The Red Voodoo Tour

If one word could describe our experience in Vegas, it would be: HOT!!!!! HOT weather, HOT concert, HOT fun!

  Eric & I flew into Vegas from Portland on Friday night.  We flew on Southwest for the first time, and had one of the funniest flight crews ever.

They spiced up their safety breifing with jokes like, "In the event the cabin loses pressure, oxygen masks will drop from the overhead ceilings. Stop screaming, let go of your neighbor, strap it on and *try* to breathe normally.  If you have children, or an adult acting like a child, put your mask on first and then assist them.   The emergency exits will be marked by the disco lighting on the floor."

We arrive in Vegas at 10:00pm, and the temperature is still 100 degrees! We had to wait for our airport shuttle for about 20 minutes, and when I unpacked my bags in the hotel, all my makeup had melted!  Yuck!

We quickly changed and headed to the Hard Rock Hotel to try & find some other REDheads.  Met up with Bob & Kathy from San Diego,  and Anrdrea & friend from Minneapolis.  Watched the skimpy outfits many pairs of silicon breasts walk by.  Eric seemed to enjoy it.  There are some wild looking people in that place!  

Went back to our hotel room fairly early (for Vegas..) 1:00 am, and went to bed.  At 5:30am the phone rings... It's Eddie & Alicia!  They had driven all night from the LA show, and had just gotten into Vegas.   We let them up to the room, and we all crashed again until 9:30.  Later, took a taxi to the MGM, and ate at the Rain Forest Cafe inside the casino. Wow!  What an awesome place! Totally done up in the jungle theme.  We open the menu, and there on the drink insert page is a picture of Sammy's face, and SAMMY'S WABORITAS! *Only* $8.99 a glass.. heh!  We had to take the insert for a soulvenir, of course.  :)

Took a tour of the M&M factory, (a great tour for only 3 bucks) and became "Honorary M&M's".. complete with a RED M&M sticker.  Eddie & Alicia wore theirs to the show that night, and were asked by several people what kind of passes they were wearing. lol!

Eric & I head to the Hard Rock Hotel at 5:30pm to meet up with Jody & Lee from Minnesota, and get in line for the show.  There was already a line of people about 60 to 70 people.  We got VIP line passes from Jody & Lee, and got to be at the front of the line, but we still waited around until 7:00 for the doors to open.  We rushed in, and got our place... FRONT & CENTER! Woohooo!! "Up Front Fanatics!"

Now.. on to THE SHOW!!!

The stage was too small to have the Cabo Wabo set up, but it did have the outside Cantina curtain as a backdrop.  I noticed the REDROCKER.COM bumper stickers on the speakers on stage (Right on, Paula!) Bullshitted with the Hard Rock Security for a while, who seemed pretty cool. We were told the place holds about 1400 people standing, but they were expecting to pack in about 2000.  Security also warned us about picture taking... strictly prohibited by Sammy's request.   The concert hadn't even started, when a fight nearly broke out a couple of people behind us. We hoped it wouldn't be a problem during the concert.  Luckily, everyone around as was cool, and we had no problems at all.

It's 8:05, it's time to Rock! Sammy and the Waboritas took the stage, and the crowd was pumped!  Cabo Wabo started off the show, with the tightly packed audience singing along loudly. They then launched into The Revival, and proceeded to rock the socks off everyone in the room!  I saw that someone already posted the set list, so I won't post it here.  One big suprise for me was that they played "Your Love is Driving Me Crazy".  I LOVE that song!  I hardly ever hear him play it live.  Our Marching Band in high school actually played that song at halftimes of football games and basketball games, and it brings back great memories.  The Waboritas was having a great time, and sounded just awesome!  Truly a great team! Victor was kicking ass, Mona was thumping on bass, Dave was a wild man on drums, and Jesse's playing was flawless.

Highlights from the show:

*Someone threw up an American Flag, which Sammy wore for few songs... seemed appropriate for the Independence Day weekend!

*Brenda's "REDheads Invade Las Vegas" banner made it to the stage, and was worn by Sammy.  Another REDhead banner made it up there too, but I don't know whose it was.

*Sammy talked about the show the night before in LA, and how there was a lot of pressure from record company people, a live recording of the show for the album network, etc.  He said they sounded good the first half of the show, but got fucked up by the 2nd half.  He never mentioned the "flashing incident".. but I'm sure that's what he was talking about.. lol!

*Andrea's red panties made it up on stage, with the words "PLAY POUNDCAKE" written on it.  Of course, Sammy obliged her and played it.. ROCK!  :)

*Sammy talked about this being Vegas, where alcohol is sold 24 hours, and he wanted to know where the owner of the Hard Rock was, because he thought they should make a slot with Waboritas!

*We were surprised when Sammy sprayed the crowd with a glass full of Waborita, during Mas Tequila.. which felt GOOD!  It misted in the air for awhile, cooling us off just a tiny bit!

*Eric & I made a banner for Victor, which said "Victor Kicks Ass!" and had a cartoon drawing of Vic playing the guitar. We threw it on stage at Victor, but being the gracious guy he is, he let Sammy open it up, which took a couple of songs before he noticed it. During RIGHT NOW.. Sammy saw it, and opened it up.  He showed it to Jesse, Mona & Dave.  He draped it around Vic's shoulders, and Vic wore it for a song.  After the song was over, he brought it to the side of the stage, where he showed it to (I think) his wife & Liza)  We hoped he wanted to keep it.  We were so stoked!  :) Sammy looked surprised, and asked if there was another "brother" in the house or something.  Then he talked about their show in San Antonio that they just played. He said San Antonio has a lot of Mexicans, and that since he *thinks* he's a Mexican.. they like him. Sammy said he tried to pass Victor off as being Mexican.. lol

At the end of the show, He commented on how he recognized about 20 people by name out in the audience. Sammy said "REDheads RULE" about 4 times in a row. Sammy has such a great repore with the audience, it's amazing.  He acknowledged every banner, T-shirt, note & card passed up to him on stage.  This is what makes his shows so great!  The crowd is actually a part of the show!  

After the show, we met up with a bunch of REDheads from all over the place.  A lot of people traveled a long way for this show.  I think half the fun is seeing everyone again, and meeting new people. Big John was there, of course, and I told him I'll be seeing him in Portland, on stage!  Yeaaaahhh!!!!

The show was so awesome... we wanted to pack up right then and rent a car to catch the San Bernadino show.  We would have had to drive straight back to Vegas to catch a 9:00 am flight.  It was tempting, but we didn't do it, and are still regretting it.  The 4th of July in Vegas was way too crowded, and the fireworks weren't all that great.

One last highlight, Eric won 220 bucks on the slots at the airport while we were waiting for our plane.  It's going into the Cabo Fund!

Thank you Sammy, Vic, Dave, Jesse & Mona for another great show!  

Thanks to Lisa & Eric Chandler for the review and Arland for the set list.

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