From WESLEYWAT@aol.com Tue Oct 15 17:52:35 1996
From: WESLEYWAT@aol.com
Date: Tue, 15 Oct 1996 20:20:44 -0400
To: app@roadkill.com
Subject: Mesa, Arizona Concert
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Hi all.....

Just got back from the Oct 14th AP concert. It was incredible!!! No changes
from the current set list, so I won't reiterate or spoil anything. 

My brother, Matt, and I bought eight tickets the day they went on sale. At
the time we bought them, we weren't sure who would use all the tickets, but
we figured we wanted to have enough tickets for anybody who might want them.
We ended up bringing three friends who were not AP/P fans to the concert
along with three of our own kids (his 8 yr old; my 14 and 16 year olds). Our
kids were already fans having grown up in homes where APP has been background
music their entire lives. Matt's 8 year old sang along with all the songs. 

I specifically used the words "were not AP/P fans" for the other three guys.
After the concert, all were pumped about AP/P. Strong suggestion for those of
you who have yet to attend your local concert: buy a couple extra tickets and
give them away. Think of it as a ministry to your friends - and it doesn't
hurt AP and the guys either. 

The Mesa Amphitheatre is a small outdoor terraced lawn venue. We were one of
the first groups in and chose a spot about forty yards back from the stage.
This gave a good view over the heads of the people standing at the stage. The
sound was also better a little ways back. The place was less than half full -
not at all crowded. It holds 4,000 and I would guess there were 1,600 - 1,800
there.  We had rain all morning. This was good because the temperatures have
been exceeding 100 degrees for the past couple of weeks. The rain brought
temps down a good 20 degrees for the day of the show. The clouds cleared out
by late afternoon and the weather was terrific the entire concert.

After the concert, a small group of us (six to be exact) went backstage and
waited for the band. There was also a couple from Evening Star (the concert
promoter) waiting backstage. After only about ten minutes, Peter Beckett came
out and had a long laugh with the promoters. The City of Mesa passed an
ordinance this year that prohibits smoking in ALL public places -
restaurants, bowling alleys, work places, even the Amphitheatre. The promoter
had some friends on the police force and they "arrested" Peter Beckett for
smoking during the intermission. 

Peter and the promoter then compared other favorite practical joke stories
for several minutes while the rest of us quietly listened in. While they were
talking, Alan came in and quietly joined our group. He was joined later by
Ian and Stuart. After about fifteen minutes, someone mentioned Neil and Alan
seemed rather surprised and went back to the dressing room and returned with
Neil, John and Gary. They were all very unassuming and spent about half an
hour relaxing and chatting with the six of us and the crew from the
Amphitheatre. 

Most of the previous experiences were repeated here: Alan asked about the
sound; Ian was the most talkative and again passed along the hint on using
the CD-ROM; River North was discussed in less than positive vocabulary; Neil
talked about his days with ELO-part 2; Alan had his usual beer which he
sipped occasionally; etc.
 
I got Alan to autograph my Freudiana (white) cd and encouraged him to do
something from it on future tours. I also mentioned that I thought including
it as a triva question in the CD-ROM was a great idea. He was surprised to
see it, and asked how hard it was to get. I said it was very easy to get as
long as you are willing to spend the $26 - which I was.

My brother had Alan, Ian and Stuart sign his Keats cd (japanese import which
he found at Best Buy about a year ago). When Alan saw it, he was surprised we
had it, claimed that he himself didn't have that album and hollered over to
Ian to take a look at it. I'm beginning to wonder if this isn't their inside
joke on rare albums as it has been repeated before in backstage
conversations. 

Peter was thrilled with the humidity. Good for the throat. He said he was
going to go out and buy a humidifier for his hotel rooms. The entire band was
very tired (Ian was drinking Pedialyte due to dehydration) and looking
forward to having Tuesday off. 

Alan and I discussed computer sequencing (I didn't have the nerve to ask how
much of the concert was sequenced - it just seemed rude!) and he mentioned
that On Air is the first album he has done on the Mac. He had been using the
Amiga before then. 

Alan did not seem at all disappointed in the size of the crowd. He said he
was thrilled to play to smaller audiences because they were more appreciative
of the new stuff. He mentioned another concert (I believe it was the Portland
one) as being excellent because it was so small. 

After about half an hour, someone announced that they were about to preview a
video on the bus (nobody said what of - music video from On Air? "Braveheart"
from the local Blockbuster? no idea what the video was!!!!), and they all
quickly left. 

We all had a great time - THANKS STEVE MARTIN!!!! A very memorable night!!

Wes (and Matt) Watson

From proton@netzone.com Tue Oct 22 05:24:14 1996
Date: Tue, 22 Oct 1996 05:14:58 -0700
To: wesley.chun@Eng (Wesley J. Chun)
From: Prator <proton@netzone.com>
Subject: Re: Call for Reviews
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On Monday, Oct. 14th, the Mesa Amphitheatre hosted an euphoric evening with
Alan Parsons. This was the second Arizona visit for the group. This could
have been known as the "stealth" tour because of the lack of mainstream
advertising. The gate showed that about 1,200 fans were in attendence for
the 2 1/2 hour show. Even though this was an weekday show, there were
several families with small children in the audience. After an hour of
playing selections from the previous albums, the band took a short break
started the second set with several selections from On Air. The flying theme
was perfect as the amphitheatre is in the flight path of Sky Harbor Int'l
Airport and you could watch the jets slowly pass overhead as if being gently
carried by Ian's solos. As the evening progressed, the fans slowly migrated
from the grass up to the front of the stage. My 68 year old father was
especially happy that the second encore was "Games People Play," which AP
did not play in their first Arizona performance at Phoenix Symphony Hall.
One of the most memorable moments (other than hearing "Brother Up in
Heaven") was after the last encore when Alan and Ian stepped down from the
stage to shake hands with the mob. As my wife and I were rolling up our
banket, two eighteen year old boys ran past my father screaming, "We touched
him, we touched him!" and began joyously dancing with their friends.

Sorry for not recounting the play lists, but I was enjoying myself too much
to remember everything.

M. Prator