Tim & Cheri Harden
JEB in Ft. Worth Tx. 7/16/98 My wife and I drove from Austin to Ft. Worth and got to the Caravan of Dreams at around 6:30 PM. We saw the Hotel California tour bus parked on the side of COD so we took some pictures of the bus. 1, 2, 3 & 4. They have a trailer behind the bus for equipment. I thought the trailer was only big enough for John's setup! It was pretty small, I thought.
While I'm taking these pictures we could hear them doing a soundcheck. They played parts of "Had Enough" and "905". Later, Steve L. had problems with this song's click track on the keyboard backing track. So now I know why they were doing a soundcheck with this song. He has a multi-track recorder playing the original keyboard track with a click track. Later during the show, Steve lost the click track in his earphones and had to keep time by watching the bouncing LED level meters while the keyboard track plays. That's not fun. So we went in to the COD, got our tickets and could look through the glass doors and see the JEB doing their sound check. Besides these songs they played parts of, there was a lot of talk about vocal mikes, monitors, etc. I took a couple of pictures through the glass doors to the band but I figured they wouldn't turn out well. So I'm not posting those here. So we waited and waited... They said that doors open at 7:00 PM but the JEB didn't get done with their check until about 6:50 PM and the opening band "The Waltons" had just started setting up and soundchecking their equipment. But they were pretty fast.Once we were in, I bought some of John's paraphernalia. Like a t-shirt, key chain, picks, etc. I was disappointed that they didn't have an updated tour program. It was just more reprints of the 1996 Left For Dead Tour book. Then we patiently waited for the opening band. It was DEFINITELY worth the wait! They started at 8:00 PM on the dot. I would JUMP on the opportunity to see this band, "The Waltons". If you're into this type of music, don't miss it!
Now for the JEB!!! They
took the stage at 9:15 PM. While they were gearing up, the P.A. played a song
from their new album. What's funny, is that they wound up standing around
for the last 20 seconds or so waiting to start their first song while the
VP's song was ending. Kinda like, "We're not playing, yet we're in front of
our audience. Let's just stand here and look cool for the mean-time until
this song is over." Here's the set list:
"Real Me"
"Had Enough"
"My Size"
"Success Story" - with the Buzzard 8-string bass
"Trick Of The Light" - kept his 8-string out
"You" - still has the 8-string out
"Shakin' All Over" - COMPLETELY AWESOME BASS SOLO! With standing ovation for
John.
"Whiskey Man"
"Sometimes" - from Van-Pires
"905" - I'll give credit to Steve L. for watching bouncing LED meter without
hearing the click track.
"Under A Raging Moon" Steve's drum solo. Here, Steve and John traded licks.
Completely outstanding! Standing ovations here.
"Heaven And Hell"
The Van-Pires Theme
They left the stage for a moment and came back on. I didn't really feel like
yelling for them to arrive back to the stage because every concert I go to,
it's already planned that they'll be back for an encore. I knew that there's
no way they wouldn't be back.
"Summertime Blues"
After the show was over, I took these pictures of John's setup.
Later, John came out for the anticipated meeting and autographing. Here, I was showing him a Polaroid picture of my tattoo of my bass and his red Buzzard bass that's on the back of my right shoulder.
Here, I'm pointing out which is my bass and which is his bass in the tattoo. He seemed a bit confused. Either he couldn't see that close - look at his nose, you can tell he wears glasses of some kind - or he was too drunk to tell what he was seeing.
He asked, "Where is it?". I pointed to the back of my right shoulder and said, "It's right here." He said, "Let's have a look." So here I am, taking off my shirt at John's request in front of his band, entourage and everyone else waiting in line! Here's a picture of John looking hesitantly at my tattoo
CLASSIC! I had him sign the Polaroid and my Hot Licks video tape jacket. I also asked him if his son plays the bass. He said, "No. He's too much into computers." Typical kid, I guess.
Next, it was my wife's turn to meet him. Here, she's showing him a picture we took from the '96 tour. It's a picture she took of him goofing off for the camera while signing autographs from the last tour. In the '96 picture, Cheri asked John to smile for the camera. The rock-n-roll slut sitting next to John put her boot in front of John's face. John grabbed the boot and moved it over revealing the best smile I've ever seen photographed anywhere. And my wife got it! We had it enlarged and framed. We took the picture to Ft. Worth so John could see it and sign it for us.
Here, Godfrey is pointing to Steve in the picture who you can partially see in the photo enlargement.
People behind John at this point were commenting that they remember this shot being taken. Here, John makes a comment to Godfrey about the picture.
Here, Godfrey has a laugh and John signs the picture.
In '96, John tells my wife "Don't let my wife see that picture." right after she took that picture. Probably because of the r-n-r slut sitting next to him. As my wife is explaining the picture to John, he says, "Well I'm thankfully divorced now." He also signs my "Smash Your Head Against The Wall" CD jacket. I think everyone will agree that it was an amazing show. You will know that John is the best bass player in the world after seeing him and one of his shows. I always have and will see John over Roger or Pete. Thanx for taking the time to read about our experience in Ft. Worth. Tim...