Well, we left Mt Pleasant around 7:45am on our way to Milwaukee, WI to catch GFR at the State Fair. The trip was long and traffic was nuts from Chicago up to Milwaukee. The last 60 miles took about 2 hours. This along with the fact that I felt like crap certainly made for a long morning and early afternoon. We arrived at our hotel (Holiday Inn Express) around 2pm and was told that check-in wasn't until 3 so our room wasn't ready. I really needed to rest so we took a different room with double beds and checked in, unpacked and took a load off. We were to meet up with Dana and Cindy Stelton at 3:30 so we got some "shortcut" directions from the desk and headed towards the State Fair.

The people living around the fairgrounds were all making money inviting fair-goers to park in their yards and driveways for 5-10 dollars. Most yards were full so we ended up about 6 blocks from the fair, but I thought that was pretty good and a short walk might do us both some good.

We paid our admission ($7) and entered the fairgrounds looking for the Miller Stage, the site of tonight's concert and our meeting with the Steltons. Another band was playing so we listened to them from one of the side entrances. They were really pretty good, playing classic rock covers from Led Zeppelin, Jimi Hendrix, etc. I headed for the "main" entrance and there was someone wearing a Roadkill shirt and as soon as he saw me in my tie-dyed Roadkill, we were pointing at each other so I knew it was the Duck! He introduced his lovely wife Cindy and before you knew it, we were family. After chatting, we headed towards the stage 'cause I had seen DJ tinkering around under the tent off to the side. As we got closer, he noticed us, waved and came over for a chat. If you ever get a chance to thank DJ for all the work he puts into every show, take it! Show after show, he's the man behind the scenes, setting up equipment, tuning guitars, making sure everything is in its place and working. Thanks DJ!! After chatting, Nancy and I just had to get something to eat. Dana and Cindy had eaten, but said they would watch us eat, so off we went looking for good fair food. Soon we realized we were in the wrong place for good fair food so we settled for a couple of pieces of pizza and a pop. We took them back to the Miller Stage area, sat down on the rows of benches and ate and chatted and watched the other band finish up.

GFR's sound check was to be at 5, so we had a little time to kill. We pretty much sat around people watching, telling stories and anxiously awaited the band to show up. Finally we see this big red van approach the stage area and shortly after up walks Don, Mel, Max, Bruce and Tim. There's quite a bit of work for Don as he has to finely adjust everything in his "drum kit of the week". It was interesting to see him angle the cymbals just so and run through some triplets and adjust the drum heads accordingly. It wasn't long before they were ready and they kicked into a little bit of Footstompin' Music. They were plenty loud and quite a crowd started gathering. People were taking their seats expecting another concert not knowing it was a sound check. I had to tell a few people who they were and what they were doing. When they finished Footstompin', the got quite an ovation from this crowd. Max was pretty impressed and shouted out, "Thank you. Good Night". He was pretty loose tonight. During sound check, they worked on Sky High a little bit. I could hear Don telling Tim that the song needed more ....(something, the word escapes me) like jazziness or something like that. Tim did his magic on the Triton and said he'd have to program it in. We were a little concerned about the sound because Don was constantly telling the "sound guy of the day" what they needed for each song. "Give us a 40 millisecond delay on 3 songs. You got that?" A couple songs into sound check and we heard Don say, "There's Frisco!" Tim the sound man had arrived. Things were right in the world once more. They ran through a couple more songs then they all climbed back into the big red van and headed for their hotel. We decided to roam about the fairgounds for about an hour and then get back and find good seats for the show.

The show...coming soon to a computer screen near you...

The show:

We found some pretty good seats about 6-8 rows back from the stage. It was still about an hour from the start, so we answered lots of questions about the band, our shirts and the passes we were wearing (THANKS DJ!!!). Dave Dimarco(?), who we met during the sound check joined us there. We also met a local photographer named Mike who was very nice also and we chatted for a while. Finally, the 2001 theme starts and the full house is pumped. A local said the venue held 5,000 and I heard they were turning people away at the gate. Security was pretty good about keeping people out of the center isle and off the benches.

As always the band started with so much energy, the crowd had no choice but to feel it and give it back. For a bunch of cheeseheads, these guys were into it. ;-) As soon as the first song ended, there was a break in the action. Mel had smoked his amp. DJ was johnny on the spot and replaced it, Mel tweeked a couple of dials and he was ready. Then something happened to Tims keyboard but he did his magic and had it ready in no time. For filler, Max was up front saying things like, "So, heard any good jokes lately?" and "Everyone wave at the people up in the gondolas. Jump! Jump! Just kidding". Did I mention Max was loose? BTW, the gondolas was a tram that ran from one end of the fairground to another giving a birds-eye view of the area. Soon they were rockin' again and all was good!

I got a kick out of the "Drum Thing" when Max said Michigan a couple of times instead of Wisconsin. The crowd didn't seem to care. They were into the guttural punch this song gives out. If you can't get into this song, they you were born without a percussionistic soul (whew, dug pretty deep for that one lol). It just makes you move and to watch the 5 of them having so much fun abusing those instruments is worth the price of admission alone.

Bruce was smokin' Friday night! His Star Spangled Banner was great. I think someone cut him loose on Inside Lookin' Out. He really nailed it! If I had any musical talent and wanted to play lead guitar, I know who I'd want to study. Bruuuuuuuce!

Don's drumming was spectacular. I think he'd stored up some energy and let it all out. I've seen his solo several times now this year and I believe his sticks were moving faster than I'd ever seen. During sound check, Dana and I thought we heard a dead-sounding drum, but it sure didn't show up. They were all tight and sounding great.

Mel did what he could to blow up the second amp. lol He had it thumpin', that's for sure! He makes some sounds with that Zon that should be copyrighted, although they're probably safe with Mel. Who else could do that?! He's one he!! of a bass player.

Tim's keys were high in the mix (thanks Tim!). He sounded great and adds so much fullness to all their music. I never noticed how much orchestration goes into their new song Sky High. It sounded excellent and of course Tim's intro to I'm Your Captain was a work of art.

Max Carl just blows me away! He is so much fun on stage. He was all over the place. When he wasn't taunting people to jump from up above (lol), he was running Bruce's wa-wa peddle. He also gets behind Bruce at one point and pretends to be shifting a car with his microphone. It must be a big rig, cause Bruce has a lot of gears! I think Max shifted about 10 times. Oh yeah, did I tell you that Max was loose? I just hope he stays loose! He was a excellent showman and his vocals were right on. I think I could hear his vocals better than usual and he sounded fantastic.

They finished with WAAB and encored with Rock 'n Roll Music, both big hits with the crowd. It was an excellent show and one that will probably be one of my favorites(for another 5 days anyway). Another thing, if you're not feeling to good, go see Grand Funk Railroad. They cure what ails ya!

After the show...(sorry, don't want to hog a whole digest all by myself ;-) )