Guest Book

The Appleton concert was the best I've ever been to . Now I'm not as fortunate as many of you GBer's who have been to countless concerts but the Bros have been my favorite band from the very begining . I've never been to the Beacon or anywhere further than 300 miles from my home in East Moline Illinois to see them. I saw the boys twice at the Field house in Iowa City before Barry died (never made it to a Duane concert) and I've seen them eight or nine times through the years but I must say, this is the lineup that brought back the magic. It's ashame about Dickey having to leave but how blessed can we be having two amazing guitarists like Derek and Warren on the same stage together, playing with the greatest singer and drum section in the world? And how lucky to have Oteil? Nobody could fill Barry's shoes like Oteil. Not to shun Lamar any but this lineup has all the right MOJO. They flat out put their listeners in a trance. They're hypnotic. Here's a brief discription of my experience at the Appleton concert. I had Sh#tY seats but was able to make it up to the very front after Warren asked the folks in the bleachers to come up closer. That's when I made my move. I was able to stand front center for about 10 minutes when a security guy came up and asked me to show him my ticket. When I did he politely told me I had to go back to my seat. Well, I turned around, walked back in the aisle a few rows and started hanging with some other folks. The asiles were getting pretty full so the security guys started clearing us out again by asking to see our tickets. I got busted again and moved out of sight for a minute then I came back to the fourth or fifth row right in front of Gregg. There was an empy seat right on the end and the guy next to it was just getting into the music like crazy. As luck has it, I was able to stay right there for the rest of the night. Whoever had that seat never came back. Man, what a difference when you can get right up there. I mean when I was back in my assigned seat I was jumping and hollering just as much as the next guy and the sound was incredible. But when I went up front and could see expressions on everyone's faces it just blew me away. Watching Gregg smiling and having a good time was too cool and watching Derek and Warren trading licks was something that will forever be engraved in my mind. I only had two beers and I swear I saw trails coming off of Derek's left hand when he was sliding. I just wish my wife Dee and the other couple I was with could have experienced what I did. They were very happy where they were but they wished they would have come up front after I told them what a great time I had. We had a great 280 mile trip on our bikes up and an even better trip back on Sunday when we took a different way home around the east side of lake Oshgosh. Great weather and great sights. Wisconsin is truly a beautiful State. Oh, and I just couldn't get Layla out of my mind which made it an even more pleasant ride home. All in all it was a wonderful experience and I can't wait til the Rockford show. I'm sure I'll be sneaking up front for that one too. Sorry for all the wind but I'm still seeing and hearing everything over and over in my mind. God bless the Allman Brothers Band. Peach on!