They say what ever you are doing at midnight on New Year's Eve is what you are going to be doing all year. Hanging out backstage with the Time. I'll take that every Time.

I went and saw the Time at the DiamondJacks Casino in Vicksburg, Ms on December 31, 2010. This was my 5th and 6th show of the year and my 57th and 58th overall.

I left my house in Pensacola a little after 10 a.m. and started my seemingly endless journey through the back roads of Alabama and Mississippi. I hate driving and this was a solo trip so unfortunately I got stuck behind the wheel. Luckily there wasn't much traffic considering it was New Years Eve and that was a good thing because it poured down rain most of the drive. I thought I was going to have to pull off the road and I probably should have. Turns out I was driving through a tornado warning for part of my trip which of course I didn't find out about until after the fact. I got to my hotel in right around 5 hours. What a fucking dump. Definitely in the top 5 on the skuzzy scale and maybe as high as number 3. I guess you get what you pay for and I got the room for free. That and it was only a couple miles from the casino and I didn't plan on spending much time in my room anyway. Some dude was using a close hanger to get in a car when I left. I hope it was his car!!! I fully expected my car to be gone the next morning when I got up and was pleasantly surprised when it was still there.

After I got checked in, I drove over to the casino. You had to drive down this almost straight drop of a hill. Nice!! Met up with some of the fellas, hung out and found out what the deal was for the show. Went to the buffet with my man Arlington and I pigged out. Went back to the room to get ready for the show. Since it was new years I actually dressed up complete with baggies, a skinny tie borrowed from Jason and of course I had to bust out the Stacy Adams. Headed back to the hotel and waited to meet up with the fellas. Had to do a little running around from room to room to help with some wardrobe issues, but everything got worked out in the end. Talked and hung out with the fellas that I hadn't seen earlier. Made our way to the backstage area and waited on Showtime

Well on to the show

Here is the line up

Morris Day-Vocals and Cool

Jellybean Johnson-Drums

Monte Moir-Keyboards

Tori "Freak Juice" Ruffin-Guitar

Ricky "Freeze" Smith-Bass

Jeff McNeely-Keyboards

Sylvester Donald-valet and dancer

Here is the set list with my comments to follow.

1. DAT Intro

2. 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. Tricky!!!!

19. Jungle Love

I was watching from the left hand side backstage. Had a great view of Jellybean and Monte and then I could also move further up and have a good view of Freeze and Morris at the front of the stage. The band opened with Skillet which is of course my favorite Time song. There were a few technical problems early in the show, but they were soon taken care of. Back to the debut for C O O L and Get it up followed by a double shot from Pandemonium. The highlight of this show was of course 777-9311. Freeze was just killing that bass line, Bean was playing that beat that only he can play and Tori just ripped that solo up tonight. A trio of ballads followed. A short instrumental of Girl and then Morris singing one verse of Sometimes I get Lonely from off stage. Monte played some extra keys before the band launched into Gigolos get lonely too. The two "new" dances concluded the normal portion of the show. Freeze, Bean and Tori started the beat to Tricky before Morris and the rest of the band joined them. That shit is Funky as Hell. The show concluded with Jungle Love. The show was right at one hour. The only complaint I had is the "rock" was cut out of the set, but I knew they weren't going to do the full 90 minute show since they were doing 2 shows that night.

We went back stage and hung out for a little while. There was about 90 minutes to kill before the next show and the band went back to their rooms. Since I wasn't staying at the casino I basically wandered around the place, had a few drinks in the bar and made a few phone calls to burn time. Met back up with the band and made our way back to the backstage area again.

The setlist was the same for the second show and lasted a little over an hour. I definitely had more fun at the second show. The crowd was alot better, getting into the show more. I had a good buzz going and was feeling no pain. You can tell when I've had a little too much because I usually end up on stage for the Bird and it happened again tonight. I have the video on my Facebook page. Check out the dorky white guy next to Freeze. Thanks to Arlington and Marty for taping it. The band stopped playing right before midnight and we all went backstage and had a toast and rang in the New Year. The fellas returned to finish the rest of the show. Happy New Year!!!

We all hung out for quite awhile backstage after the show reminiscing about the past and looking forward to the future. The fellas went back to their rooms to change and then came back down to the casino to hang out. I stayed there to the wee hours of the morning, grabbing a bite to eat and visiting with my friends. Finally around 3 a.m. I finally said good night and headed back to my hotel. The next morning I was sick as a dog and that drive home was pure hell, but it was all worth it. Here's hoping for another year of kick ass Time shows for me to write about!!!

Damn, about to vomit on my Stacy Adams