Blog Master G

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Track, Petty, Games

Monday, August 1st, 2005 · 1 Comment

After the weekends we sometimes have, it’s a miracle we have the energy to wake up for work on Mondays. But there’s something more energizing about having a full weekend than it is to have one in which I sit around and do nothing.

The fun began with a little porch party Friday night when a few friends came over for drinks. Saturday Jen and I hit the track for our inaugural summer visit. We promptly lost $12 on race 7 and $10 on race 8. In both races we were just one horse away from winning. Despite losing, it was a beautiful, sunny day and great to be at the track along with nearly 30,000 other people for some thoroughbred racing.

Tom Petty is a man who appreciates his fans. Saturday night he came to the Saratoga Performing Arts Center to greet a sold-out crowd of 25,000 of us. It was Jen’s 9th time seeing Petty in 18 years; it was my 4th time in 6 years. Despite our friends’ not being able to get in due to a lack of tickets, we managed to have an awesome time. Petty and his Heartbreakers played all the hits, from “American Girl” in the encore set to “Free Fallin'” to “You Don’t Know How it Feels” to “Learning to Fly.” They were as solid and as crisp as ever. Throughout the show, Petty was clearly enjoying the fans as much as we were enjoying him. “You all look so beautiful with your lights up there on the hill,” he said to encourage fans to turn their lighters back on for the next song. “Shine the light out there so I can see who’s out there,” he said later. It was Petty’s first return to SPAC since 2002, and he’s been playing there since 1980. Let’s hope he returns sooner than 2008 for the next show.

[ Saratogian review ]

We capped off the weekend last night with a little dinner party and game night with some of Jen’s work friends. After some Pictionary, we rocked the house with Karaoke Revolution 3. My dad and I did a duet of “New York New York” for the first time since 1985 or so.

Tags: weekends

1 response so far ↓

  • 1 Jonty // Aug 1, 2005 at 12:10 pm

    So finally we get to hear about those “unspeakably” exciting events in which Gabe partakes….

    Um… Gabe…. Tom Petty isn’t exactly all that exciting. I can see why you don’t speak about the rest of your events all that often. =P

    HA!