March 9, 1996

From leighton@nexus.interealm.com

A local band showed up and did a short set before Joni's Butterfly, they were quiet and well done show. I guess you have to like the type of music Joni's Butterfly plays to appreciate them, they were much louder than the opening act.

For the most part, they played most of the set list that has been given, no Twist and Shout for an encore, but they played Under A Raging Moon from the Daltrey album of the same name from 1985. A good drum solo during it. It was dedicated to Keith.

There were sound problems, an intermittent hum, but after 100 decibles, you don't notice it much and it only showed up between songs.

The group showed up at a record store called Twist & Shout earlier and sold stuff cheaper than what they were selling it at the bar. The CD number is up to 4592 now, plus there was a story that Rhino Records is going to put out the Entwistle best of later this year in the paper yesterday.

They sold tickets for $10 each, a big mistake. This is a $25 show in a small club (338 by order of the fire department), I don't know how much sponsorship they got from Coors Light or a local radio station to make up for the ticket price. Even if they raised the tickets to $15 they only had to sell around 220 to make the same money.

It is safe to say that this was the 2nd loudest concert I've been to, John was involved in the loudest concert back in 1970 when The Who showed up at Mammouth Gardens. The floor was shaking and you could feel sound waves bouncing against you all the time.

After seeing Emerson, Lake, and Palmer 2 years ago and then hearing about the surgery that Keith Emerson had on his hands, watching John doing what he does best is incredible. John needs both speed and strength compared to the stretching that Emerson does on keyboards.

Somebody earlier advised to buy advance tickets, this one was sold out, we tried to get tickets for a friend earlier this week and they weren't available. If you get in a situation where you have to trade the rights for your first born for a ticket, take the ticket.

We saw the tour bus sitting at the side of the bar when we left, there was a Virginia licence plate sitting in the front window that said IM THE OX.

There is an art gallery in Fort Collins, Colorado that is showcasing his artwork now, he was there on Friday night.

From: rmoscati@isddendg.cr.usgs.gov (Rick Moscati)

It was quite the Entwistle weekend in Denver. John made three public appearences between Friday and Saturday night. Friday night about 50-75 fans went to a night club in Denver to view (and purchase, if you could afford the $21,500 for some of the originals) John's ink drawings. All of the drawings were similar in style to the Who By Numbers album cover. During the viewing John was cordial to all, chating and taking photos. Toward the end of the evening, fans queued for the opportunity to buy The Rock CD, t-shirts, etc., and have the items autographed by the entire band.

Saturday afternoon John stopped by a local record store for 1 hour to sell and sign more copies of the CD. I wonder, has John been making public appearences like this, to sell art and CDs, in other cities??

Saturday night was the concert, and it goes without saying that it was great, especially after the band got over a few technical problems throughout the first few songs. After each of the first three songs there were these minute or two pauses while they adjusted instruments, mikes, knobs, dials, or whatever. It kinda ruined the pulse of the crowd. Once these difficulties were overcome, the early problems were quickly forgotten. As was noted in previous concert reports, I particularly enjoyed the drum and bass solo during Shakin All Over, John's fingers were a blurrrrr. Just awesome.