It was the best of times; it was the worst of times.... But wait, I plagiarize too much! ;-)

My ambiguous prior sentence was because, once again, TicketMaster screwed the day. My 8-year-old daughter, Micaela, was so excited at the prospect of sitting in the front row. As we approached the gate into Starplex, I kiddingly told her that I had a secret fear that all the seating assignments would be scrambled and we'd wind up somewhere else... little did I know that the "FRONT ROW" seats I'd bought were behind two additional rows!!! Rows NOT in the Starplex seating chart either online or at the box office. Two rows of folding chairs were marked in *chalk*, "Row 1" and "Row 2", which by the way, were right in front of our "Row A". I am calling and writing both Starplex and TicketMaster to call them to task on such a duplicitous tactic. I'm sure all of those two additional rows were comps to radio stations, etc. I'm still spitting tacks about that one! Micaela started crying because she was so disappointed, so I had to control my irritation so the night wouldn't be ruined for her. Fortunately, the two rows started just to our right, and she had a very clear view of Paul, Andre, Pacheco, and Michael (whom she has a crush on!).

The second PITA (pain in the a**) was that my camera battery died at the beginning of the performance. I had four rolls of film with me, and no battery. ARGGGHH! Oh, well, once I resigned myself to not taking pictures, I just enjoyed the concert!

The third PITA thing was the &%$*#&% IDIOTS that were talking, going in and out of the rows, trying to hold conversations and generally acting as though they were at a picnic with the radio on. It was embarrassing, and I noticed Paul looking at me when I glared at some of the lunatics. I smiled at him and shrugged... the Starplex gestapo tried to keep these nut cases in control, but they often did more to aggravate the rest of us than the original offenders.

Okay, for the good parts now! They essentially played the Las Vegas play list substituting one of Tonino's new songs for Galaxia (I think!). They omitted one other song, as well, but I haven't figured out which... Poco a Poco, I believe. The best part was that Micaela was dancing away, and she got several smiles, waves, and a couple of kisses thrown from Paul and Andre! During Baila, Baila, Baila, she was having a great time, and suddenly, Nicolas, who had been walking around with the wireless mike, came her direction and held his hand out as he sang... just to her! EVERYONE was looking at my paya-bimbette as she suddenly got self conscious! She loved it, though. Later, Paul and Andre invited an attractive young lady in a very tight outfit up on stage to dance. She at least was pretty good, and she wasn't doing the "seven-veils" thing I saw last year.

One thing about Starplex, their security is incredible. There is a fence that separates the front row from the stage with about a five foot space between... no bimbos getting on stage uninvited! Several people told Micaela they thought she should have been invited up... I'm not sure how she would have handled that, though! She loved it all, as did I, of course, but after my experience in Vegas, this night was for her.

She was really hoping to get autographs and meet the band... after the concert we went around to the backstage area... HORDES of people were getting in with special passes. I have no idea who they were or why they got the passes. Many people tried to fake their way in. Security was so tight there was not a chance of even catching anyone's eye. My poor little one started crying when they told us we all had to leave. Some ladies who had also been trying for autographs started begging the security guard to take Micaela to meet them, that surely he wouldn't be that hard hearted... but, he was. It took a lot of talking for me to get Micaela to think about the good parts of the concert and to not worry about what didn't happen. I've promised her that if we can, I'll take her to Las Vegas next year! So, hang on gang, my little dynamo will be trying to steal center stage! :-D

It was a wonderful night, made even better by getting home to see the final (yawn) two periods of the Stars game! I've been a hockey fan for so long, it was a real dream come true for them to win! Believe me, being a hockey fan in Dallas was a lonely life until the Stars came here! ;^)

By the way... I don't know if my letter to the Dallas Morning News had anything to do with it or not... but check out the review of the concert...

http://www.dallasnews.com/entertainment/0620aover2gipsy.htm

Notice that Thor Christensen did NOT review the show!!

Okay, I'm about done in... this has been a wild, wild weekend for me (old lady, not used to such things, ya know), and I need my "beauty sleep"! I'll check in tomorrow if I remember anything of substantial importance!

Night, all!

Karen in Dallas

I sat in Row 2 of the fold up chairs and I purchased them for $150 each. Ticketmaster NEVER gets these seats. These seats are usually reserved for the band/Starplex guests but ticket re-sellers sometimes get a hold of these tickets. I would always check with the ticket re-sellers other then Ticketmaster they usually get better seats although they are usually more expensive then Ticketmaster but sometimes it's worth it!

By the way I think that the acoustics at the Starplex are not great but I noticed that the vocals on Saturday night were a bit distorted. I saw the GK's last year and thought that it was much better. I also saw them in A.C. and also at Radio City Music Hall and the concert at Radio City Music Hall because of the awesome acoustics there was the best sounding concert I have ever been to of any group!!

Also, don't you think they could have done a better encore?

Oscar