I got a bad feeling about this one

I went and saw the Time at the Essence fest in New Orleans, La on July 6, 2008. This was my 7th show this year and my 43rd over all.

The day started with a phone call at 10:30 a.m. It was Jason calling to say he was on the way. So I dragged my ass out of bed, got a shower and finished packing. He took the scenic route since he showed up around noon thirty. When he came in the house, I told him I had a bad feeling about this and we almost didn't go. Since we already had the room booked and the gig was only three hours away, we decided to go ahead and go.

We loaded up the truck, stopped and got some gas at the crack head gas station, grabbed some Wendy's and got on the road. We were all kind of crabby and/ or sleepy and the ordeal to follow didn't help. Almost as soon as we got to the Alabama line, the traffic came to a stand still. Granted we expected it to be slow, hell the show wasn't till 7 p.m. so we figured we still had plenty of time. Well we crawled through and two stops for one of Jason's little schemes didn't help us. It took us 2 hours just to get to Mobile which is normally a 45 minute drive. After we got through the tunnel it was still busy, but at least it was moving. All told it took us 5 1/2 hrs to make a normal 3 hour drive.

This had us getting to the hotel at shortly before 6 p.m. We had to stay at a different hotel from the band since it was sold out and last time they stayed there I know it was too much. I gotta give Jason credit on this one. He got us about a block away, walking distance. I was expecting crack central for the price he got it for, but surprisingly it was a nice room. Unfortunately, it took us 30 minutes just to check in. Well we missed our ride with the band since they had a sound check before the show and didn't come back. That put us trying to get on the guest list or sneak in the back door, but at this point it was too close to show time.

I sucked it up and bought three tickets. Probably the worst seats I've ever had for a Time show and the price was way too high, but it was either that or miss the show. We got our seats in beyond nosebleed and waited for the show. I swore I saw Jimi on a cloud playing a harp or maybe it was a fender strat. Anyways on to the show

Here is the Lineup
Morris Day-Vocals and Cool
Jellybean Johnson-Drums
Monte Moir-Keyboards
Tori "Freak Juice" Ruffin-Guitar
Ricky "Freeze" Smith-Bass
Jeff McNeely-Keyboards
Silvester Donald-valet and dancer
Daniel Joo-valet and dancer

Here is the set list with my comments to follow.

1. DAT Intro
2. The Skillet
3. Cool
4. Get it up
5. Pandemonium
6. Chocolate
7. Wild and Loose
8. The Stick
9. Fishnet
10. The Oak Tree
11. Jerk Out
12. 777-9311
13. Girl- short instrumental
14. Sometimes I get lonely- one verse by Morris off stage
15. Gigolos get lonely too
16. The Walk
17 The Bird
Encore
18. Jungle Love

The show was about 50 minutes long. The Superdome crowd was sparse when the show began, but was filling up as the show went on. The Time was the first group to play that evening(which makes no sense to me) and the last band wasn't going on till midnight so it was a long evening of music. There was alot of echo due to how large the building is, but aside from that, the sound was pretty good. We had to watch the big screen for most of the show. I'm sure glad my oxygen mask worked : ) The band was in top form as always and it was nice to hear Pandemonium and Chocolate. Tori threw some interesting guitar licks into the end of Jerk Out and had an inspired solo on 777-9311. Morris was working the crowd like he always does. I saw they have a brand new dance called the Shizzle shuffle : ) Anyways, the band closed with The Bird. Tori and Freeze came back with some funky and jazzy playing before Bean put down the beat for Jungle love which closed the show.

My "cousin" called Ashley after she sent him a comical text so I got to talk to my man for a few minutes. We went back to the hotel and finally got settled. We made it to the band's hotel and met up with some of the fellas and went to go eat. It was Me, Ashley, Jason, Freeze, Jellybean and Sly. After that, we made it back to the hotel for a few drinks and conversation. I'm so glad we got to chill out with Freeze and Bean. That made the trip worth it even with the disaster on the way there. The fellas made it back to their rooms and we went back to the hotel and crashed.

We got up too early the next day and my hung over ass had to sit in the back of the Bronco. At least we got home in the normal three hours. Another kick ass show and I can't wait for the next one.Props to Jellybean and Freeze for putting up with us yet again
[Edited 7/8/08 22:18pm]
[Edited 7/11/08 12:12pm]

Nice review. Thanks!