The Sweet Escape Tour
This entry was posted on Friday, April 20, 2007 3:26 PM and is filed under I might as well blog.
My memories of The Sweet Escape Tour
-Amy Pepper-
www.lambcollections.com
Headed down to Chula Vista, CA last night for what is known as Gwen's "Friends and Family Show". We arrived about 30 minutes before doors and pulled into a spot right infront of the entry gates. Got our tickets from will call, restroom break, then into the ampitheatre we went. No rush, no stress, just calm (not normal for me at a No Doubt/Gwen event). The venue was 100% GA last night, so we picked whatever seat we wanted. Front row center? yah, we took that.
There werent many people there (you wouldnt know by the cheers, applause and general energy coming from the crowd). We filled the area that would normall be the "pit" of the ampitheatre. There were seats though, not that anyone was sitting once gwen took the stage!
We chatted with the various interesting people for about an hour when Gwen's tour manager, Ray, came on stage to welcome us and warn us that this was a "rehersal" and you never know what's going to happen.
Soon after, the show started out with "The Sweet Escape". Listen for the sirens and look out for the Harajuku Police out in the audience!
I didnt write down the set list and i am very bad at remembering those sorts of things, but the set list was a good mix of this album and the previous. Some songs i remember include (NOT in order):
the sweet escape - first song. gwen in black and white striped jump suit, white long gloves, black tights and black ankle boots. started out from the center stage in a gold jail cell. the dancers dressed in police uniforms (a la Jimmy Kimmel). Gwen was in these tights for most of the show with various additions and subtractions and the show progressed. there was always lots of sparkle though. Some plaid. Some peacoats, and even a soccer ref's uniform!
rich girl- similar outfit to sweet escape. put on crop sweater and belt, white gloves and cape
yummy- gwen puts silver apron on. and a bakers hat. stage prop used was a treadmill during the chorus. Gwen is on their with Gabe and the guitar player.
ok, this will take forever if i keep being this detailed....so here are some other songs...
danger zone, now that you got it, wind it up ,OC girl, early winter, 4 in the morning, florescent, dont get it twisted, you started it, hollaback girl, cool, luxurious...
the finale included real thing (now a duet), wonderful life and what you waiting for.
this tour was FULL of energy. Some songs were "reggaed up", others were "rocked out" and some others got a new twist as well. Look forward to gwen dancing a lot and being so full of energy she has to jump off stage and RUN into the crowd. She will be met out there with some of the band members where "Cool" is performed.
The main stage decorations included a giant gold G. It lights up and is lowered for a few of the songs. There are also giant wind it up keys that also light up and get lowered for a few songs. The stage is otherwise quite bare. Nice and roomy for gwen and the dancers on the stage. The back of the stage is lifted are the band is located there. The band included Gail (singer/bassist from last tour), gabe and steve (from NDs tours), a guitat player, warran from the vandals... and damn me if i am forgetting someone. Behind the band are a handful of screens that will give you some eye candy. Many songs have mini videos playing during the performance... beautiful! ALSO- Pete ("pete can you go and get a test?") was taking photographs which will hopefully appear online if they havent already and Todd (gwen's brother) was filming it, with will hopefully also appear online in a verizon webisode.
I dont know what else to say, but this is a tour you MUST see. If you havent bought your tickets yet, you really should. It's worth the money, it's worth the drive, it's worth whatever.
I took way too many photos...after deleting the ones i DONT like, i still have over 500 on my camera. I will post those on here when i return to Los Angeles (i am in vegas now for the next few days). By then people will have posted their photos from the vegas show though.
BTW- Jill (gwen's little sister) had another baby yesterday at 5:30 am, so she couldnt make it to the show. Gwen was a proud aunt and was so happy to tell us about it.
