Interlude

Bob Ritchie At His Best 8/17/11
Photo Credit: Kevin Ferguson
 Bethel Woods Center for the Arts 

So, in case you're bored with all the suggestive Neil Diamond lyrics and titles, I thought to tell you about Kid Rock. I'll return to the Cape, shortly. Diversity is the name of the game, here, and always there's a bad boy of rock 'n' roll on our eclectic list of musicians-to-enjoy. I'm not so sure Kid is quite as bad-ass as he tries to come across, though. He's got a lot of qualities I'm pretty fond of, but let's talk music.

He's mega-talented. Mega. Writes, sings and plays every instrument on the stage. Does all of the above well.  Gives his all, in concert. Doesn't skip a beat, no pun intended. Covers multiple genres, but I'm still callin' it R 'n' R. Interesting variety of band members, with a wide range of race, gender, age and body types represented. I liked that. Awesome sense of humor and fun. It's not every day a guy turns f'ing forty. Hey, "Bruce Springsteen's 62 and the Stones are almost dead." :-) We didn't sit, all night long. That's a good thing. An entertainer... grabbed the crowd from beginning to end. Can't say that about many musicians. But, there's a downside...

His crowd (13,000 last night) makes Dylan's pot-smoking audience and U2's alcohol-indulging following all look tame, by comparison. The lawn is one thing... but I'm talkin' under the pavilion. A lot of real bad-asses, though the woman directly in front of me squashed her joint, when I said to her, "You're killing me. Are you putting that $$%%##@@ out anytime soon?"  And we won't talk about the harder drugs being consumed to our right, where a brawl almost broke out. Be warned. Um, security?

All said and done, I maintain that our Bethel Woods is the most exquisite venue of all. Though still a few kinks to work out - security being numero uno and exiting traffic coming in a close second - I must say that we are a lucky county to have such an amazing place. And for the record, our relatively inexpensive, face-value seats were fabulous. Section 100 is dead center. 
A great show, last night.