Last night was probably the worst Buffet show I’ve ever seen (this made 7 or 8 for me). To start with, it took over an hour just to get through the gates at PNC Park (arguably the best stadium for baseball). A spokeswman was quoted in an article in today’s Post Gazette saying the crowd thronged the entrances just before the show. I’m not sure where this woman was between 4 and 6, but that crowd was huge long before “just before the show”, and PNC’s pathetic crowd moving ability was partly to blame. All the tickes were printed saying enter at the home plate entrance, and PNC made absolutely no effort to indicate the left field gates were open. Next year, go back to Starlake (our outdoor amphitheater, similar to Blossom or Ravinia, although much larger than Ravinia), who can actually move a crowd. Numerically, the show was a sell-out, but there were a lot of tickets for sale before the show. Because of the way the stage was placed in the park, none of the far outfield seats were sold. Even though there were seats on the field, the total crowd in attendance shouldn’t have been siginficanly more than a sell out Pirates game, and PNC should have been able to move the crowd better.
Speaking of stage placement, Jimmy was some 400 feet or so from where we were, and looked like a little green bug. The video monitors were delayed, so the show looked like a bad Godzilla overdub on those. $100 tickets were way too overpriced to watch a little green bug, or a big head out of sync with the band. There’s no lawn mojo in cramped stadium seat rows, so dancing with the wifeys was just about out of the question.
Finally, why does a guy who has over 20 albums need to make half the second set covers of other songs? We could have done without an OK cover of a lousy James Taylor song that was the inspiriation for your worst book. Part of the second act was so slow that the best part was watching the River Patrol move all the boats away from the Clemente Bridge so the after-concert fireworks could be launched safely.
Jimmy, go back to Starlake and play your own music.