[Same Old Loverman]

I've been away from my computer, but I thought I would chim in with a few thoughts about the Shippensburg show. First, I thought the show was fantastic! When he first strolled out he looked confident and content, then he did his "hun, hew, hree, hor" and and I thought: this is gonna be fun- and it was. I must say I was delighted that he started with "Sweet Guinevere" its the perfect song for southern Pennsylvania since he sings "up in Pittsburgh, PA." I've also never been crazy about the live version of "Triangle" and it seems everytime I had seen him the last few years he always started with that one, so SG was a nice change.

This was Gordon's first time in Shippensburg, and I thought it was a real nice venue for him to play, the crowd was polite, yet responsive- thankfully no drunks called out for "Freebird." Gordon even mentioned the school, asked how the team did that day, then played with the word Shippensburg, repeating it a few times- much to the crowd's (and my) amusement. I won't go into too much detail about the setlist, he didn't do "Home from the Forest" but he did "Song for a Winter's night" which is one of my favorites and the first time I've ever seen him do it live. I thought having Rick doing background vocals was really cool (I hope they keep that in) also the light patterns on the curtains was different than I remembered, and I thought they added a nice touch to Gordon's performance. As BillW said, it was over much too quickly.

I did have a nice photo of Gordon I was hoping to have autographed, so afterwards I went back to my car and began the wait by the backstage door. The rain, thankfully, started to let up. Us "street people" not many, maybe 4 or 5, and what looked like 2 college guys were milling around waiting when a somewhat serious looking man came out (I assume the tour manager, as he was different than the last one I remembered after Barry) he asked us who we were waiting for, and we said Gordon, he then paused and said "anyone here for e-bay?" Honestly, I was a little taken aback by that, I mean the thought of selling anything like an autograph has never crossed my mind. People said, no, no...then he looked at me and said "What about you, you didn't say anything." I quickly replied no, and then he said, okay follow me. In retrospect, I should have realized that yes, people do obtain autographs for the sole purpose of selling them, so I guess I shouldn't have been so surprised by the question.

Once inside, (I've never been privy to the meet and greet before) things were a little hectic, as they had people lining up for photos and then laying out things for Gordon to autograph (I kind of felt bad for him- he must have been tired, but he seemed agreeable). The opportunity to meet Gordon doesn't happen everyday, so I was nervous, when my turn came for the autograph he looked at the photo I had and mentioned that it must have been taken back before he was sober, I said "yeah- 1974." He said, "You know I stopped drinking in 1982." Then I, to my eternal embarrassment replied- "I know, I read everything I can about you." I could have kicked myself! I mean I should have asked him what it was like getting sober, was it hard, etc. But no, I felt like some kind of know it all fan, and I felt really bad about it (after the question about e-bay from the guy outside, I think I wanted Gordon to know that I was a true fan, not just someone with only a passing interest in his career). By the way, I asked him to personalize the photo- he did and it really looks fantastic- can't wait to hang it!

All in all, a great night (thanks to the tour manager for letting us come inside), I just wished I hadn't gushed about reading everything about him (I do wish he'd pen his memoirs). One more cool thing, as I was getting ready to leave, I noticed one of the college guys telling Gordon how much he liked his early stuff: "Mountains & Marian, Softly, Black day in July" etc. I thought it was neat that the younger generation also likes the early stuff. My only other regret is that I didn't get to meet anyone from our discussion group, I should have mentioned where I was sitting at. I did talk to a couple who drove all the way down from Cape Cod to see the show, and they were very nice. If you haven't seen Gordon lately, by all means do so, I actually think he's better now than he was 3 or 4 years ago.