August 4, 2015- Duran Duran- Port Chester- Part 1

I had one of those vivid holodeck dreams in which I was at a Duran Duran concert. Most of it was very enjoyable but then something upsetting happened at the end. The mean alien must have hacked into the program to screw it up for me.

   I will start with the good parts of this storyline. I was lucky enough to be in the second row to the left at this event. Well, a couple was in front of me but they were standing very close to one another.

   A cute guy from Virginia was standing next to me. He looked a little like the actor Jeffrey Donovan but even cuter. I wasn’t even feeling that anxious when talking to him which was unusual. I am embarrassed that I did touch his arm a couple of times. That was so unlike me to do.

   I was thinking that I was so happy to have 2 handsome guys near me- him and John Taylor. I wasn’t even feeling ashamed to be looking at John this time. I was enjoying observing his bass playing. I did so more than I have ever before.

   A DJ was the opening act but I don’t even remember his name. He was doing some mixes of songs that I can’t recall either; one was an early Prince hit, “I Wanna Be Your Lover”. I told cute guy that I used to have an 8-track with that on it.

   DD performed “Election Day” which I had never seen in concert before. That was an Arcadia song- the offshoot group with Simon and Nick.

   I was really getting into “Planet Earth”, one of my favorite songs. Cute guy seemed happy when they did “White Lines”; I am not really that crazy about that one.

   I told him that I would be going to the Bethlehem show. He said that he had recently been there with his son to see Incubus.

   I had mentioned the incident in which I was standing on my brother’s binocular case to get a better view of DD in Central Park. I said that this was probably a stupid of me esp. since I ruined that item. He said that this was pretty smart of me which made me feel not as bad about doing that.

   We were standing there waiting for DD to do their encore which is when things became upsetting. Ten minutes went by and they still hadn’t returned to the stage. The lights had come back on and stage hands were unplugging equipment during this time.

   Cute guy and I were debating about whether to stay or go then. We eventually decided that the show must be over so we left. We agreed that it was unusual that they hadn’t done an encore.

   I wound up buying the same two shirts- Planet Earth and 1978- that he did before I left the building. The guy hadn’t put the free Red Carpet Massacre tour book. I already have it but I wasn’t going to pass on a free one.

   When I was getting this, I thought that I heard some cheering and hollering. A part of me wanted to investigate this; maybe DD was coming back out then. But my irrational side said not to bother and that it must be completely over by now.

   God, I wish that I was able to listen to my smart side. I later found out that there had been an encore. They performed 2 great songs during it- “Girls on Film” and “Careless Memories”. I found this out when on Tumblr the next day.

   I would have been in the back watching this but at least I would not have missed it. I surely would have been using my binoculars a lot. I still would have been mad at myself for not sticking around longer in my original spot though.

   We should have consulted with the die-hard fan that we had been chatting with a little bit before the show. I am sure that she would have advised us to stay.

   I was so sad about this that I went into my basement to cry a little. I didn’t want my brother and mother hearing this. I never told Mike that I was going to this concert because I didn’t want him teasing me about seeing them twice in 5 days.

   I should have taken up the offer of the girl in front of cute guy. She had asked me if I wanted her to email me some of her photos of this show. I probably could find some of them online but they won’t be from our vantage point.

   I am trying to focus on the positives of this night but the missed encore is like a rain cloud over my head. I am certain that Amy will tell me to not beat myself up about it but that is going to be hard. I really would have liked to watch JT’s bass playing up close during those 2 songs.

   It seems silly that I want to pretend that this was just another one of my strange dreams and that I wasn’t really there. I don’t feel as upset when I do that.

                                                                    Jeffrey Donovan

 

 

Note- Photo of Jeffrey Donovan is from the internet