Last night was the big concert night I’ve been anxiously awaiting for the last few weeks. Trans Siberian Orchestra at the Erwin Center! Finally!
We left the house at our planned time of 6:30 pm. Wat neither of us had considered was that it was a weekday, and we’d be driving through the end of rush hour traffic. As we were creeping along the expressway at about 10 miles an hour, I started to worry we wouldn’t get there in time to eat before the show. Of course, being anxious and cranky doesn’t make traffic move any faster.
After the slow and annoying drive, we finally were within sight of the parking garage. As to be expected, there was a line of cars waiting to get in. We pulled up to the end of the line (after a very exciting u-turn I was sure would lead to ur demise), and then … we sat and sat and sat. The line wasn’t moving! I finally got annoyed enough to hop out of the truck to go see what was holding things up. I usually doesn’t take all that long for cars to get into a parking garage. All I could see was a long line of cars sitting and waiting to get in. No idea what the hold up was, but shorty after I hopped back into the truck, things started moving.
Lin gave the attendant our parking pass, and we quickly picked a spot to park and dashed off in the direction everyone else was moving. Thank goodness for signs with clear directions, because by the time we got to the stairs, we couldn’t tell if everyone had gone up or down. Had it not been for the signs, we would have gone down, and the correct direction was up … and follow the sidewalk to the right. It spit us right out across the street from the Erwin Center.
That’s when it started to drizzle. Just a little, but considering we’d both decided we didn’t want to deal with carrying around a jacket or coat at the concert, we were less than happy about not only being cold but also getting wet. We crossed the street quickly and found ourselves standing in a somewhat long and slow moving line of people. There was also a lack of any kind of signage, so no one had any idea if this was the line we should be standing in or not. By this point, I was seriously becoming concerned we would miss dinner entirely.
It felt like it took forever, but at last we gained entrance to the building, and after asking where the Lone Star Room was and not really getting an answer, we found it on our own and dashed in to enjoy a very rushed meal. For me, thirty minutes to eat, use the restroom, buy drinks, and find our seats is way too rushed, but we d what we have to do!
I’d like to say something nice about the food. It looked nice. It even smelled nice. The buns were nice a fluffy. The salad was fresh and crisp. Unfortunately, that’s where the nice stopped. The green beans and potatoes were woefully undercooked, the poor chicken had every drop of juiciness and life cooked out of it, and I would have never thought it possible for there to be an apple crumble tart I wouldn’t finish, but I met just such a tart. We ate it all, of course, but we chuckled about it the whole way through. Nothing to be done about it anyway, and we were hungry.
Next up, we stopped at the bar for a glass of wine, which we hurriedly drank since we weren’t sure if we could take it in with us or not. Slamming a glass of wine worked to finally chase the last of the outdoor chill away. Then I hassled off to the insanity of the women’s restroom, and we headed into the arena area. Seeing a bar right by the door, we bought two more glasses of wine and went in to find our seats.
I’ve only been to the Erwin Center once before, and I’d never been down on the floor before. We walked in, I looked up and around, and all I could say was WOW. The show wasn’t sold out, but there were thousands and thousands of people, and the venue is just huge. Being down on the floor made me feel small. LOL! When I stopped gawping at the room and all the people, I noticed Lin had been moving in the direction of our section. Well, I assumed that was where he was headed. He’s the one who bought the tickets and saw the seating chart. I had no idea where in the mass of humanity we would find ourselves sitting.
I caught up to Lin just as he got to a riser at the back left of the floor. It was really full, and I was hoping our two seats weren’t the ones at the inside end of a very long row of people. Thankfully, we were up at the back and right on the end! Perfect! Our view of the stage was incredible, and should we need to acquire more beverages or something, we wouldn’t have to annoy everyone else to get out of our seats. Yippee!
Then … we waited. And waited some more. 8 pm came, and we were still waiting. I chatted with the lady sitting next to me, and Lin went off to get more wine. While he was gone, the house lights went down and stage lights came up. Just as Lin got back (out of wine, so I had to drink a Bud beer, yuck), various announcements were made about money being raised for a local organization (Casa de Luz) and sundry other things. Then, at last, the show started!
I’m not even going to try to describe the show in too much detail. Lights, lasers, smoke, fire, snow. Yes, snow! And the music? Incredible and beautiful. The first half of the show had a narrator telling a Christmas story in between each of the songs. It was lovely and moving. Then the last half of the show was rock-n-roll and soul and classical classics. The light show and pyrotechnics were awesome, but the best part was when the very large and no doubt heavy equipment hanging overhead moved down and the performers ran out on it. One of them was right in front of us! So cool!
Or actually, not cool but hot. When Lin saw Trans Siberian Orchestra a few years ago, he was sitting very close to the stage, and he said he could feel the heat from the pyrotechnics. We thought, sitting sans far back as we were, we wouldn’t really notice the heat at all, but now were we wrong! I can’t imagine how hot it must be on stage, because sitting across the large room from them, I still felt like I was right in front of a campfire. When a mini stage came up from the floor right beside our section with flames coming out of it, I think I could have roasted a marshmallow. LOL!
Then, the show was over. It was almost three hours long, which is quite a long concert, but I could have watched another three hours! My advice to anyone who wonders if they should go see Trans Siberian Orchestra is to just pay whatever they want and go see them. I would say that in most venues, there isn’t likely to be a bad seat in the house. The show is going to be incredible to see no matter where you sit, and the music is phenomenal. it is totally worth the money. I am so glad I finally got the chance to go, and I suspect I will want to see them again in the future.
We exited the Erwin Center and found ourselves walking back to the parking garage in a right proper rain storm. I was thankful I’d decided not to wear heels. Had I done so, I’d have been even more drenched. I was so glad to get back to the truck, but getting out of the parking garage was pure madness. I don’t even know how long we sat there waiting for the line of cars to move, but it felt like ages. I turned on the radio and started singing along to the songs to stave off the boredom and aggravation. Eventually things got moving, and we were out on the expressway driving home in the cold rain.
To finish off this splendid night, I poured both of us a final glass of wine, and we watched the season finale of Next Great Artist before flopping into bed fatigued. I was a great date night which even managed to get me somewhat into a Merry Christmas mood again … and fun was had by all!
