Author Topic: The Ventures at Busch Gardens...Feb 2012  (Read 795 times)

Offline tabalt11

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Re: The Ventures at Busch Gardens...Feb 2012
« on: March 04, 2012, 11:29:48 pm »
Walt- I'll need a few WIND DOWN days but it'll happen this week.  Best approach might be for me to field questions 'cause I can honestly say having NOW experienced FIVE Ventures related vacations- the famous 2003 criuse with Los Straitjackets, EPCOT '08 & '09 & BUSCH GARDENS '11 & '12, I'm starting to
feel & act like a groupie.   I'll try to figure out an interesting appraoch.   

This year's Sat. eve. Meet & Greet seemed to win the 'best ever' award.   The Q&A offered lots of interesting questions- just a matter of replaying the tapes & posting the back & forths.  They played Wed. thru Sat. at 11:30, 1:00 & 3:30 each day.   There were minor song changes along the way & an effort was made to offer up something different each set.   

Jack De Franco, the group's superb stage manager has worked tirelessly over the past year on the LARGE MONITOR SCREEN DISPLAY that preceeds the band's arrival on stage.  He's constantly adding- deleting where necessary & keeps it interesting to the audience.   Timing is almost always right on.   There's the customary artist accolades interspered with THE VENTURES JOURNEY to their rock induction.   A park announcer greets each crowd with details of upcoming park attractions but never leaves without noting the accomplishments of TODAY'S GUESTS!   Don's toned down a bit this year in the jokes dept.  They're still there but more widely spaced.   

He was quick to point out WDR's grammy deservance & mentions the Casey Kasem trivia question regarding two hits with the same song.   I always get a big kick when THE VENTURES LOGO is prominent on the large video montage while Nokie is intricately offering up another blistering rendition of I GOT A WOMAN with the entire crowd clapping up a storm- remember the tag SURF BAND!   Yeah right!   

The final day they treated the crowd to SLEEP WALK, DRIVING GUITARS & EL CUMBANCHERO.   Then there was the first day second set that had Bob Spalding beltin' out MISERLOU & PETER GUNN fresh out from behind the curtain intro.  So they try their best at their age to keep us guessing.   Don bragged to the crowd after doing PIPELINE towards the end of one day- "you know next February I'll be 80 years old & I'm lovin' every minute of the journey."   

That'll do it for now.   I'll keep details coming as the week goes on.    The tent-style wooden theater venue easily seats 1000 & is usually crammed for the earliest show.  Teenagers do enter from time to time & sit in the side area fringe seats but they rise up after just a few songs not seeming to understand it's their music that's truly forgettable.   
« Last Edit: March 05, 2012, 01:23:23 pm by tabalt11 »