Welcome to the Cuthbert amphitheater.
I absolutely loved this place.
First off because of the name. In Stephen King's Gunslinger series, Cuthbert was the childhood friend of main character, Roland. That series is by far my favorite of all of King's writings.
But you have to love the place itself. To get in here, you walk down a short path through some woods, over a wide footbridge that crosses a river and into the gates. The river you cross is behind the stage where you see all those trees. Ducks swim in the river and fly across the sky alone or in small groups.
It is charming to say the least.
Certainly not the largest amphitheater that I have ever visited. But, that is another plus. You can buy reserve seating down in the front 15 rows... and five of those were chairs set up close. Most people enjoyed spreading blankets on the lawn or chairs brought from home. Picnic baskets abound. Little kids through geezers dance around.
We brought our chairs.
However, they were too tall. Your butt can only be six inches above the ground. So a lovely blond babysat our chairs for us by the gate.
I am not a laid back person.
I am hyper and easily excited when not getting my way. A brat.
Randy is though. He accepted this with way more grace than I was feeling, so I kept my yap shut. But I knew my butt would go numb quickly sitting on the lawn. Grumble.
The good fortune fairy smiled on us and showed us to nice seats in the 17th row... smack dab in the center.
Not bad for general admission. I have paid reserved prices for much worse seating. I have to give kudos to the staff here... they did everything they could to make sure that everyone had a wonderful time.
We did our version of a picnic... a foot long subway cold cut combo and sodas brought from home.
You can't bring in booze of any sort.
You have to buy their booze. At six bucks for a beer or glass of wine,
well... we opted for alcohol free viewing.
No one checked our bag. We could have brought a thermos of mixed cocktails I suppose.
Maybe next time.
All in all, we had a great time. The first act was a gal by herself from Portland.
Not my cup of tea... that sort of depressing new age version of old country western... minus the dog and the truck. You know the sort. Love does not work out, the guy cheats, whine.
I made it through that hour by people watching.
Randy leans over and says
"Why is everyone here so old?"
Yeah, a mostly geezer audience, but that changed the closer we got to Pat Benatar.
I guess only geezers show up an hour early.
See the geezer in the hat next to grandma?
Yeah, they stood up and swayed around in front of me for the whole two hours that Pat and Spider were doing their thing. It looks like I have a great view... and I would have if they had sat down.
So I watched a fractured flicker of the show, playing peek a boo with grandma and geezer.
Toward the end, I stood up too.
But at least I had the courtesy to check behind me to see if I was blocking anyone else first.
Nope, geezer and grandma ran them all off.
Only the techs were behind me at that point.
It was a very cozy show too.
Pat and Spider talked about their life and their songs.
They joked about Oregon water... which we are sure was NOT water at all.
Spider donned a duck hat!
Duck fan that I am, he grabbed my heart on that one.
Fun stuffs! Great show!
Let me tell you... for age 57, Pat looks fantastic and sounds even better.
She can still belt it out as if she was 20.
Even our trip home was a gift.
We managed to find a perfect parking spot for escape and made the exit quickly.
Then it was time for a drink and a bit of TV before bed. Perfect.
That sounds like a great show. Sorry about the few hiccups, though.
ReplyDeleteChurlita-- It was indeed! I have to run and find a job... so I will stop by your blog and others later.
ReplyDeleteI missed the hiccups!
Sounds fun - I like outdoor concerts.
ReplyDeleteSo, you can't bring in regular size lawn chairs, but you can feel free to stand up and block the view. Something about that seems off...but that is exactly how it always seems to end up at concerts! It sounds like you guys had a great time. I know it helps to have a sense of humor, as you two clearly do :-)
ReplyDeletei think perfect might include a daggit.
ReplyDeletesecret agent woman-- It was indeed a sweet experience.
ReplyDeletelaura b.-- Sort of a concert paradox.
ReplyDeleteYeah, the sense of humor was intact.
We both tend to have any fun we can find.
billy pilgrim-- I thought the Cylon wars wiped out all the daggits! I want a daggit!
ReplyDeleteHeck... I just want a baby pit. Randy says we have to wait until after we get back from Roseberg... but that's tomorrow. Yippee!
Its about fecking time!
Oh, I loved the comment about the audience looking so old. If it's 2010 and you're at a Pat Benitar concert, the audience is us and we ARE old. I hear she still has the pipes and I wish her only the best.
ReplyDeleteI love venues like that. And, personally, I'm always rather thrilled when the crowd is populated with geezers. That way, I'm not the only one! :-)
ReplyDeleteCube-- Yeah, we are geezers too. There was one pair... two geezer women who were dressed like biker babes that were standing on the seats and gyrating to beat the band.
ReplyDeleteI got a real kick out of seeing them let go for a bit and recapture some of that lost youth. But then the fun police stepped in and made them get down from their folding stages. Its all about the insurance! Ha.
Suldog-- I cannot tell you how cool it was there. I was enchanted with the ducks flying around, the perfect temperature and the beauty. I also enjoyed the little ones running around laughing before the show. Plus, it gave them the opportunity to kind of talk to us like we were all sitting around in their living room. A wonderful way to enjoy!
ReplyDeleteThe thing about us geezers is that we are generally well behaved, friendly and considerate. It made for a rare opportunity to sort of be a "herd" again.
Looks like a great place to see a show. Glad you enjoyed it.
ReplyDeleteIt kind of reminds me of one of the best shows I ever saw - both musically and weather/venue-wise. Miles Davis at an outdoor stadium like a larger version of Cuthbert, 1986. Perfect weather, a bunch of friends. Spyro Gyra opened and were pretty damn good. Sun started to set, moon started to rise, Miles came on and played a great, and long, show.
Geezers, heh, heh. I put on an "oldies" station not too long ago. I was in the mood for some Elvis and the like. Nope. They were playing a bunch of Eagles, Steve Miller, and other friggin' albums I'd bought new.
Yep.
The last time I got carded was pretty funny. For smokes yet. I'm sure the place just made it a policy to card everyone. Still, I had to ask as I handed over my license: "Do you think there's a chance in hell that I'm 17!?!? What, do you think I shaved my head and dyed my beard gray so I could buy?
Cashier understood my point.
Yeah, they could fall and break a hip ;-)
ReplyDeleteCube-- hahahahahahaha!
ReplyDelete