Waukegan
Genesee Theatre, June 8, 2008

The Concert After my trek to Nashville, I was glad that this concert was close to me. The city of Waukegan is about 30 miles east of my town, and it took exactly one hour to drive there on a Sunday afternoon with no traffic. There were tornadoes in the area the night before, and bad thunderstorms the morning of the concert, but by afternoon the weather was quite nice. The thunderstorms did return when the show was letting out, however. Once again, it was an excellent concert! It took a little while for the crowd to get into it, but when they did the roar was deafening! It wasn't quite a full house. The Genesee is a beautiful theater, very ornate, with a red and gold color scheme and large chandeliers hanging from the ceiling. I think it's the perfect size for a Moodies concert. For me, the volume and mix were just right. Justin sounded great! I do think I heard John's voice crack once or twice. I guess one's voice doesn't quite get up to speed during these mini-tours. There wasn't any extra chit-chat, but Justin seemed to be in a good mood. He smiled a lot and made all of his "rockin' out" faces. His hair looks shorter in the front, but it's still quite long in the back. And bouncy! As with the other shows on this mini-tour, there weren't any slideshows or videos. The back wall had a curtain pulled across, with six columns of lights in front of it. Most of the time the lights were off, but at two points they flashed in time to the music (Graeme's drum solo during Higher & Higher). There were also some projected light effects during a few songs (December Snow). There were lots of glowsticks being waved around, thanks to a longtime fan who always makes sure to have plenty for everyone. I was in Row B in front of Norda....the first time I've ever sat on that side. I was in the perfect spot for the Dino Shuffle! I also had to deal with that darn microphone being in Justin's face most of the time. On a side note, this was the first time in my three-show history that Gordy and Graeme managed to catch all the drumsticks during the drumstick toss in Your Wildest Dreams!