We went up to Knoxville for the Fleetwood Mac show on Sunday. More on that in a minute. First, let me tell you about the Hampton Inn in Downtown Knoxville and give you the Critter Count. Also, a list of all the curses Knoxville threw at us.
It’s interesting to me that I NEVER get a feedback survey from a Hampton that has given me shitty service. This Hampton is located across a VERY busy street from a big church with big, real bells. That they ring. A LOT. I suppose they ring the shit out of them on Sunday in particular, since they rang them at 8am and I stopped counting CLANGS after 500. Yes, FIVE HUNDRED. It was about 5-7 minutes straight of discordant clanging. Horrible. So between the street noise all night and the clanging bells, we got very little sleep Saturday night/Sunday morning (don’t forget the fucking time change). We tried to sleep in, but that never works because the loud assholes checking out will start slamming doors at around 9-10am. We finally crawled out of bed around 11 and went downstairs. There was some dark haired girl at the desk (Ashley, I found out) who asked how my stay has been, so I told her. HORRIBLE. She got a pissy look on her face and didn’t offer to do a thing. I asked if we could move and she said no. So we go find lunch and come back to a nice guy at the desk. He, too, asked how our stay has been and I told him, HORRIBLE. Rather than ignore that, he immediately said he could move us to a quieter room, which we did. No further incidents at Hampton, other than the hate email I’m going to write them in a minute. They did 100% NOTHING about my shitty night’s sleep, which is against their policy. I’m sure the regional manager will take care of it. Curse ONE.
Critter Count Mar 7&9 2015 Knoxville-ATL
Critter (can’t ID) 9
Road Pizza 7
Raccoon 3
Cat 1
Groundhog 1 (HA! that’s what he gets!)
Coyote 1
Opossum 1
Skunk 1
Bud Light Box (the choice of litterbugs everywhere!) 3
Hobo 2
The count was better coming back that going up for sure!
On With The Show Tour 2014-15 Fleetwood Mac
We met up with Chrissy and David for preshow noshies and cocktails. It was great fun and we finally managed to get a cab with some other folks and we got to our seats just as the show started. Yay!
This tour is the first with Christine McVie in over a decade. So it is FULL BAND. I’ve seen Fleetwood Mac (w/Stevie), but w/out Lindsey in the 90s. I’ve seen Stevie Nicks a couple of times solo. It was at Thompson Boling Arena in Knoxville, which is not much for music, IMO. Our seats were SHIT. They were farther up than the ones the idiot box office woman talked me out of and they were also NOT on the aisle. The sound quality sucked; it was boomy and my video sound was even worse. And it was hot as HELL. Ugh. Curse TWO.
The show was awesome and the band sounded really great (we went down a level at the end and got a better listen). Everyone looked great and they were very chatty with the crowd, which was nice. Here’s the playlist:
The Chain
You Make Loving Fun
Dreams
Second Hand News
Rhiannon
Everywhere
I Know I’m Not Wrong
Tusk
Sister of the Moon
Say You Love Me
Seven Wonders
Big Love
Landslide dedicated to the Great Smoky Mountains
Never Going Back
Over My Head
Gypsy
Tell Me Lies
Gold Dust Woman
I’m So Afraid
Go Your Own Way
**Encore**
World Turning w/ Mick drum solo
Band intros
Don’t Stop
Silver Spring
And a nice ending with Mick telling everyone to love one another.
We even went and got a tour shirt w/out a wait during the last song. Then the show ended and we met up with Chrissy and David to go out and try to find a damn cab. Of course there were NO CABS at the venue. (Curse THREE) I called a couple of cab companies whose cards I had and we waited for about half an hour. Finally our cabbie showed up and we shared with a couple of guys who were also waiting. In all that, somehow Nick dropped the $40 show shirt. Curse FOUR. We just wrote it off to fucking Knoxville and went to bed.
Monday went without issue. We got home unscathed and I found tour shirts online for $20. Note to self: buy on ebay next time!
We did manage to eek out a great time DESPITE the Curse of Knoxville™. But I’m breaking up with that town. My brother and I are on the outs again and there’s really no reason for me to endure the bad energy (for ME) up there. No matter what I do to try to have a good time (I didn’t even speak to the family!), the bad blood between me and Knoxville is just too much. It’s a cute little town and has its good points, sure. It’s just not the place for me. So, no offence to my friends who live there, but I guess you’ll have to come see ME next time you’re in ATL. I won’t be coming up there any time soon – unless one of the parents dies, which could happen any time. It’s better for me to avoid E TN altogether.
That was the trip. If you get a chance to see Fleetwood Mac, take it. Ticket prices suck, but this show is worth it, especially if you’ve not seen them. Nick had not, which is why we went.
I saw a billboard for them on the way to Atlantic City recently. I love me some Stevie Nicks.