I saw Pete last night! The concert was only a little over an hour long (only $15 tickets, so not surprising), but a lot of fun. They set it up like a Star Club or Hamburg performance, playing very early Beatles tunes (either from the Decca tape or the non-hits from their first album) and other rock 'n' roll hits from the era, Chuck Berry etc. It was a blast imagining Pete playing these very tunes as a squeaky youngster with the other baby Beatles.
The audience was a bit of a disappointment, not very lively although everyone seemed to have a good time. They mostly stared and sang along; very few people were dancing. Finally the band _ordered_ everyone to stand for the last three numbers, and that was quite fun. But we certainly had our share of geezers in the audience, so I'm not sure they could have lasted more than three songs.
I meant to count, but I'll guess there were about 500 people there.
Afterwards, I got my picture taken with Pete 4 times, because my camera wasn't working right. How clever of me. (It turned out the flash was disabled and my friend didn't understand that, so I actually have 3 dark pictures and 1 bright one where Pete has his eyes closed. I'll post the best of these when I get back to my own computer; I'm in the hotel lobby at the moment.) Pete was very nice about the camera malfunction, saying he could stay there all night. He did have a nice hug. He looked tired, but he was very pleasant and good-natured.
After that, we had a few drinks with an architect who is living in Canada but emigrated from Liverpool in '66. He remembers seeing the Beatles (and Pete) back in the day, and had many amusing stories to share among solving the
problems of the world. When I mentioned that Pete looked tired (it was the last gig in this part of the world), Vern said, well, he always looked like that! Even when he was a kid, he looked kind of bored and tired--sort of the opposite of Paul, who is so bouncy and wheeeeee! Aren't we having fun! Pete's attitude is more, yeah, whatever. But it's clear he enjoys what he's doing; that's just his "mean, moody magnificence" that is obviously an enduring trait.
I'm going to rustle up some breakfast now. I get on the plane back to Colorado later today. People were impressed that I had traveled so far, but I by no means win the Silver Airplane award. There was a couple here last night from the Nederlands. Friends of the forum?
Cheers, all!
