Hey ho Mongers! This is from my last minute journey to see Ann and the Ricola's in Cleveland Heights Monday night. Mike, formerly KickingOut on AOL picked me up downtown Pittsburgh at 4:15, and with a friend of his from his work we traveled the 2 and a half hour journey to Cain Park in east Cleveland. We arrived around 7 PM, and found our seats, not getting bad seats considering we got them an hour b4 showtime. Row k, not bad. For you Pittsburghers, it's kinda like a miniature Starlake, but much better for parking and stuff.

Finding our seats, Dee and Susan Mills found us, and were somewhat surprised I think hehe...It was nice to hook up w/them b4 the show.

They played Nancy's pre-recorded message explaining her abscence, and then the show started around 8. The crowd was small, but there were a few ppl who stood up (occasionally obstructing my view), and some ppl really got into the dancing thing. hehe...

Playing the 17 song set(identical to what's been posted, besides Ann warming up once with a lil blurb of "Wild Horses") somewhat quickly, the show ended promply around 9:15-9:30. Me and Mike and his friend agreed it seemed they were in a rush or something, it was over really quick. They played short versions of most the songs it seemed. Still, it was kewl set, I think highlighted by the opening "Voodoo Doll"....a song I really wanted to see/hear live, and it didn't disappoint, tho I obviously woulda liked Nancy playing/singing along. I also looked forward to the Zeppelin cover of Black Dog. The new songs Strong Strong Wind, and Crossing The River were alright, and have potential after I get to hear them a few more times. CTR kinda has a r'n'b...er....soulful..ummm...tropical kinda feel to it, liked the drums by Ben on it a lot, and the rhythm acoustic by Scott. Had a nice groove. Ann plays the flute on Crossing The River, and I really loved that. MORE FLUTE ANN! :)

I still carry my disdain for the slow/acoustic version of All I Wanna Do, it just seems...so...mushy hehe....it really seems to drag on...the song never ends hehe...just my honest opinion.

After the show, we hung out, waiting for a possible glimpse of the band. Some lucky mongers got backstage passes somehow, (hint: running into some VIP's at the Rock & Roll hall of fame :), tho we had to wait outside in the hopes that we would still be able to meet somebody in the band. I did spot Howard once off to the left side of the stage, and I walked over to him and I think he looked at me expectently, as if ready to sign something for me and talk for a sec, but alas I had nothing for him to sign! :( hehe....what luck, when I eventually ran back and grabbed a program, he had started to walk away and I was too shy to call him back.

O well, so we walked back over to the right side of the stage, where the backstage pass mongers had gathered prior, and eventually I spotted Frank walking along the terrace and I called out "Frank! Hey Frank!", and he looked over and recognized me and so he jumped down and sat next to us. He then reachedout his hand to shake my hand and chatted for a few minutes. He asked us how many shows this was for us, and I knew he recognized me cuz he said "Hey Todd, isn't this around your neck of the woods?" I asked him about Kathy, and he confirmed earlier posts by Kathy by saying "Nah, she's back home holding down the fort...she's going to be doing some missionary work down in Mexico." After signing the lil programs from the park for us, he was off again. Frank is really nice, thanx for stopping to chat for a few minutes with us Frank! :) It was so nice to meet you again.

We waited around a lil longer, I really wanted to say hi to Howard, being the only band member I hadn't had the chance to meet yet (until Pittsburgh!), but we got kicked out shortly after Frank left us. :(

Back To Tour Main Page