Jason Saturday night

["Frank" <fmiller6@xxxxxxxxxxxx>]

So I went to Bethel Woods Center for the Arts to see Jason and Heart this
past Saturday.

I got to the venue a bit early as I was very interested in seeing the layout
and to check out the Woodstock museum. Mind you, this is where that iconic 3
day event took place in August of 1969. 

Anyway, I had purchased a Meet and Greet package for Jason and I was really
looking forward to meeting and talking to him. There were two lines for the
Meet and Greet crowd. One for Heart and one for Jason. The Heart line had 60
or 70 people in it. The Jason line had about a dozen. I was ok with that.
With a big crowd in the room one doesn't get much one on one time. After we
got our passes, tickets and what not we were escorted into the meeting room.
A beautiful circular room with a high ceiling, chandeliers and huge stone
fireplace and windows all around. There was a buffet with some food and a
bar. 

We waited for about 45 minutes for Jason to arrive which was frustrating to
a degree but wait we did. When he arrived he came in, greeted us all and sat
at a table with a JBLZE banner behind it. We lined up and each of us took
our turn sitting with him, chatting a bit and having pictures taken.  One
fool asked 'that' question and I liked how Jason handled it. He said "If the
guys were going to get together and go out on tour I would be the last to
find out". "Jimmy knows not to trust me, I can never keep a secret". That
made me think of the months before the O2 show and the info we were getting
here. I don't know if anyone remembers but we knew they were going to play
For Your Life in August, a full three months before the gig was to happen. 

Anyway, then came my turn. I said hello and sat down next to him. I started
by telling him that I had seen his band once before but not on this tour. I
told him I saw him in Montreal on his first North American tour and he
immediately stopped me. He turned to me and asked, "You were at Metropolis?.
I said yes and he started telling me how good that night was. He told me
about the crowd and how powerful the vibe was and because of that the band
played even better. He said it was the best show of that tour for them. Of
course I agreed. I then commented on the Kennedy Center honor ceremony and
how moving it was to see how much Jimmy, Robert and Jonesy appreciated the
whole thing. Then he told me a little something that may be out there but
maybe not. He told me a little story that Robert had told him. He said that
at the moment Heart came out to do their part of the show Robert turned to
Jimmy and told Jimmy, "Jason should be here". And according to Jason that
was the moment he walked out on stage. In the video we see Robert stand then
and point to Jason and smile so brightly. That was why. I then mentioned how
moving it was to see Robert come to tears. Jason said that the three guys
were at first a bit put off by Jason and Ann and Nancy doing "that song" but
as it went on they did it good enough and Robert started to well up. I then
told Jason that what I thought really made Robert tear was when the back
drop came up and the choir was there singing and wearing the Bowler hats. I
said to Jason, "That brought your dad to the show. And that was what made
Robert lose it". Jason  looked at me and shook my hand saying "thank you". I
said, "No, than you sir" while exchanging a good firm handshake.

We then took some photos both individual and a couple of group shots. I
snuck a few even though we were told not to. And off to the show we went.

I gotta say, Jason and these guys not only played the music well but they
put some serious power behind it. Tony Catania knows what he is doing and on
Saturday night he showed it. Their set list was RnR, BD, OTHaFA, BIGLY,
Houses, NFBM, WTLB, and WLL. Their set was short obviously because Heart was
the Headliner but what they played they played well. I got a few video clips
and a ton of bad photos. I did get WLL in its entirety. The video quality is
pretty bad but the sound is good. Security was all over us with the cell
phone cams so getting any video was tough. After the Heart set Jason and
Tony came back out and they played, TSRtS, TRS, TO, BoE, Kasmir, and
Stairway. This set was damn good with Tony on guitar, Jason on Drums and Ann
singing. I don't know the guy who played guitar for Heart but he played the
Stairway lead. He did not stray from the studio version and he did a pretty
good job. I did get video of that. Overall it was a great weekend seeing
some awesome live music and visiting where Woodstock happened. I walked the
field for almost an hour, took lots of pics and stood where the stage was
built. I came home smiling.  

By the way, I met Front Row Dave there and we hung out for the evening. Very
cool guy and I'll be seeing him again. I am going to see the Jason Heart
show on the 4th at Mohegan Sun

 

:O)

 

Chef