Best Venue Ever: Giants Stadium
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I do not intend to knock other venues. I'm sure that a site like the Gorge is an amazing place to see a show, but the fact is that when tour dates are released, you know that the Gorge is probably going to be rounding out the tour in late August or September. You can go watch a sunset and catch some nice tunes in the meantime, with the bottom line being, that all this has come to be expected out of the Gorge.
But if you look back throughout the band's history, what has come to be expected from Giants' Stadium shows and the other various New York City venues, is one thing, simply the unexpected. You can see it back in the early days of the band with Popper showing up at Roseland. Bela and Big Voice Jack at the Stadium in '98, and Santana in '99. The recent years have yielded such surprises as the Godfather of Soul himself, Mr. James Brown at the Garden, playing the rooftop of the Ed Sullivan Theater, or Warren Haynes tearing it up at Central Park. There is just something about the band and NYC, and there is always a little bit of magic in the air when they come to town.
I realize that growing up in the shadows of Giants Stadium will cause me to consider the question of best venue with an obvious bias, and my intention is not to downplay the mystique surrounding places like Central Park, MSG, and other smaller New York City venues. The downside to these sites physically located in the city is the fact that the concert experience is essentially limited to the show itself. Whereas at the Stadium, it is the pre and post-show festivities that make it such an amazing experience. The sheer size of the aptly titled stadium is perhaps the greatest aspect of all because there is more opportunity for people to see the show, as opposed to the arena shows where people were stuck hanging outside in the parking lot. If you couldn't walk the lot and find someone with an extra ticket then you were probably too drunk to realize that you already had a ticket.
Selling out Giants Stadium is truly an amazing accomplishment for any band, and to do this three consecutive days is downright astonishing. I am referring to the three-day stint in the summer of '00, which put the boys into the same category as The Rolling Stones and Bruce Springsteen (all the more amazing because I believe that if you are from New Jersey you get your tickets to Bruce at the stadium along with your birth certificate). This event spoke volumes for the band and how much they had achieved not ten years into their career. Three sold out nights in a row and they knew it was special.
Prior to the encore of the second show, Dave asked if they could turn the lights on to get a picture of the band with all of us together. This picture was later used as a full-page ad in the area newspapers. Although I cannot remember if it was the New York Times or the Daily News, what I do remember was the band's purpose. The point was that they were saying thanks to all the fans that made their success possible. It was just another act of gratitude and class by a band that stands alone with poise and humility in the realm of the super celebrity.