Awesome Auckland!

My brains are suffering a bit from information overload and lack of sleep (and maybe a little too much alcohol), but I'll try to recreate these last few days in Auckland.
We arrived on August 2, after an uneventful short flight from Welly. Since Rene had managed to buy tickets for the Hamilton show as well (yes, another one!) we decided to rent a car at the airport, drive to our hotel and after checking in, move on to Hamilton, about 135 kilometers from here.

Since these people are driving on the wrong side of the road it took a little bit of getting used to, but Rene drives like a trooper!
Our hotel has the same kind of layout as the Welly one, so that is very nice! It also looks like a pigsty after a few days, I've got no idea where all this stuff is coming from, there´s just so much... anyway.

The drive to Hamilton was a very beautiful one, a very green scenery with skies that reminded me of home. And of course loads and loads of.... cows! We saw NO sheep at all for the first 100 kilometers, very disappointing!

We wanted to be in Hamilton on time, to get a nice drink and relax a little, after our trip. However, after walking around for over an hour we found nothing! Hamilton has a very spooky atmosphere, like it was hit by the plague recently or something, it looks completely deserted. Very scary! But we were looking forward to the concert very much, especially after last night´s concert...

This is the venue:



Here's Rene's concert review:

Just a quick review of the show....Hamilton is a surreal place--from an outsider's point of view. It doesn't seem to have changed much from the 1960s and must be what NZ was like back then (but less industrialized of course!). The Founder's Theatre reminded me of a National Park office or a Science Museum--very unlike the venerable old theatres the Finns have played this tour. However, the inside was very nice and I especially liked the stage and how there was no huge gulf between the guys and the audience--also, the stage wasn't way above the audience so your neck didn't hurt at show's end.The gig began in a staid manner with the audience being the most sedate I have seen!!! Neil said that is a typical Waikato audience, very reserved. Spotted Dick Finn and the Finn's sister Carolyn in the crowd--she really seemed to be enjoying herself and was one of the few people grooving in their seat!Will post complete setlist tomorrow (it's in the car, which I drove on the left side of the road with aplomb, thank you very much!).

A few impressions:

• The rendition of "Nothing Wrong with You" seemed to be the best I've seen lately--just very tight and with a lot of energy.
• Lots of references to boyhood and friends and family, with a dedication to people they miss before the anthem to connectedness for all-time, "Won't Give In."
• A few people dancing in between the levels, after Tim's saying, "You can dance if you want to." After awhile, Neil said, "You can come down front if you'd like." Don't have to ask me twice!!! After that it was a sweaty dance-fest in the front
• 
  Dirty Creature--oh how that song gets better each time I hear it.
• Six Months--with the slow part of the song in double time, for the dancers up front
  Absolutely, positively, KILLER version of I See Red! Including a portion in half-time (is it called that? the opposite of double time) and many stops and starts.
  The set list was altered somewhat with more energetic songs put in the encores, YES!!
• Tim's sending a kiss off to the dancers when leaving the stage (to us, actually!)
  Tim getting so into it during, was it Dirty Creature(?) that he knocked over the mike stand!
• Huge shout-out to Neil for inviting everyone down--makes such a difference in the show when you can actually get up and move around to the music.

All in all a very special show for the hometown crowd.

We drove back to Auckland under a cloudless sky, filled with many stars , none of which I recognise! But is was very beautiful. Since we both have great sense of direction we drove straight back to our hotel and collapsed into bed ....

The next day we walked through Auckland and decided to buy Peter a new Maglite, since the torch he got dated from 1981 and didn't function anymore, and he really needed a good one! Rene had the brilliant idea to have it engraved and it looked beautiful. Peter seemed to be happy with it!


This was the day originally scheduled for our soundcheck so we went into the theater for the first time. It was a very beautiful old theatre and we were very much looking forward to being there for the show. Originally we had tickets for the very last row but Rene, resourceful as ever, had scored better tickets via the internet. We didn't realise it, but they were front row trickets yet again... right in front of Neil! Who, I have to say, looked very pleasantly surprised to see us for the umpteenth time...

There is a review on the forum by a Dean person, but that is way too long to put it up here.

But..... at the end of the show Peter started hinting at an after party at Neil's bar, called Tabac, pictured here:



We went outside to the stage door to wait as usual; here is a photo of that:



Sure enough, Tim Smith invited us over! He waited for us at the general bar, and then led us into the private function in the Velvet Room.

There were about 30 people or so, the crew, the band, Peter Green of course, and Neil and Tim with their wives Sharon and Marie. To be honest, we mostly talked to the band and the crew and exchanged just a few words with Neil and even less with Tim, but Rene spent quite some time chatting to Sharon and Marie. I rediscovered the old fashioned gin and tonic, so at some point things get a little blurry (not too blurry though, I think I still remember everything quite clearly .... )however, after so many years reading all about Tabac and then suddenly finding yourself there with the "family" as Peter put it.... awesome!

I can't quite remember what time we got home, it was very late but I had a great time and met some really interesting people...., and our sightseeing plans for the next day went out of the window.....