much later--I think around 4pm, and it was very short. I had taken my gift basket for David Cassidy to the rehearsal and sent Stan off to get me better tickets. He told them the only tickets I would be satisfied with would be right on stage with David but we had no luck, they said it was a sell out for both nights. Stan found some important people for the casino but they still couldn't help. Anyway, I was the first to wait for the rehearsal but was joined by a lady and a fellow from California (forget their names) and later, Joyce, also from California and her baby. She apparently does get on the chat lines sometimes. I talked a lot to the guard, seems he had a back injury and was going to go for rehab so, I was in my element (I'm a vocational rehabilitation counsellor) and figured, let's try every and any angle possible--it might help.
Anyway, he was very nice. I asked him about getting my basket to DC and he said he would take it to the stage manager for me and then he changed his mind and said, how about I go get the stage manager for you and you can give it to him. The stage manager's name is Kevin, soft spoken guy, very nice and he promised he would take my basket and put it in DC's dressing room. He shook my hand and was off but I felt that this was as good as I would get. The security guard pointed out the rooms that David would be in. Top of the first tower--way up. I didn't figure there was any way to even try. I was pleased that my basket would be in a dressing room.
Well, we waited in the heat for hours. We saw a long white limousine enter the other gate--I presume it was David--dark windows prevented seeing. At 4pm, the first guard left and a new one came. He stayed for a while but I guess he decided we were not a scary bunch and he left. After a while, Kevin came and said we couldn't stand in the shade of the bleachers inside the gate and he asked where the guard was. I told him that he left--cause he did. Kevin then closed and locked that gate. He was nice about it. We moved to another gate he evidently didn't know about in the back with a better view anyway.
The first night it was a whopping 105 degrees for the concert. At the rehearsal they complained that they were melting---and we WERE. The ladies sang a bit, David sang a bit--he was in shorts and T-shirt and sun glasses and kidded the band about trying to play in tune for him this time. He said that the concerts were running long and they were going to have to cut 'Sing Me'. One of the ladies with me screamed out for him not to, please, and he hollered out---"Who said that?", and we waved from behind the fence and he hollered back, "Hi sweetie!". Soon after, the rehearsal ended--David said it sounded good--he didn't last time at Laughlin. Last time there was a buzz he didn't like but it was also cooler and then they left.
I saw Robin briefly. Didn't get to talk to her. I waited for the gates to open at 7pm. I'm sure they thought I was crazy. It was baking and I was sure I would be beet red with sunburn---I burn very easily--I burn on my walks during lunch that are much shorter and much cooler-but I wasn't leaving. The others went away.
During my several hour's vigil at the gate, Stan brought me several mega sodas which I drank totally each time, and a burger. Yes, I could have gone in, but I didn't. This was important---even if nothing happened---and it didn't. Something could have happened. The first concert, my mother in law came with us. Stan and Mary Kaye drank $4 beers. I was waiting in the seats. We were 20 rows back in row VV to the side. Actually, not bad seats. The concert started after 8pm--a little late.
OK, here's where it gets sad. (Don't get too sad--it gets better--the next night). I bet half the seats weren't filled. Their sell out was filled with seats given away to high rollers, people who won big jackpots that day, people who took a tour of some development they were building, etc. Actually, it made me mad because their staff kept saying to me "Why did you buy tickets---we are giving them away and better ones then yours". They gave away I would guess, most of the tickets to some of the oldest people you have ever seen on this earth. Don't get me wrong, I like older people but we aren't talking people in their 60's, no, we are talking about people that must hold longevity records for the world, many of them. When they discovered that the concert was outside in 105 heat, they went back inside. Really old people and extreme heat are not a good thing.
Anyway, there were lots of seats ahead of me but no way to get to them. There were plenty of really old people who do not move to let you by here. Our seats were good. Well, David comes on to a half filled house. It is hot as HELL in the stadium--I was sweating puddles so you either stuck to your seat or you floated out of it and there is no way he could miss that the crowd isn't there. He wore the red glittery shirt he did at the other concerts but in no time, it is glued to his body--same as the rest of us but he had no business being in black pants and long sleeved shirt in that heat. I was really worried about him. There was no 'Sing Me', he didn't do many jokes, and there was little audience response to his songs. I was in a section that was filled with people that I am sure were dead. OK, they were breathing, barely--but just barely. They didn't even clap politely--they just sat there, these really old people. The lady next to me asked if I knew all the songs he was singing and I said "YES" and I was singing and clapping and trying so hard. I asked her if she knew any of his songs. She did not. I asked if she knew who he was--she said they told her that he was on TV in the 70's and she pulled out her tickets and pointed to the name. She was seeing David Cassidy. She had no clue. I just said 'UH HUH' and was so sad. She was nice enough, really, she got a freebie and she didn't even know who it was.
David danced and worked so hard in the heat. He shouldn't have worked so hard but he dances and went down on his knees and did it all. He was great, the audience was not so good and the fans were, in the back. When he got to I think I love you, we couldn't get up to the stage and even if I had, the security guard (another one) seemed to think people shouldn't be up there so, that didn't seem to go well either. I really believe David saw this--I saw his expression. I stayed in my seat. Stan was so mad when the concert was over. Oh yeah, David left the stage at one point, where he would have changed shirts but decided not to change shirts. There was no point. He did return for "Cry" but most of the people were already getting up to leave. You can't blame them, it was really hot and no breeze. The air was stagnant. I was mad and sad too. I was so afraid he would think that people didn't care and that he wouldn't get booked again due to this. He did great. He sang his heart out. Sue and Beau were there somewhere---I didn't see them but he announced they were there. He didn't do the Jimmy Hendrix thing or the jokes (other then--"do you remember this--apparently not." He commented on the heat several times and thanked the audience for being there in the heat. Old people should not have been out there. That was scary. There were people our age and a few kids. It wasn't all old age record breakers. But it was sad because there were people going to the ticket counter wanting to get tickets free or otherwise and they were being told no, they couldn't go. It was a sell out with half the seats or more empty. It broke my heart. I am going to write Coca Cola (diet version was the sponsor and tell them it is great that they are sponsoring David---I am going to write another letter or e-mail to Harrahs and thank them but also tell them they did a terrible disservice to a tremendous performer and that their staff, unintentionally were very insulting to those of us that actually paid to come to the concert. I could come to Harrahs for a lot of years but not if I am treated like I was). I really think Harrah's was lucky some poor old person, or several didn't die in that heat. David got a vase with one rose in it that he made a big deal out of saying it was romantic and what else was going on there. Someone gave him a flower lei.
Next day, more shopping, some gambling---I think I came out about even on slots. That's good enough and I went back for rehearsal about 3pm. I asked the guard when they were rehearsing---the same nice one from the day before and he said that it wouldn't be until 4pm he heard and probably not as long as the day before as they were fully set up from the day before. The rehearsal did not happen. I think if they did anything, they must have set sound levels based on the day before and from music they were playing from a tape. Seems a lot of the band/staff went home the day before as they all live in Las Vegas. That's 1.5-2 hours away I guess, maybe less. But, they shut down the road back and they had trouble getting back so, all I can guess is that they didn't get back in time for a rehearsal. They seemed all to be there for the concert. David probably arrived in a black Nissan about an hour and a half before the concert going through that same prior gate. This time, I was the only person hanging out for the rehearsal--and it didn't happen. Lots of cokes again were drunk while I watched for anything to happen. Nothing happened. The Nissan was followed quite closely by a white car and the gate closed quickly after that. I wondered if David drives a black Nissan and maybe he drove his own car in so that he could drive home afterward. There was no limo this time.
Stan and I went to the second concert alone and out tickets were row VV (about 20 back) but absolute center. It was hotter the second night. I was told it was between 113 and 115 depending on your source. There was however, a nice, very hot breeze but even that helped. I saw Kevin and asked about my basket. He didn't know if David liked it or not but said he knew that he had opened it which means--he got my card and whether he liked the contents or not, he had to know that I tried and gave him something unique. Most people would at least recognize the thought anyway. All the food items were absolutely sealed so, hopefully, he felt safe about them. Chocolate would not have made it. People were melting. I think chocolate has a lower melting point then people. Kevin did not seem to be in a great mood or maybe he was just busy or had been worried that the stage folks weren't going to make it. He wasn't rude or anything but maybe distracted was a better descriptor. Anyway, he didn't care about my basket and I understand that and he was busy.
The second night's crowd I think was even smaller then the first but these people, even the old ones, moved and bustled about. They talked to each other and there was some animation. There were more younger people--30's 40's, 50's. There seemed to be more energy despite the much higher heat. The floor was still half empty and the bleachers even more empty but Stan and I though this was a better crowd and it was. David came on and seemed much more 'on' the second night. He told lots of jokes, referenced frequently that he couldn't remember the words anymore because he had heat stroke from the night before, had Alzheimer's (maybe not the best crowd for that one---we did have a lot of old people even still the second night). He talked about the heat a lot and said we were all in it together--he was hot, he figured we were too. He said he heard a lot of us were afraid he would die in the previous night's heat and certainly the drummer would, but they didn't. The second night, he came out in a long sleeved white cotton shirt that he said was old and frayed but that he had to have the red one, what he called his professional performer costume cut off with a razor blade as it melted to him the night before. I think it just got sweat stuck. When it was time to change shirts, he came back in a ribbed, white, short sleeved undershirt I think (maybe a T-shirt but I think an undershirt). I liked it better then the professional outfit. It was more informal, it was personal and I felt like he would be OK. He should have been in shorts like the rest of us but he kept the black pants.
People kept yelling for him to take the shirt off and I am sure he heard this, you could see his head swing around in response to it but he said nothing. A couple of these requests came from girls but some came from guys--guys for their girls or else there was something else going on there. Then the guys started yelling that he should get naked, that we all should---several times but David didn't say anything. This is not a crowd that you would want to see naked. It was not long before David was sweat soaked in both shirts. I really liked the informality better. David thanked everyone for coming out to Saudi Arabia for the concert (referencing the heat). He also talked about the smaller crowd and thanked us for being there, in the heat in what he found out was the slowest week of the year at Laughlin. Memorial Day weekend is a huge sell out and he said he didn't understand why they booked him during their slowest week when he could have been there for the weekend when people could have come. He also said that maybe 60 people (making fun of the low turn out) from Las Vegas didn't get to come either due to the road being shut down but then said, he liked that it was more intimate this way and if you were there, you really must have wanted to be cause it was---113. Remember that with the lights, it was even hotter on stage.
He didn't short us the dancing or the moves. We got lots of jokes, stories, we got Jimi Hendrix music (still no 'Sing Me'), we got sitting on the stage (both shows). One joke he told us was that he was out in the desert about 2 miles away walking naked. This got screams. He stopped and looked at us (bunch of perverts I guess). He tried it again saying he was naked in the desert and got the same screams. We liked naked a lot. The joke was cute too. This crowd was responsive. When he got to Mack the Knife and asked us to snap our fingers (he gave up on the first crowd) we immediately responded and he did the spotlight reference. He was going to show people not doing it and said, anybody not snapping their fingers were going to get a call from him later---so we all stopped and he said, wait a minute, that's not right, we would get a call from his lawyer. We started snapping again.
Anyway, this was a fun, yelling crowd, David seemed in very good spirits and responded to us even though it was way hotter then the night before. This time, when he sang 'I think I love you', I saw no security guard pushing away people from the stage (he wasn't mean--I'm sure he though he was doing what he was supposed to) and Stan took my hand and we went up. I tried to touch his hand but it wasn't my turn this time. Stan however got a nice, firm handshake so I was thrilled for him. I watched him so close as he finished 'I think I love you' and then 'Cry' (they told the audience not to leave this time--thankfully). He was so gorgeous. So beautiful and it was so wonderful. He got a flower lei this concert too--he told the audience they needed to wait a minute for him as he was getting leid (laid). This was a great concert! Stan and I both loved it. We loved both of them but the second one---that was the best one. He said that his touring was largely due to the response he got at Laughlin and AC the first time around and he thanked us for that. So, all of you can also thank us that endured extreme cold and now heat for bringing him to you other folks (just kidding). Robin had some posters of the concert that she took back to him. I think they were for people working the concert to get autographs. I don't know for sure---that is what I heard. Well, then we went back to our room and went to sleep.
Well, that is the concert news. I don't know what other people think about it or what they might already be saying on the chat lists about it. There were people who wanted tickets to the second concert also that couldn't get them because it was 'sold out'. That is sad. People who wanted to go, some of them couldn't, people who could care less either got free tickets and didn't go or went and were for the most part, non responsive. I think David was happy with the second concert. Maybe someone explained that old people and intense heat didn't work and it wasn't personal at all.
The temps at Laughlin were record breaking---they did not expect them to be this high, so it sort of wasn't their fault completely. They should have had the concerts for the weekend. It would have been full. I would be interested to see what other people thought. Maybe others weren't sitting in the 'dead people' section.
Thank you to Carol and Erik (David Cassidy Fan Site of Norway).
