Live Review : Anaheim (CAL, USA), August 20th, 2008

House of Blues, Anaheim

the wait

After a very short night, we landed in L.A. at LAX after 9 am. By the time we'd dropped our stuff at the hotel in Anaheim near Disneyland, got ready for the show (just in case we wouldn't be able to get back to the hotel before) and arrived in Disneyland, it was way past noon. And already, many girls were waiting by the House of Blues. I saw a number 80-something on a hand, and we were told by a HoB staffer that these were the people who were waiting before the restaurant opened.
Another, shorter line was in the baking L.A. sun already.

Err... Too late to queue for a really good spot. We decided to forget it then, and to keep our stamina for Las Vegas, and to enjoy our less-than-24-hours stay in L.A.. We had lunch at the HoB then spent the rest of the afternoon lounging around the shops & restaurants area outside Disneyland (for the few hours left, it wasn't worth getting into the park itself).

I resisted the urge to make a Bill!panda at the Build-a-bear shop. Even though they had pretty much all that was needed to dress him up like the real one (sunglasses like the ones he wore in Geneva, black denims with a chain, black sneakers...). I loved that T-shirt especially. If they had had it in real size for people, I might have bought it for him. But since I'd be too far from the stage to throw it there anyway, and I had no occasion to give it to the guys, I gave up.

We got back in the afternoon, in the already long line of "people with wristbands who purchased something or dined at the HoB" (300-400 people?), before the line of "people who only have show tickets". The crowd seemed more diverse than the "mostly teen girls with a goth touch" line in San Francisco, but maybe that's because we were farther down the line. We were rather embarrassed to share the line with... not even pre-teens, little girls who entertained themselves by clapping hand games. Err. Okay, I know the band members are young, but not THAT young. It may not be a trash rock show, but it IS still a (pop) rock show.

And I wish the record companies would stop aiming at that age group, too... it would help.

We had the bad surprise that the "no cameras" policy was, for once, strictly applied, so after a thorough back check, we had to check our cameras in. :( No picture or video then.

the show

TH being the stage pros / control freaks that they are, their shows don't have that many differences to report. Hence the often lack of specifics in reviews. This one started differently though, but against their will, when the curtain fell... and failed to fall completely, hanging to the extreme right side of the batten / spotlights pipe. Georg had to step a little sideways to be visible from everyone then. A HoB person pulled on the curtain to make it fall, but it was hanging steadily, and as I was starting to worry that they'd make the entire stagelight pipe fall on the band, he gave up. Someone from TH staff pulled the curtain sideways to uncover the whole stage (... being a bodyguard for TH is a job that takes multiple talents, eh?), until, after the 2nd song, someone climbed on the pipes to detach it.

...

And during the entire thing, the band just kept playing as if nothing happened. Priceless. I almost wished they had showed something though. They were probably too mortified to react differently than an inner "OMG something's not working, just pretend it's not happening and maybe they won't notice!". Cats...

Maybe that's why, at the next show in Vegas, they had a new curtain, with the band's logo printed in white on it.

Anyways. Specifics (for what there was) : I don't know if it was just an impression, but the band seemed to me in an especially "must do good" mood. As if they felt the pressure of compensating the bad reviews from their first L.A. show. It felt a little more forced than Frisco.
Bill was wearing more bling than in San Francisco, and the infamous vest from the New Jersey show. He was also wearing a Lost Boys T-shirt. From the 80's vampire movie with Kiefer Sutherland. Seriously. That movie came out before you were born, Bill. Please don't make vampire references while in Los Angeles, it creeps me out.

When doing his first speech, after the 2nd song, Bill didn't say that Anaheim was a beautiful town, unlike he had said of San Francisco at the Fillmore. So, maybe he can't lie that much ;)
As far as I recall, he just said it felt really good to be there. The rest was pretty much the same.

The crowd was different. Or maybe it's because we were at the back of the pit instead of in the front rows, but there wasn't as much excitation or singing along. I felt sorry for Bill the few times he tried to make the audience sing along, as... well, he tries on "1000 Oceans" on the "We will be free" line, but it's the only time of the song it's said, not fitting in the melody repetition, and the song is fairly new and only available on one version of the CD, so it never truly worked. Ouch.
I'd say he should try easier bits to make the crowd sing along... but in hindsight, maybe he picked that moment because it goes rather high and it's harder for him to sing now :(

Much to my surprise though, the crowd sang along a lot more on the last song, even though (or maybe because?...) it was the only one sung in German - Durch den Monsun. o_O
So... what? L.A. fans know the German lyrics better than the English ones? Or L.A. was the town were the most non-US fans showed up?
It didn't look like that. We did meet or hear a few European fans in the lines, in San Francisco and Vegas, but not that many. 6 French ones that I know of, a couple of pre-teen French girls we saw in Frisco before the show, a group of Spanish ones, a Swedish fan, a German girl and her dad... and that's all for the ones I did notice.

Speaking of which, we had been warned before the trip to be quiet in line about being French, for fear we would get attacked by over-possessive fans. But either the East Coast / Great Lakes fans are a lot more violent than the Californian ones, or it was blown out of proportion. We only got told a couple of times "You came all the way from France to see them? That's dedication!", but it was said nicely. Except a hint of jealousy for those who added "Haven't you seen them enough in Paris?".

Seen them a lot, yes. Seen them in those conditions, no.
Even far back in the pit there, I was much closer than I was in the balconies at their French shows. Because I rarely try the pit in Europe, because you have to queue 3 days to get anywhere near the front rows there for TH shows.