Review of Cream At MSG October 25th Part II - CLUB ROOM

"Cream Her? I Barely Even Know Her!"

Once on the escalator both M and myself started to get really excited. We were in! We had no idea what to expect, at the Club Room, but I was psyched to just get into this exclusive spot. I was privately hoping to run into some bigwigs or celebs, and I was ready with my camera phone and business cards for just such a scenario.

At the top of the escalator we walked into a very large foyer, with no idea in what direction to go. We headed straight ahead, saw an usher-type person, and she sort of motioned with her eyes to keep bearing on our current course.

We approached another usher-type, showed her our blue stickers (by this time I had wrested mine from M, before she could try and ditch me again), and she motioned us into the bar.

Boy, it was nice, chic, and classy. Dimly lit, with a large highly polished light grain-colored bar, nice carpeting, very low key. There were large flat screens, which we found out were showing one of the Cream concerts from London.

So, now for the next test: was the cocktail hour, in fact, free? I was betting it was, but we had no way of knowing for sure without asking and looking like dumbasses. So, I ordered some drinks, bacardi and coke for me, white wine for her, and waited to see if we'd be charged.

The bar tender, who seemed to be more of a beefy bouncer type, very slowly made our drinks, and, finally, never told me how much they were. We win! So I tipped him, and we relaxed.

Next to us were two of M's co-workers, record label execs who had been to the Cream shows in London. We chatted about the past shows, and what to expect with this one, and they also mentioned they had been to the first NYC show, the night before. They said the first MSG show was more intense than the ones in London, like they had let their hair down, or finally gotten into the groove of the tour.

So we chatted for a while, the bar filled up a little, but remained mostly empty. My first drink, bacardi and coke, turned out to have almost no rum in it whatsoever. So I powered it down as fast as I could, and then got a glass of red wine. I intended to reap the benefits of this cocktail hour dammit!

So with about 15 minutes in the cocktail hour left, I'm half done with the wine, and M is halfway done with her 2nd glass. Just then a tall, black, gregarious bar tender, apparently the manager, just plunked a plastic cup in front of me, gave me a wink, and said, "One for the road."

I was like, "Awesome man, thanks!" He gave me another wink and basically said to let him know if I need anything. What a guy.

So time is running out. I take a sip of the rum and coke and WHOA! The thing is like almost pure alcohol. Yea baby! Now we're talking.

We're about to leave, and one of the bar tenders says we could pour a glass of wine into a plastic cup and take it with us. But I'm like, don't we have to go back outside to get into MSG? I have no idea. So I say thanks, but don't take it, don't want to have to deal with the guards if that isn't, in fact, cool.

So we walk out the door, and I ask the first usher I see where we go to see the show. They point to an escalator inside the building. Doh! We totally could have brought drinks with us! And thats why the cool bartender gave me a plastic glass, so I could take it with me. Duh!

So we tried to go back to the bar. An usher standing in front of the closed door asked us where we're going, and pointed to show where the concert was. We showed our blue stickers and said, "we just wanted to get another drink for the show." At that, she shrugged and said, "that sure ain't my department, and I ain't gonna stop ya". We laughed, and tried the door, but it was locked. The bar was pretty much closed, but ah well, we tried, and we know for next time (yea right, like I'll ever go the Club Room again.)

So we accepted the fact that our free drinks were over, but that was cool, I was already feeling it from the double rum and the wine. M was already getting a little red in the face, and that meant she was doing just fine.

We went up the escalator, and just walked right into the main hall of MSG. We were in! It was around 8:10, show to start at 8:30, so we got some fries, a bottle of water, and a beer for me, and we went to find our seats.

Gate 62, Section 54, Row L, seats 2 and 3. We walked in, I figured out what direction to go in, and we found our seats. They were pretty much a little closer to the stage than half court, not on the floor, but up just far enough to have a perfect unobstructed view of the stage. Go Record Label tickets!

So we stood for a while, enjoying the buzz, watching all the people, the security guards, interlopers getting kicked out of good seats that weren't their's, and that kind of thing.

Finally, the lights go out, the band climbs the stage, and we take our seats. Blast off!

To Be Continued In Part III